Woman Could Get 8-Year Sentence For Giving Her Toddler Cocaine
Posted June 8, 2010 12:44 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Toronto woman who almost killed her toddler by giving him cocaine could spend as many as eight years behind bars for her crime.
In April of last year, Ontario Superior Court Justice Tamarin Dunnet convicted 26-year-old Tamara Broomfield of assault causing bodily harm, aggravated assault endangering life, failing to provide the necessities of life and administering a noxious substance with the intent to endanger life.
Over a 14-month period in 2004 and 2005, Broomfield gave her son, Malique Broomfield Fitz-Charles cocaine and feigned ignorance as doctors struggled to save his life.
Mother and son can now be identified since Malique’s father, Steve Fitz-Charles, successfully appealed to Dunnet to lift a publication ban.
In a victim impact statement at Broomfield’s sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Malique’s grandmother said the cocaine robbed the now seven-year-old of a normal life.
Malique has permanent brain damage which has made him hyperactive, non-compliant, impulsive and has caused him to throw temper tantrums.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Pilla urged Dunnet to hand Broomfield an eight-year sentence, less 14 months for time served before the trial.
Defence lawyer Daniel Brown wants two years on top of time served and three years probation.
Broomfield will be sentenced on July 8.
