A Saskatoon mother cried and hung her head in court as lawyers described how her baby died, after she took him into the bath with her and then fell asleep.
Melanie O’Soup, 45, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing the death of her son. He was just over 12 months old when he drowned on March 9, 2024, in an apartment on Avenue T South, in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood.
Crown prosecutor Sheryl Fillo read the agreed facts in the case at O’Soup’s sentencing hearing in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench on Thursday.
The baby’s parents had gone out the night before the baby died and used meth together, Fillo said.
In the morning, O’Soup ran a bath. A few hours later, her partner found the baby unresponsive in the tub, where O’Soup had fallen asleep.
Another family member called 911. When police arrived, they found O’Soup in the bedroom, trying to perform CPR on her son. The boy’s father was rolling on the floor, apparently in shock.
Saskatoon mother pleads guilty to criminal negligence for baby’s drowning death
The baby was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The autopsy findings were “consistent with drowning,” Fillo said.
O’Soup told police that she often bathed with her baby, and that he often would keep her up at night and sleep during the day. She said she had fallen asleep in the bath before, but never when she had the baby with her.
Police obtained a warrant for a urine sample, which detected methamphetamine. Officers also found meth in O’Soup’s vehicle and in the apartment’s bathroom.
O’Soup and her partner had 10 children at the time, but only had custody of the baby. She was pregnant and later gave birth to another baby, who was taken into the custody of Social Services, Fillo said.
O’Soup’s defence lawyer Austin Cooper said O’Soup and her partner have been together for more than 30 years. They separated for a period of time after the baby’s death, but they have reconciled.
A member of Yellow Quill First Nation, O’Soup grew up between there and Saskatoon. She was raised mainly by her mother, who remarried an “extremely abusive man” who physically abused O’Soup throughout her childhood into her teenage years, Cooper said.
She spent “considerable time” in and out of hospitals in her 20s with seizures and strokes, which she believes were a result of the beatings she took when she was younger, Cooper said, and she has yet to address the trauma from her childhood.
Saskatoon defence lawyer Austin Cooper says that Melanie O’Soup will live with the consequences of her actions for the rest of her life. (Travis Reddaway/CBC)
The Crown and defence jointly recommended a conditional sentence order, which is a jail sentence served in the community, of two years less a day.
The conditions include a 24-hour curfew for the first year — essentially, house arrest — and a curfew of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. for the second year.
O’Soup must take addictions assessment and treatment as directed by her supervisor, personal counselling as directed, and see a psychiatrist or psychologist as directed.
She also must not use any alcohol or non-prescribed drugs.
Justice John Morrall questioned Cooper about whether his client would be able to follow the condition to not use drugs, noting that if she breaches a conditional sentence order, she could spend the remainder of the time in jail.
Cooper said O’Soup does believe she can comply, and understands the consequences if she doesn’t.
When the judge asked O’Soup if she had anything she wanted to say, she shook her head no.
Morrall accepted the joint submission.
“If this wasn’t a wakeup call for you, I don’t know what is,” he said.
O’Soup also pleaded guilty to failing to attend court on Tuesday, when her sentencing hearing was originally scheduled. Morall issued a warrant for her arrest that morning, and police arrested her at her home in the afternoon.
The judge sentenced her to time served for that offence.
Outside court, Cooper said that his client has experienced “a mother’s worst nightmare.”
“It’s been difficult to watch Melanie have to come to terms with what has happened, and she’s going to be coming to terms with this for a long time,” Cooper said.
“This is something that she’s going to have to live with forever, unfortunately. And we have siblings that lost a baby brother. We have a father that’s lost a son, and Melanie has lost her son as well. So it’s a tragedy, all around.”
