The children were seen strapped to chairs watching television at the unlicensed daycare of the operator involved in the Baby Mac tragedy, a witness said.
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A witness at a sentencing hearing for the unlicensed daycare operator convicted in the so-called Baby Mac daycare tragedy said he saw children strapped into seats in front of the television at the daycare when he went to pick up his daughter.
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The witness, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, testified at the first of what is expected to be an eight-day sentencing hearing for Susy Yasmine Saad.
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In April, Saad pleaded guilty to failing to provide the basic necessities of life for nine children, including Macallan Saini, a toddler who was found dead at the Olive Branch Family Day Care Center on Kitchener Street in Vancouver on January 18, 2017. The boy was discovered unconscious and blue in his playpen with a string of lights wrapped around and embedded in his neck. Paramedics were called to the scene, but he could not be revived.
The necessities of life include providing a safe environment and Saad failed to provide a safe environment for the children in his care and this failure endangered their lives, according to an agreed statement of facts filed with the court.
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Saad operated without a license and cared for up to six young children at a time, exceeding the permitted and safe limit of two at a time. He also left young children unattended and did not check on sleeping children with reasonable frequency.
The Crown is expected to call a total of 11 witnesses to give evidence on a number of disputed aggravating facts in the case before making its sentencing position known.
The identities of the witnesses, all of whom are parents of children at Saad’s nursery, cannot be released due to a publication ban imposed by British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge. The parents who testified at the sentencing hearing are not the parents of the nine children in the indictment.
The first witnesses were a mother and father of a young girl who was fostered at Saad’s nursery in March 2010. The father testified that they were impressed by the materials Saad provided them with before their child entered the nursery.
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“I remember it seemed very professional,” the father said, adding that Saad told them he was going to open a series of daycare centers.
When questioned by Crown Counsel Mark Myhre, the father said Saad told them she had a license, but when they pressed her for evidence of her license, she had excuses for not providing it and they never saw a license.
The father said that he and his partner were aware that at the time the maximum number of children for a licensed daycare was seven children and that there was a limit of two for children under 18 months.
She said they decided to go ahead and hire Saad because it was so hard to find a daycare and they were “very happy” to find a space that was so close to their residence.
Asked by Myhre if he saw anything unusual in the short time his son had been in Saad’s nursery, the father said that on several occasions when he came to pick up his daughter, there seemed to be more children or different children than him. d recalled above.
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“I remember at least one occasion where I arrived where children were strapped into high chairs or car seats of some sort, sitting in front of the TV watching at a time other than the usual five o’clock pick up,” he said. .
“I also remember a couple of times where it was clear there were a lot more than seven kids.”
He said he did not discuss the issue of children strapped to seats and the excessive number of children with Saad for a number of reasons, including that they were preparing to leave the country at the time and knew it was going to be a short period of time using the kindergarten.
The father said they also knew it was “very, very difficult” to find daycare spaces.
“So even though we were uneasy about it, we were resistant to challenging things to the point of having to find another daycare. It was like biting our tongues and accepting it.”
During cross-examination, the father was asked if his daughter was “finally” happy at daycare.
“Demeanor-wise, he seemed happy there… He had no inkling that anything was wrong.”