Kindersley, Sask. mother receives 6-year sentence for the death of her young daughter | The Canadian News

WARNING: This story contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.

When sentencing Teenie Rose Steer, a Saskatoon judge said the tragic death of a baby was compounded by the fact that the woman who gave her life was also the one who took it away.

The 30-year-old mother from Kindersley, Sask., Received a six-year sentence for manslaughter on Friday for the death of her 28-day-old daughter. With credit for time spent in pretrial detention, he has about three years and four months left to serve.

“This very young child had the right to live a life free of violence. She lost that right and that loss must never be forgotten, ”Judge Gerald Allbright read in his written decision.

Steer was initially charged with second degree murder for the murder of her daughter on September 27, 2018. Steer pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor including manslaughter on May 26, 2021.

In his initial statements to police, Steer claimed that no one in his family had a reason to harm the baby, who was a twin and was born prematurely. She said one of her other children was rude to the twins and that the family dog ​​may have jumped on her.

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Seventeen months passed before Steer confessed to the murder, telling RCMP that after four days of little sleep, he lost control and threw his newborn daughter against a wall when he did not calm down.

An autopsy revealed a nine-centimeter skull fracture and a brain hemorrhage as a result of blunt trauma.

Crown Prosecutor Janyne Laing described the attempt to deceive as “significantly aggravating.” Allbright determined it was aggravating, but not significantly.

“Clearly, it’s fair to conclude that there was an element of shock that surrounded her from the beginning,” Allbright said. “Ultimately, he acknowledged his guilt for what he had done.”

The Crown requested an eight-year prison sentence, while defense attorney Barb Degenstein recommended a sentence of between four and four and a half years.

Before the murder, Steer had no criminal record.

In a pre-sentencing report, the woman’s case manager at Saskatchewan Hospital described her as a “model patient who follows the rules and respects everyone at the facility.”

The court heard that Steer has lived with mental health issues including negative self-image and childhood depression, in addition to the suicidal ideation that followed her daughter’s death.

The pre-sentencing report noted that Steer may have experienced symptoms of postpartum depression, but there was no formal diagnosis of the condition.

– with files from Kyle Benning.