Random attempted child abduction sentences woman to two years in prison

The attempted random kidnapping of a five-year-old girl outside her mother’s downtown apartment has earned a city woman a two-year prison sentence.

Kyla Patricia Wilcox, 34, pleaded guilty Friday to four charges, including attempted kidnapping of a minor, in connection with a May 12, 2023, incident inside a downtown apartment complex .

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Reading a statement of agreed facts, Crown prosecutor Karuna Ramakrishnan detailed the girl’s traumatic experience when Wilcox, who did not live in the building, stepped off the elevator on the 14th floor where the girl and her mother lived.

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Ramakrishnan told Judge Glen Poelman that the girl was playing with a seven-year-old friend when Wilcox approached them.

The girls were playing in the hallway outside the door of the victim’s mother’s unit.

“The building is ideal for families with many small children, and it is not unusual for them to play together in the hallways,” the prosecutor said.

“(The girl’s) mother…was in her nearby unit while the girls were playing.”

Wilcox exited the elevator and approached the children and asked them where their parents were.

“(Her) friend got scared by the accused and ran to her apartment,” Ramakrishnan said.

“The defendant asked (the victim) if her friend was her sister and then asked (the girl) to accompany her to the elevator. (The boy) was really scared, he froze and started crying and screaming.”

The girl couldn’t walk away or enter her apartment because Wilcox was blocking her way, the prosecutor said.

“(The mother) heard the screams and went out into the hallway to check on the children. To her surprise, she observed the defendant standing in front of her apartment with her (her daughter) pinned against the wall hysterically, screaming at the top of her lungs, crying uncontrollably and shaking.”

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The mother was able to grab her son and retreat to her apartment while Wilcox, apparently intoxicated, yelled at her with random words and tried to force his way into the unit.

Once inside, she asked her daughter what had happened, but the girl was initially so shocked that she couldn’t say what happened. She finally did it and they called the police.

After threatening other residents, Wilcox followed some of them onto the street, where she was confronted by police.

Poelman accepted a joint submission from Ramakrishnan and defense attorneys Joshua l’Abbé and Yoav Niv for a two-year sentence followed by two years of probation.

L’Abbé told the King’s Court judge that his client had a traumatic upbringing which included the death of his mother by suicide when Wilcox was just 14 years old.

“That then led to a life marked by toxic relationships (and) substance abuse,” he said.

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