The stepmother of a seven-year-old Quebec girl who died under troubling circumstances now faces a charge of second-degree murder.
The charge was laid today against the woman on her 36th birthday, while an additional charge of criminal negligence causing death was laid against her co-accused, the girl's father.
"The autopsy report was really important for us, in order to determine what was the responsibility of the accused, so we received that recently," said Crown prosecutor Laurence Belanger.
The woman had previously been charged with unlawful confinement and aggravated assault.
The couple were arrested after police found the girl in critical condition in her family home in Granby, about 80 kilometres east of Montreal. In the hours following their initial court appearance on April 30, the girl died in hospital.
The father, 30, was denied bail on June 10. He was already facing three charges: unlawful confinement, failing to provide the necessities of life and child abandonment.
The entrance of the courthouse in Granby, Que., was adorned with stuffed animals today in memory of the young victim, whose death has sparked several probes about the state of youth protection services in the province.
