Toronto police have laid charges against the mother of a newborn baby who was discovered abandoned in a shoebox inside a Midtown church just days before Christmas.
Parishioners at St. Monica’s Catholic Church, near Yonge Street and Broadway Avenue, found the infant on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 21.
The baby girl had been placed in a shoebox and left on a shelf inside the church. Police were called around 10:40 a.m., and the newborn was taken to the hospital, where she was assessed as being in good health.
The church’s priest, Young-Sam-You, told CityNews on Tuesday, Dec. 23, that the child was “doing well” and that authorities had located her mother.
“There’s a lot of positives,” he said at the time. “One — that the child is healthy and safe. Two — that the mother is getting the help that she needs. And also, if the mother decides to give the daughter up for adoption, there will be a loving family that will be blessed by having a child.”
Toronto police confirmed both the baby and her mother were receiving care following the incident.
On Monday, Jan. 5, police provided an update, confirming the mother has now been charged with abandoning a child and parent not providing necessaries of life – endangering life. Police have not released the mother’s name to protect the child’s identity.
“I know people in the back were talking, and they were pretty upset that a baby was just left, but I kept on telling them — you have to pray for the child, the child is in good hands right now, and the child wasn’t left outside, or in a garbage bin,” said Sam-You.
“She must have known and come in and trusted that people [would] take care of the baby.”
The investigation is ongoing, and the baby remains reported as healthy and safe.
With files from Michael Talbot of CityNews
