A woman arrested in the death of a newborn found abandoned in a Montreal-area bus shelter on Monday had been at a homeless centre earlier that day.
Pierre Rousseau is general manager of the Halte du Coin homeless shelter in Longueuil, Que., on Montreal’s South Shore, about 700 metres from where the baby was found.
BACKGROUND: 33-year-old woman arrested after newborn baby dies, abandoned in Longueuil bus shelter
He says staff reported that the woman came in around 3 a.m. on Monday and that he saw her there when he arrived just before 8 a.m.
Police found the baby at the bus shelter at 6:30 a.m., and the child was declared dead in hospital at 8 a.m.
Rousseau says shelter staff noticed something was wrong with the woman when she stood up from the chair she had been sleeping in, but he wouldn’t give details.
Jacqueline Pierre, a Longueuil police spokeswoman, says authorities are focused on the woman’s physical and mental health, adding that it’s unclear if she will be charged. The 33-year-old remains in hospital.
Meanwhile, flowers, notes, and stuffed animals were left to honour the newborn in the bus shelter where the baby was found on Chambly Road, near Briggs Street.
