CALGARY — An Alberta judge has handed a suspended sentence to the mother of a baby found dead in a Calgary dumpster on Christmas Eve in 2017, despite the Crown's request that she serve up to six months.
Nina Albright, now 24, entered a guilty plea last November to offering an indignity to a body.
Court had heard that Albright gave birth in her parents' home but told police the infant stopped breathing after a couple of minutes. She said she tried to clear the baby's airway but didn't call for help.
Judge John Bascom said in his decision Monday that Albright has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in addition to borderline intellectual functioning, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and borderline personality disorder.
That, he said, balances the aggravating factors of her lying to her then boyfriend and not seeking help during and after the delivery from her parents or first responders.
"The aggravating factors can be explained by the diagnosable mental health factors. Further, one must consider the offence occurred shortly after a traumatic incident where Ms. Albright gave birth to a child on her own only to see it die shortly after," Bascom said.
"I conclude Ms. Albright is a good candidate for rehabilitation and I further find that she will in future not be a danger to herself or others. I find in Ms. Albright's case a jail sentence would be excessive and not proportionate to the offence of the offender."
Albright had said she packaged the child up in plastic and cloth bags before getting her boyfriend, who was not the father, to drive her to the area where she left the body.
Three medical examiners determined the baby girl was born alive, but couldn't say when she died.
Police officers who recovered the body named the baby Eve. In an effort to identify her months later, police sent in DNA for phenotyping, which can be to used to come up with an approximate likeness.
It was more than two years before they identified Albright as Eve's mother in 2020 and laid charges.
Albright's lawyer earlier told the court his Indigenous client was adopted by parents who were professors at Mount Royal University.
He told reporters after the sentencing that there are no winners in the case.
"There was never going to be a winner from the moment on Christmas Eve of 2017," said Gavin Wolch.
He said it's been a long road for his client and her family.
"She's had a ton of support around her but it's also been very, very difficult. She's going to live with her experience forever. She was going to feel horrible no matter what happened today."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2022.
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
