Calgary woman who dumped three newborns in trash gets 18 months in prison

A Calgary woman who dodged a murder charge after tossing three of her newborn babies in a dumpster is getting 18 months in prison for infanticide.

Alberta Queen's Bench Justice Peter McIntyre sentenced Meredith Borowiec to the jail time in addition to the 18 months she had spent in custody before being released on bail, The Canadian Press reported.

Borowiec was convicted earlier of two counts of infanticide in the deaths of two of the newborns in 2008 and 2009, and pleaded guilty to aggravated assault involving a third baby who survived after a passerby heard it crying from inside the dumpster.

In an ironic twist, the baby's father was among those who unwittingly helped rescue his own child from the trash.

"You've shocked the community and you've shamed yourself," McIntyre said in sentencing Borowiec on Wednesday. "This is a terrible case."

McIntyre convicted Borowiec of infanticide instead of second-degree murder because her professed mental state at the time of the births raised doubts about her intent to kill. That and other factors figured into his sentence.

[ Related: Crown to appeal Meredith Borowiec infanticide conviction ]

"The sentence must reflect sentencing principles, but all three incidents happened when your mind was disturbed after giving birth," he said.

"You co-operated with police. Without your admission to police about the first babies, there would be no case against you."

The Crown, which is appealing the murder acquittal, wanted Borowiec to spend eight to nine years in prison, while her lawyer argued she should not receive any more jail time.

McIntyre also put the 32-year-old woman on probation for three years.

The details of the case horrified Calgarians, who more than a decade ago witnessed a similar case in which two infants were abandoned by their mother in her apartment for days and died while she visited her boyfriend.

Borowiec told police she new the newly-born babies were alive before she put them trash bags and dropped them into garbage bins, CP reported, but she said she never actively harmed them.

In a video interview with police after her arrest in 2011, Borowiec said she heard a noise "like a kitten" after the birth of the first child. In the second birth, in the bathroom of her apartment, Borowiec said she heard "a tiny cry" coming fron the toilet.

She claimed she was not in her right mind during the births.

"It was like something took over me. It was like I wasn't in control,'' she said. "I wasn't normal.''

Neither her boyfriend nor her coworkers were aware of the pregnancies, she said. She told them her appearance was due to cysts on her uterus, CP reported.

Borowiec expressed "genuine remorse" before sentencing, McIntyre observed.

"It hurts me every day knowing what I have done,'' she read from a statement. "I have accepted what has happened and feel horrible about it all. I don't think I can express in words how sorry I am.''

Borowiec told the court she was happy the third child "is alive and can live a happy and fulfilling life," the Calgary Sun reported. "It hurts me every day knowing what I've done ... I hope one day I can forgive myself."

Borowiec also co-operated with police after her arrest over disposal of the third surviving baby, the judge said.

"Without your admission to police about the first babies, there would be no case against you," said McIntyre.

Borowiec gave birth to a fourth baby in 2012 while in custody, CP said.

[ Related: Suspended sentence for Alberta woman convicted of infanticide ]

The case contained echoes of a similar one in Calgary in the early 2000s.

Rie Fujii, a Japanese national living in the city on an expired student visa, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2002 for leaving her infant son and daughter alone in her apartment for more than 10 days while she partied with her boyfriend in the outlying town of Cochrane. The children starved to death.

When she returned she wrapped the 15-month-old boy's body in a blanket and left it in the apartment, then put her three-month-old daughter's body in a plastic bag and disposed of it in a dumpster.

The boy's body was discovered by Fujii's landlord when he came for the rent. The girl's body was never found.

Fujii was sentenced to eight years in prison but given 30 months credit for time served and deported to Japan in 2006, CBC News reported.