Mother serving life sentence for murdering 8-year-old daughter dies in B.C. prison
CBC
A woman serving a life sentence for killing her eight-year-old daughter has died in custody at the Fraser Valley Institution in Abbotsford, B.C.
Lisa Batstone, 50, died on Jan. 1, according to a news release from the Correctional Service Canada (CSC). The cause of death has not been released.
Batstone was found guilty of second-degree murder four years ago for the 2014 suffocation death of daughter Teagan Batstone. Teagan's body was found in the back of Batstone's car.
During a high-profile trial, evidence was presented supporting that Batstone had carried out the killing to spite her ex-husband Gabe Batstone.
At sentencing, Supreme Court Justice Catherine Murray said the court needed to send a strong message to warring parents who might use their children as weapons.
"The breach of trust could not be more abhorrent," Murray said. "Children are not to be used as pawns in matrimonial or personal disputes."
Batstone's lawyers claimed she had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and was suffering from anxiety at the time of the murder. But Murray said those factors didn't take away from her moral culpability in planning and committing the most extreme breach of trust imaginable for a parent.
The court heard that Batstone, who was 41 at the time of the murder, held a heavy plastic bag over Teagan's nose and mouth for four to five minutes at their home in Surrey, B.C. Batstone then tried to kill herself using two smaller plastic bags, but couldn't go through with it.
CSC said an internal investigation has been launched into Batstone's death, as is the policy with all in-custody deaths. The Abbotsford Police Department and B.C. Coroners Service have also been notified.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.