DISAVOWAL
Card 007: breach of the law “same crime, same sentence” — parent secretly took a child away · Ontario · he — 3 years behind bars, she — 2 years less a day at home
parent secretly took a child away · Ontario · 2021 / 2013 · he — pleaded guilty, 3 years behind bars; she — pleaded guilty, 2 years less a day at home.
In 1987 he failed to return his son, aged one year and nine months, to the mother and took him to the United States. For 31 years the mother did not know whether her child was alive. The son grew up under a different name and believed his mother had died in a car crash. He pleaded guilty. He had spent three years in custody before sentencing — the court credited them and added one day in jail and three years of probation.
In 1993 she took her daughter, aged one and a half, made forged documents and new names for both of them and crossed borders with her. For 18 years the father searched for his daughter. They were found in 2011 on an anonymous tip. Six weeks in custody before sentencing. She pleaded guilty.
The court wrote that in such cases the parent almost always goes to actual jail. It gave her a sentence at home — 2 years less a day, minus the six weeks. The father and the daughter asked the court for mercy.
Details: both decisions, the law, what happened after
He
- Case: R. v. Mann
- Citation: 2021 ONSC 7071
- Court: Ontario Superior Court of Justice
- Date of decision: 2021-10-26
- Charge: abduction of a child in contravention of a custody order (Criminal Code s. 282)
- Outcome: pleaded guilty
- Sentence: 3 years behind bars
- Facts: 21-month-old son taken to the US in 1987; 31 years. Joint submission: 1 day after credit for three years in custody; the court added 3 years of probation (paras. 1–5, 9, 11).
- Decision: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2021/2021onsc7071/2021onsc7071.html
She
- Case: R. v. O’Byrne
- Citation: 2013 ONCJ 171
- Court: Ontario Court of Justice
- Date of decision: 2013-04-02
- Charge: abduction of a child in contravention of a custody order (Criminal Code s. 282)
- Outcome: pleaded guilty
- Sentence: 2 years less a day at home
- Facts: Daughter aged one and a half taken in 1993; forged documents, new names; 18 years. The Crown asked for jail. The court: "almost always — actual jail", yet gave her a sentence at home (paras. 4–8, 31, 34, 56, 61, 66–67).
- Decision: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/doc/2013/2013oncj171/2013oncj171.html
Law
After
none
Machine version: /api/v1/007.json · added 2026-10-17