Mother Gets Home Arrested for Assaulting Child Who Later Dies – Vernon News

Photo: Castanet file photo

A woman found guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm leading up to the death of her eight-year-old son was sentenced to 12 months’ house arrest on Wednesday.

Keisha Marie McCrea, 30, appeared in Vernon Provincial Court on one count of failing to comply with a legal obligation to provide necessities – to which she pleaded not guilty.

Instead, McCrea pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

McCrea was the biological mother of a now deceased eight-year-old boy. McCrea and her partner, co-defendant Brian William Chcuik, whose charges were stayed by the Crown on Oct. 8, were the child’s sole caregivers at Lumby.

The court heard two cases of assault. The first occurred sometime in 2020, when McCrea believed the boy took candy without permission and tried to force him to spit it out by grabbing his jaw, which caused bruising, for which she later apologized.

The second incident occurred on April 4, 2020, when the child got dirty and McCrea told him to wash his own dirty clothes in a bucket on the deck. It was a punishment she had used before because the boy was accident-prone.

The boy refused, and McCrea angrily pushed him onto the deck, and the child hit his head, causing a goose egg and a wound that bled.

The child was outside in the cold for an unspecified period of time, which caused his body temperature to drop to dangerous levels.

The court heard that the child had also hit his head on a sled earlier in the day.

The child died on April 5 due to a subdural hematoma – a head injury.

The child’s biological father read aloud a victim impact statement in court, expressing a deep sense of loss and injustice.

“The future of our family has been changed forever and we will always feel the pain of what could have happened,” the child’s father read in court.

“The defendant’s actions have torn me and my family away from our roots.”

Judge George Leven acknowledged the father’s feelings but said there was no evidence before him to prove McCrea’s actions caused the child’s death.

Leven agreed to a joint application for a 12-month conditional sentence – house arrest – followed by 24 months’ probation.

McCrea must complete 80 hours of community service by July 31, 2025; must also participate in counseling as recommended by the parole officer, which may include anger management.

McCrea currently lives in his hometown of Quesnel, where he will serve his sentence.