Bail hearing postponed for Longueuil woman accused of scalding boy, 10, with boiling water

The bail hearing at the Longueuil courthouse for a woman from Montreal’s South Shore charged with aggravated assault after allegedly splashing a 10-year-old boy with boiling water and scalding him was postponed Wednesday.

Last Friday, Longueuil police re-arrested Stéphanie Borel, 46, who is alleged to have seriously injured the boy on Oct. 2. There’s a publication ban on the boy’s identity because he’s a minor.

“The defence needs time and other information to be ready to proceed,” explained Crown prosecutor Gabriella St-Onge.

“In custody, it’s for the security of the victim and the public in general and also the public trust into the justice system.”

Borel was first arrested immediately after the incident, which happened outside a residence in Longueuil, but she was released with a promise to appear in court.

“By letting this woman go on a promise to appear, screamed a lot of things to the Black community that their rights, there was some form of double standards,” said Joel DeBellefeuille, the founder, chairman and executive director of Red Coalition.

“Without a doubt in my mind if the roles were reversed, if this was a Black man that was pouring burning, scalding hot water onto a young white 10-year-old girl, I feel that we’d be in a modern day lynching, so to speak, until that Black man was apprehended by law enforcement.”

The accused’s release was met with public outcry and pressure from lobby groups like the Red Coalition, urging Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier and SPAL Chief Marc Leduc to reverse the decision. The case was re-examined and another arrest warrant was issued.

“The DPCP (Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales) wasn’t (implicated) at the first release by the police officers, and for now it’s our prerogative to choose the mode of appearance,” St-Onge said.

“It’s a first, where somebody just does something so disgusting and hateful towards the extreme vulnerable, which is children, this particular incident should have been looked at with different lenses,” added DeBellefeuille.

The boy’s family was at the courthouse Wednesday but did not speak to media. The prosecutor says they are coping, but couldn’t give an update on the boy’s condition.

“This poor young child is scarred for the rest of his life both physically and emotionally,” said DeBellefeuille.

Borel remains detained and she’s been ordered not to communicate with three minors, including the boy, while her case is pending. The case will be back in court on Thursday to set a date for the bail hearing to take place, likely the week of Oct. 28.