The Coquitlam daycare operator charged with the death of an infant in her care made her second appearance in court Wednesday.
Maria McFerran, who operated the Rattle-N-Roll Daycare from her Shaughnessy Street home, made her first court appearance at Port Coquitlam Provincial court last week. She was released with conditions that she be of good behaviour and not care for or supervise any child under the age of 10.
The 48-year-old woman is facing charges of criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessaries of life in connection with the Jan. 17, 2011 death of Arto Howley. She is also charged with obstruction of justice.
Police have not revealed the cause of Howley's death.
McFerran's next court appearance is Feb. 8.
Other court news:
DRIVINGSENTENCE
Kenneth Baekgaard will spend the next few years on probation after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
According to Coquitlam RCMP, the Port Coquitlam man was driving with a female passenger when he crashed into a tree and rolled a Ford Explorer on Oxford Street near David Avenue on Aug. 15, 2009. Police say he and another person moved the injured woman to a second location and left her on the side of the road.
Residents near Cambridge Street and Lougheed Highway notified police and assisted the victim.
Baekgaard, 24, was sentenced in October 2011 to three years probation and a one-year driving prohibition.
ASSAULTSENTENCE
A young Port Moody man facing attempted murder charges for an attack on his mother pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and received a sentence of one day in jail.
In October 2009, Port Moody Police were called to a Henry Street home where they found a 39-year-old woman suffering from multiple stab wounds.
Officers located Brandan Birlie, then just 18, outside the home with wounds to his hands. He was sentenced last June after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and received the one-day sentence, with 13 months credit for the nearly seven months he had already spent in custody.
SEX ASSAULT SENTENCE
A Port Coquitlam man was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for two sexual assaults that occurred in early 2010.
On Feb. 24, 2010 a woman was walking on Prairie Avenue near Shaughnessy Street when a man pushed her to the ground and sexually assaulted her over a period of time. After the assault, the woman ran home and called police.
Coquitlam RCMP issued a request for tips from the public and received information on a previously unreported sexual assault that occurred in January.
James Alkenbrack was arrested in the spring of 2010 and pleaded guilty late last year.
He was sentenced Dec. 14, 2011 to 15 months and 15 days for the first count and 39 months and 15 days for the second, for a total of four years and seven months, less 20 months for time served.
Alkenbrack, 22, received a 10-year firearms prohibition and will be on the national sex offender registry for 20 years.
spayne@tricitynews.com
