Batisse spent hours in maternity ward

BY LAUREL MYERS

Three mothers on the maternity ward at the Sudbury Regional Hospital claimed to have been visited by Brenda Batisse  Nov. 1, prior to the Code Yellow missing infant alert being issued, the Crown said at a bail hearing for Batisse last week.

A description from all three mothers placed Batisse in the maternity ward – in their rooms specifically – hours before the abduction took place.

The devastated mother whose baby was taken in the first precious hours of her life, told police a woman matching Batisse’s description attended her room on two different occasions.

“A woman appearing to be a nurse entered two times that morning,” Detective Const. Sandra Dicaire read from the mother’s statement to police. “The second time – wearing white hospital scrubs – she asked to weigh the baby.”

The mother insisted on accompanying her, but had to use the washroom first. Once inside the washroom, Batisse closed the door and fled the room with the baby, Dicaire read.

“When she came out of the bathroom, the mother was looking  for a nurse with a baby, and the staff told her it wasn’t a nurse,” the detective said. “She was devastated and hysterical.”

The second mother reported a woman, with the same description, entering her room and inquiring where her baby was.

“In the ICU,” the mother said.

“So your baby’s not going to be here?” the woman asked.

“No,” the mother said.

Shortly after, Batisse barged into the ICU, but left quickly after seeing the nurses seated at their desk.

The third mother offered the same description of a woman who entered her room and said her sister was waiting to have a baby across the hall.

“She asked if she could take the baby to show her sister,” Dicaire read from the statement.

The mother declined and Batisse left the room. She entered the room a second time, wearing white scrubs, and said she needed to take the baby to be weighed.

The father refused, saying the baby had to be transported in a basinette – a hospital policy – and would not allow Batisse to take the infant.

She left the room saying she would attend at a later date.

It was the basinette policy that caught the attention of a janitorial staff member. The woman alerted other staff members who contacted police.