Woman Pleads Guilty to Aggravated Assault After Throwing Scalding Water on Child
Stéphanie Borel, a 47-year-old woman, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault at the Longueuil courthouse on Thursday. The charge stems from an incident last October where she threw scalding water on a young boy.
The Incident
The victim, a 10-year-old boy at the time, told Radio-Canada that he was walking home from school with friends and "took a shortcut" near Borel's residence, a multi-residential building close to the intersection of Curé-Poirier Boulevard East and Chambly Road. His father reported that the boy arrived home around 4 p.m., screaming about being burned with boiling water.
A publication ban is in place to protect the identity of the child. The incident resulted in second-degree burns to four per cent of the boy's body, affecting his face and torso, although surgery was not required.
Agreed Statement of Facts
According to an agreed statement of facts, there was no evidence that Borel targeted the boy because of his race. The statement also clarified that Borel and the boy did not know each other. The statement indicated that children from the nearby elementary school had been playing "ring-and-run" at her door for months.
On the day of the assault, the boy was approaching Borel's door to participate in the game when she opened the door and threw boiling water on him, saying, in French, "It's hot, isn't it? Get out of here."
Aftermath and Arrests
Borel was initially arrested on Oct. 2 and released. Following her release, she filmed the boy and his friends walking to school, saying "Smile, you're being filmed,'' and then called police to complain about harassment from her neighbors. She was arrested again several days later and charged with aggravated assault.
Borel told police that the "ring and run" pranks bothered her because she was concerned the knocking was stressing her cats. She also stated that she was stressed about a job change. She claimed not to know the boy was a child and that she had been heating water for her bathroom pipes before splashing it on him.
