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No parole for 15 years for B.C. mother who killed young daughter

Lisa Batstone smothered eight-year-old Teagan to death in 2014
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Lisa Deanne Batstone was found guilty in March of second-degree murder in connection with her daughter Teagan’s December 2014 death. (File photo)

Lisa Batstone will have to wait 15 years to apply for release from custody.

The South Surrey mother learned the term Tuesday morning, during proceedings in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.

In imposing the ineligibility, Justice Catherine Murray noted Batstone’s love for her daughter “is not in doubt.”

However, “in my view, loving someone does not render murdering them less serious.”

“That breach of trust could not be more abhorrent.”

READ MORE: South Surrey mother guilty of second-degree murder in death of daughter

Batstone was found guilty in March of second-degree murder – a finding that comes with an automatic life sentence, with no chance of parole for at least 10 years – in connection with the December 2014 death of her daughter, Teagan.

She had been arrested after the eight-year-old’s body was found in the back of a car in a cul-de-sac off Crescent Road.

During trial, the court heard how Batstone had smothered Teagan with a plastic bag while she slept.

Defence counsel had argued that the mother’s level of intoxication at the time – along with borderline personality traits, significant levels of depression and a “cloud of stressors” – may have limited her ability to gauge the consequences of the act.

In court Tuesday, Murray said she is “not convinced” that Batstone’s mental health was the reason for the murder.

Rather, “Teagan was the pawn in her mother’s revenge” against Teagan’s father, Gabe Batstone, for the collapse of their marriage.

“The murder of Teagan was intended to hurt one person – Gabe,” Murray said.

Murray described Batstone’s actions as “systematic, focused, purposeful and goal-directed.”

“The killing was intentional. It involved choices and decisions. It involved effort,” she said. “She never wavered from that goal, not even during the four to five minutes when she held the bag over Teagan’s mouth and nose.”

During a hearing in June, Crown Christopher McPherson had asked the judge to impose a 16- 18-year ineligibility term; defence Rebecca McConchie argued for 10 years.

In imposing the 15-year term, Murray said the court needed to send a “message that children are not to be used as pawns.”

Outside court, McPherson said he was satisfied with the outcome. The 15 years, as well as Murray’s statements prior to imposing it, is “a pretty strong message,” he said.

Members of White Rock Baptist church and Teagan’s family were in court for the ruling.

More to come…



Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
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