Advocates puzzled by police response after Longueuil woman accused of scalding Black child

Anti-racism advocates want to know why a Longueuil woman who is accused of throwing boiling water at a 10-year-old Black boy earlier this month was released after her initial arrest and then again on bail this week. 

Stéphanie Borel faces charges of aggravated assault for allegedly pouring boiling water on the child who was walking by her home. The Oct. 2 attack left the boy with serious burns to his head, face, torso and back. 

The suspect was arrested and then released the same day on a promise to appear and under conditions, including not contacting the child and his family.

She was arrested again on Oct. 11, following the "acquisition of new investigative elements," according to a news release sent by Longueuil police.

But Thursday, Borel was once again released — this time, under a number of conditions that include living with her son, and staying away from the home and school of the young victim as well as from a witness. The identities of the boy and the witness are protected by a publication ban. 

Borel will be back in court on Jan. 23, 2025.

Joel DeBellefeuille, the executive director the Red Coalition, an anti-racism advocacy organization, said the decisions to release Borel on Oct. 2 and then again this week send a "strong, negative" message to Black Quebecers. 

"What it said to the community is that your rights are not as equal as others," he said. 

"If the roles were reversed and this was a Black man that poured scalding hot water onto a 10-year-old white girl, we'd essentially be in a modern-day lynching of that Black person."

DeBellefeuille said her release both times harm his group's efforts to improve relations between police in the province and racialized people. 

"This is a real slap in the face," he said. "This is setting everything back, years and years of work. It's going to make our work more difficult."

On Oct. 10, DeBellefeuille sent a letter to police Chief Marc Leduc and Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier to express his group's disappointment in the police response. 

He believes the letter, as well as public outcry, were what led to the suspect's second arrest.

In a statement to CBC News, Longueuil police said it "handles all cases impartially, based on information available at the time of the intervention."