Warning: This article contains disturbing details.
A convict who became Canada’s youngest designated dangerous offender after sexually assaulting a three-month-old baby is seeking escorted leave from prison to attend Indigenous cultural ceremonies in Vancouver.
Tara Desousa, now 43, has applied to Federal Court to overturn a decision by B.C.’s Fraser Valley Institution to deny her “escorted temporary absences” from the federal women’s prison.
Desousa, then named Adam Laboucan, was 15 years old in 1997 when she sexually assaulted an infant she was babysitting in Quesnel, B.C. The baby required surgery to repair the injuries.
Desousa, who underwent gender-affirming operations while serving an indefinite sentence, also admitted to drowning a three-year-old boy when she was 11 years old, which the judge in the sexual assault case said was below the age of criminal responsibility.
B.C. Supreme Court Judge Victor Curtis imposed an …