A Prince George woman who was found guilty of assault for grabbing the hand of a six-year-old boy she did not know and nearly leading him out of a local convenience store was sentenced Friday to a further 1 1/2 months in jail.
Corina Lynn Beauchamp, 49, must also serve three years probation upon release, was ordered to provide a DNA sample and issued a 10-year firearms prohibition.
Beauchamp had remained in custody since her arrest for the March 2018 incident. She had also faced a count of abduction but in issuing his verdict in October 2018, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale found Crown prosecution had not proved that charge beyond reasonable doubt.
In doing so, he went over an odd set of circumstances that began when the boy, who was with his mother, began talking to the woman although she was a stranger while the two were at a hot chocolate vending machine.
When the mother was ready to leave, she looked around and could not see her son. She walked to the front door where she found Beauchamp and the boy. She called her son over and asked Beachamp what she was doing but could not remember the reply.
They went home and, after a conversation with her father, she called police the next day.
Beauchamp testified she was trying to find the boy's mother but Tindale did not accept her story. Video evidence showed they walked right past the boy's mother yet Beauchamp did not ask the woman if the boy was hers, he noted.
However, Tindale also noted Beauchamp let go of the boy's hand and remained in the store for some time afterwards, despite being banned from the location for previous trouble. Video showed Beachamp walking by the front entrance twice before entering while the clerk was looking the other way. She also returned to the store after the incident, which Tindale said shows Beauchamp was not following the two.
On that basis, Tindale found Beauchamp not guilty of abduction.
But he found Beauchamp intentionally applied force when she grabbed the boy's hand without his consent and noted a power imbalance between an adult and a young boy. Beauchamp had no lawful reason to take control of the boy, Tindale said, and found her guilty of assault.
