Lawyers will make their closing statements today at the sentencing hearing of a Halifax-area woman who nearly starved her baby girl to death.
Susan Elizabeth MacDonnell of Dartmouth pleaded guilty in 2011 to aggravated assault and failing to provide the necessities of life.
MacDonnell starved the girl for an extended period of time and then tampered with her feeding tube at a Halifax hospital, where the child was being treated for dehydration and malnutrition in 2010.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Grainne Neilson told the Nova Scotia Supreme Court MacDonnell has several mental disorders and posed as a good mother while falsely reporting or inducing medical symptoms.
The Crown is seeking a five-year prison term.
