A 33-year-old Weyburn woman, Angela M. Vermeulen, will stand trial on a charge of disposing of the dead body of a child.
A 33-year-old Weyburn woman, Angela M. Vermeulen, will stand trial on a charge of disposing of the dead body of a child.
Vermeulen was charged after allegedly throwing a newborn baby's body into the garbage in May, and allegedly moving it to an industrial dumpster after the body was seen in her garbage outside of her home.
A preliminary hearing was held on Oct. 12 in Weyburn provincial court to determine if there was sufficient evidence for her to stand trial. A second charge, of improperly or indecently interfering with or offering an indignity to a dead human body, was withdrawn by the Crown.
City police determined that Vermeulen had given birth in her home on May 18, and after she allegedly determined the baby was dead, she placed it in a light-coloured garbage bag and left it outside of her home.
Police said, in information released in May, that visitors to her home on May 19 saw the infant's body and reported it to the police the next day; police believe she then disposed of the body in a dumpster, which was then emptied a short time later in the city landfill.
Extensive searches were carried out at the landfill, including a large search by community volunteers and a trained cadaver dog on the Victoria Day holiday, but the infant's body was never found.
No date for the trial has been set, and the case will be heard by judge alone in Court of Queen's Bench.
