http://www.thespec.com/news/crime/article/300794--absence-of-interpreter-delays-child-confinement-case-again
Absence of interpreter delays child confinement case again
December 13, 2010
For the second time, the absence of an interpreter has delayed the court case involving two small children who were locked in a filthy basement bedroom.
A sentencing hearing was to take place yesterday but has been put off until February after an Italian interpreter travelling from Windsor got snowed in and didn’t make the trip to Hamilton.
A mother, her boyfriend and a grandmother have each been found guilty of two counts of confinement, abandonment and failing to provide the necessaries of life. The grandmother — who has had a court-certified interpreter throughout the trial — is also guilty of assault. A publication ban prohibits the naming of the guilty because doing so might identify the children.
The brothers, aged two and five, lived in a squalid, windowless cellar room. They were only rescued when police responded to a 911 call made by the toddler when he escaped from his locked room through a hole he made in the wall.
Earlier in the trial, the case had to be put over when the Italian interpreter called in sick and a last-minute replacement could not be found.
This time, Justice Bernd Zabel expressed his frustration that there is no Italian interpreter available in Hamilton.
“With such a large Italian population in Hamilton, you are telling me the interpreter has to come all the way from Windsor?” he said. “It’s very unfortunate and unacceptable.”
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