Seven-year prison term upheld for mother hiding daughter in China
TORONTO — A woman who refused to bring her daughter back to Canada from China despite repeated court orders to do so lost her bid on Monday to overturn her conviction and seven-year prison sentence for child abduction.
In rejecting the challenge, Ontario’s top court ruled that Chun Mei Li was properly convicted and sentenced after a jury trial last year.
“The trial judge found that the harm caused by Ms. Li’s actions, when combined with her very high degree of moral blameworthiness, warranted a sentence that was more severe than in comparable cases,” the Appeal Court said. “This was not an error.”
The girl, identified only as M., was the daughter of Li and her common-law spouse Seyed Rezadoust. In December of 2010, when M. was seven years old, Li took her to China without telling the father, the Appeal Court said. She came back without the girl.