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Man on trial for putting baby in freezer

2007-06-06 10:52:40

Mon Nov 27, 8:40 AM ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian man who could not figure out how to deal with his

girlfriend's feverish 10-month-old daughter put the baby into a freezer to cool

her down, a local newspaper reported on Friday.

Derrick Hardy faces charges of criminal negligence and assaulting the infant,

who was rescued when her mother came home, the Charlottetown Guardian said.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said the mother found the girl crammed into the

freezer alongside ice cubes and hamburger meat. Hardy said he had left the door

ajar but the mother said it had been closed when she returned.

He told a court in the eastern province of Prince Edward Island on Thursday the

child had only been in the freezer for about 40 seconds.

Hardy, 21, who admitted to police that he had no real parenting skills to deal

with a sick child, said he had noticed the girl was very hot and put a cool

cloth on her face, but this had no effect.

He then carried the girl outside into the night air but, frustrated that this

also did not work and worried she might drown if placed in a cold bath, he put

the baby into the kitchen freezer. She was wearing only an undershirt.

A local doctor said the mother had described her baby as "crying, sobbing and

terrified." The child spent several days in hospital to recover from first- and

second-degree freezer burns on her head and torso.

Hardy has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The baby's grandmother now has

custody of the girl.