Babysitter who left toddler in burning building pleads guilty to several charges

A woman who left a toddler alone in a burning apartment in Montreal last year has pleaded guilty to several charges, including abandoning a child and arson by negligence.

​Josée Milot, 50, told a court on Monday that she regretted her actions and never meant to harm the child, after a fire broke out at an apartment in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood last August.

Milot, who has been in jail since that time, broke down in tears in the courtroom.

The judge agreed to a jointly proposed sentence of 10½ months behind bars, plus two years probation.

Milot will be released from jail and will spend the next six months in a rehab facility. She also told the judge she plans to turn her life around.

Antonio Cabral, Milot's lawyer, said the sentence may appear lenient, but his client "recognized her faults [and] is not contesting anything."

"And the prosecutor said it — she never intended to set the fire," said Cabral.

Milot also pleaded guilty to obstructing a police investigation, after she gave police a fake name following her arrest.

Child suffered smoke inhalation

Milot was babysitting the one-year-old girl when she started cooking something on the stove.

She left the apartment to go to another one and then the fire broke out.

Four police officers, who happened to be in the area on another call, rescued the child from the burning apartment.

The toddler and the officers suffered smoke inhalation, but everyone survived.