Birth mother won't face charges for abandoning baby in ditch 34 years ago

Photo: Contributed

Adriana Jessica Bonner and family.

A woman who abandoned her newborn in a ditch 34 years ago will not face criminal charges.

The Crown has decided not to prosecute the woman, who was 17 when she placed her infant daughter in a pink-striped ­Adidas bag and left her in a cold, watery ditch on April 14, 1986.

Prosecutor Susan Rupertus said only that the case does not meet the Crown charge-approval standard. In B.C., there must be a strong likelihood of conviction and a prosecution must be deemed to be in the public interest for a charge to be approved.

The decision not to prosecute angered Adriana Jessica Bonner, who became known as Baby Jessica.

“I was very angry. I believed my life was important enough to lay a charge,” Bonner said Tuesday. “The Crown said it wasn’t because of lack of evidence — it just wasn’t in people’s best interests to move forward with this charge.”

In a Facebook post, Bonner wrote that the justice system failed her.

“I believed the Crown would pave a path to set things right, to teach not only my birth mom, but other mothers, that this is not acceptable, that the lives of their infants are worth protecting. … What kind of world decides that infants’ lives don’t matter?”

In the post, Bonner urged parents to talk to their children if they become pregnant and scared.

“They do not need to believe that their only choice is to throw their baby away. It has an everlasting effect!”

Bonner traced the identity of her birth father and birth mother through an ­AncestryDNA test this year. Her birth father, Rick, had no idea he had conceived a child 35 years ago.

He has welcomed Bonner, her husband and her three children — his grandchildren — into his life. However, her birth mother has rebuffed Bonner and not allowed her to meet her children.

In September, RCMP on Vancouver Island recommended the woman be charged with abandonment.

Ray Wightman, one of three teens who pulled the shivering infant to safety 34 years ago, believes the decision sends the wrong ­message.

“You want people to know there’s accountability for their actions. And just because, by ­complete chance, we came by, she’s no longer accountable,” said ­Wightman. “It’s a horrible ­message to send to people who might be in this situation. There aren’t any repercussions.”