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Facebook Group Calling Woman 'Babykiller' Changes Tune As Police Investigate

Posted on: Thursday, 14 June 2007, 18:19 CDT

By MARIA BABBAGE

TORONTO (CP) - A Facebook group that openly condemned a northern Ontario woman accused of leaving her baby to die as a "babykiller" has softened its tone after police began investigating the possibility it posed a threat to the woman's safety.

An administrator with the group on the popular social networking site said Thursday she was "shocked" to learn police were investigating, and that she never wanted to incite violence towards Tabitha Etches, from North Bay, Ont.

"I had no intentions of hurting anybody's safety or anything like that," Jessica Paquette said in an interview from St. Catharines, Ont.

Paquette, who is from North Bay and went to school with Etches, said she voluntarily changed the group's name and deleted many of the obscenity-laced comments.

One of the Facebook group's 200 members advocated running Etches out of the community for the alleged crime while another urged members to show up at her next court date with signs and friends to "show (their) hate for her."

Other messages posted on the website described Etches as "sick" and "twisted" and expressed hope she would "rot in hell" or be beaten while in prison.

Paquette, 25, said she's asking members not to post any threats and is carefully screening the comments.

"This is really not about her, it's about justice for the little baby," she said.

Paquette said she started the group with a friend because she was outraged that Etches was granted bail on Monday, and that the charges against her each carry a maximum penalty of only five years in jail.

"I'm a mother of three children. I had a child at 15 years old. And I suffered from postpartum, so I've been through the worst," Paquette said.

"I feel like somebody needs to speak for this little baby."

Etches, 25, has been in custody since being charged last Friday with infanticide and neglecting to get help in childbirth. Evidence heard during her bail hearing is covered by a publication ban.

Paquette and a few other members are planning a protest at the North Bay courthouse where Etches is scheduled to make her next court appearance June 26.

The officer who has been assigned to look into the Facebook group will also examine those protest plans as part of the investigation, North Bay police spokesman Sgt. Chuck Seguin said Thursday.

No concerns have been raised about Etches' safety to date, he said.

The charges followed an extensive police investigation that began after two teens found the body of a baby boy near a walking trail in North Bay on March 30. Investigators say the full-term infant, wrapped in a towel in a plastic bag, was likely alive when he was abandoned last winter.

During the investigation, police canvassed the community for leads, implored the mother to come forward and even released photos of the orange towel found with the baby in the hopes that it would lead them to her.

The mother was eventually identified through DNA analysis conducted through the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto, police said. The cause of the child's death is still not known.

Although Etches was granted bail, she was not released because her father changed his mind about acting as the person responsible for making sure she abides by her bail conditions.

Source: Canadian Press

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