(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

A woman who bit another person's child in Kamloops went to BC Supreme Court to have her sentenced reduced by several months.

Jessie Jolene Louise Kerr pleaded guilty to assault last year for what was described as a "one-off incident" of "excessive force" to discipline someone else's child.

They were at a park where the child had a "fit" when told it was time to leave. Kerr bit the child's shoulder and pinched their chest to gain control of the child, according to a recently published BC Supreme Court decision.

"The bite broke the skin, there was bruising, and the child was emotionally impacted," the decision reads.

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Kerr's friends described it as out of character and said she is a loving parent, while she also had no criminal record.

The Crown and defence submitted a 12-month probation order agreement, but the provincial court judge extended that to 19 months.

"It seems to me that it is my job ... to protect society and maintain a just, peaceful, and safe society, by imposing just sanctions. In my view, my primary job, when it is an abuse of a child is to continue to protect that child on that level, without interfering with the liberty of the accused any further than I need to, and I think I can accomplish that by simply making this probation order longer, but having the reporting piece of it end at the end of 12 months," the provincial court judge said.

Kerr's child and the victim go to the same school, so the judge added seven months so she would be restricted from contact with the victim until the end of the corresponding school year.

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But BC Supreme Court Justice Barbara Norell said the sentencing judge didn't have any reason to override a joint submission between the Crown and defence beyond being "very uncomfortable."

Norell said she must "consider whether the proposed joint sentence would leave reasonable and informed persons to believe that the proper functioning of the justice system had broken down," and decided to return to the originally proposed 12-month suspended sentence. Kerr's conditions weren't changed.

It's not clear whether Kerr served part of her probation order since the initial December 2023 sentence or when exactly the probation order will end. Under the 19-month sentence it would have concluded July 2025.

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