No conviction in Wal-Mart toilet birth

PRINCE ALBERT, Saskatchewan, June 24 (UPI) -- A Canadian woman who abandoned her newborn baby in the toilet of a Wal-Mart store was found innocent of child abandonment in Saskatchewan.

After a week-long trial in Prince Albert last month, a judge Wednesday found 22-year-old April Halkett not guilty, agreeing with defense lawyers Halkett was confused and in shock when she delivered the baby boy, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported.

Halkett testified at her trial she didn't know she was pregnant and that the child was blue and motionless when she delivered it.

The child survived, but its name and living arrangements can't be disclosed.

Crown prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko said during the trial she didn't believe the woman's story as she refused help from store staff and shoppers.

"A mother has a responsibility to her children. All that she had to do was pick the baby up out of the toilet," the prosecutor said. "What she does do is just as important as what she doesn't do."