A toddler beaten and left near a Winnipeg playground on Tuesday is making remarkable progress and is expected to recover with no permanent damage, says her mother.
Fourteen-month-old Vanessa Jamie Houle had breathing tubes removed from her mouth and is doing fine, according to her mother, Daisy Houle.
Houle, however, has not yet been able to see Vanessa due to the investigation, which involves the police and Child and Family Services. She said she has been told she will get access soon.
When that time comes, she has invited the man she credits with saving Vanessa's life to visit the little girl.
Tyler Bilsborrow was having a cigarette outside his home on Chudley Street at about 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday when he heard screams and went to look. At the edge of a playground across the street he saw a woman slamming something against the sidewalk.
In the dark, Bilsborrow thought it was a cat being beaten, but when he approached the woman, she dropped the child and ran off.
Tyler Bilsborrow is being hailed as a hero for intervening in the assault on Vanessa Houle.Tyler Bilsborrow is being hailed as a hero for intervening in the assault on Vanessa Houle. (CBC)
He removed his sweater and swaddled the little girl, holding her until emergency crews arrived. Emergency crews have told him Vanessa would surely have died if he hadn't intervened.
She was in serious condition when she was initially rushed to hospital.
Nikita Solange Eaglestick, 19, is in custody charged with attempted murder, abduction and aggravated assault.
According to court documents obtained by CBC News, Eaglestick was already facing 14 other charges from incidents earlier this summer, including assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, and uttering threats. Last week, the Crown consented to release her from custody with strict conditions.
Kelvin Goertzen, Manitoba Conservative justice critic, said she should never have been released.
"The majority of individuals who are going out on bail and getting conditions don't think they're ever going to be monitored, and if they do break those conditions of their bail, that there's ever going to be consequences. That was probably the case here as well," he said.
According to police, there is no relationship between Eaglestick and Vanessa. Eaglestick was attending a house party at Houle's residence in a Manitoba housing complex on Gilbert Avenue when she allegedly snatched the girl from her crib.
Houle said Eaglestick came to the party with a friend but was not known to anyone else at the home.
Gilbert intersects with Chudley at the edge of Shaughnessy Park, where Bilsborrow found Vanessa. Houle didn't know Vanessa was missing until the little girl had already been taken to the hospital.
She said she ran around looking for Vanessa. Not until she heard on early-morning radio newscasts that a baby had been beaten in the neighbourhood did Houle realize where her daughter was. She then contacted police.
On Thursday, residents in the Gilbert Park housing complex where Houle and Vanessa live gathered to hold a healing circle with an elder at a nearby community centre to pray for the girl's recovery and those emotionally affected by the incident.
Eaglestick remains in custody and is scheduled to be in court on Sept. 21.
