Woman charged with Surrey NICU assault, animal cruelty remains in custody – BC

A woman accused of inappropriately handling babies inside Surrey hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit remains in jail pending a bail hearing.

Lindsey Hirtreiter was arrested on a warrant late last week, even though she is not facing any new charges.

She appeared briefly via video link in Surrey provincial court on Monday and has been remanded in custody ahead of another video appearance on Thursday for a possible bail hearing.

Hirtreiter, 35, was arrested last October for reportedly giving three babies “skin-to-skin” contact in Surrey’s Memorial Hospital.

She was granted $500 bail last Monday.

As part of her bail conditions, she was ordered to stay away from the victims and all NICUs in B.C. and to live at Glory House in Mission, which is an addiction recovery house.

Global News knocked on the door of the facility on Friday, which is run by Hope for Freedom Society, and was told Hirtreiter was not there and they didn’t know where she was.

It turns out that Hirtreiter was arrested again on Friday, according to the BC Prosecution Service.

She was arrested under Section 512.3 of the Criminal Code, under which a justice may issue a warrant if there are reasonable grounds to believe that an accused has contravened or is about to contravene a release order.

Criminal lawyer Ryan Hira says that section of the Criminal Code is used to simplify the bail procedure.

“It provides a process by which the Crown can get an expedited warrant,” he said.

“To allow for accused persons who have breached, are about to breach or have committed another offence to go before the court quickly.”

Hirtreiter was previously convicted of animal cruelty in the 2015 stabbing and torture of a family’s black lab.

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