MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - A daycare provider has been charged with second-degree
murder in the death of a 14-month-old girl following an alleged assault earlier in the week.
Peel regional police were called to the home of April Luckese, 35, on Wednesday and emergency services found a baby girl in need of "immediate medical attention," said Const. Adam Minnion.
Luckese was charged with aggravated assault and released on bail on Thursday.
The baby died of her injuries in hospital Friday and homicide investigators rearrested Luckese and charged her with second-degree murder. She is scheduled to appear for another bail hearing Saturday in the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton, Ont.
Luckese ran April's Daycare out of her Mississauga, Ont., home that she shares with her husband Rob and her two sons, said a daycare agency provider.
Janice Luckese, the executive director of Kiddie Kare and a distant relative of April Luckese, said the woman used to work with her agency. She estimated Luckese's children to be about seven or eight years old and three or four years old.
"(I'm) extremely surprised," she said. "There was nothing at all that would indicate that there would be any harm to a child in her care."
An online posting for April's Daycare in Mississauga, Ont., described it as a "safe, loving and nurturing home environment."
"Mother of two boys offering child care in my home," read the posting, which has been removed from the website godaycare.com.
"Over 15 years experience working with kids. CPR and First Aid certified. Smoke-free home. Nutritious lunch and snacks provided. Fully fenced yard with sand box, slide and many other toys."
The one review posted to the site read: "April's Daycare provides a safe, clean environment."
Janice Luckese said the home was a "beautiful set-up."
"She provided, through the agency, a very good service," she said.
"She had a lot of activities, crafts, she took the children outside on a regular basis and did outside activities with them. We had no concerns with her."
April Luckese stopped working with Kiddie Kare to become an unlicensed, private daycare provider when she had her second child, Janice Luckese said.
Government rules restrict the number of children in the daycare to two children under two years old, three children under the age of three, for a total of up to five, Luckese said. Because one's own children count, the rules were restrictive for April Luckese, so she and Kiddie Kare mutually agreed she would no longer work through them, so she could care for more kids, Janice Luckese said.
