Colchester County man gets bail on child abduction charge
A Colchester County man charged with kidnapping a one-year-old girl that sparked an Amber Alert in Quebec on June 7 has been released on bail by Truro Provincial Court.
The alert went out after RCMP in Colchester County received a report from the Quebec Provincial Police of a man seen with a child about 70 kilometers from Trois-Rivières, Que.
According to the police, the man had stopped at a gas station nearby, but could not afford the fuel. A gas station attendant took a photo of the child and the car, which had a Nova Scotia license plate.
RCMP officers then visited a house on Stewiacke Road in West St. Andrews, Colchester County, and confirmed that the child was not there.
Mounties discovered that the child, who is related to the man, had been taken from the house, leading to the Amber Alert.
About 45 minutes later, the man and little girl were found safe in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.
Jessie Wayne MacPhee, 31, of Lanesville, near Stewiacke, was arrested and charged with child abduction. He was initially detained in Quebec, but was returned to Nova Scotia on June 9.
The girl was reunited with her family.
On Monday, the Crown agreed to release MacPhee on $500 bail without a deposit.
Judge Alain Begin ordered MacPhee not to have any contact with the child unless authorized by a “court of competent jurisdiction” or through her mother.
MacPhee must remain in Nova Scotia and report to Bible Hill’s RCMP detachment every Friday.
