The South Surrey mother who smothered her young daughter to death has filed an appeal of her second-degree murder conviction, as well as of the sentence that was imposed for the crime.
Lisa Batstone’s appeal application was confirmed to Peace Arch News Wednesday by BC Prosecution Service spokesman Dan McLaughlin. Dates have not yet been set for the appeal hearing.
The court heard during trial that Batstone suffocated eight-year-old Teagan with a plastic bag in December 2014, while the girl slept.
In her reasons for the verdict, Justice Catherine Murray found the murder to be deliberate, purposeful and goal-driven.
Batstone’s conviction came with an automatic life sentence.
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Earlier this month, Batstone learned that she will have to wait 15 years to apply for release from custody.
Batstone was arrested after the body of Teagan was found in the back of a car in a cul-de-sac off Crescent Road.
Defence counsel had argued that the mother’s level of intoxication at the time she killed Teagan – along with borderline personality traits, significant levels of depression and a “cloud of stressors” – may have limited her ability to gauge the consequences of her actions.
In court, Murray said she was “not convinced” that Batstone’s mental health was the reason for the murder, rather, “Teagan was the pawn in her mother’s revenge” against Teagan’s father, Gabe Batstone, for the collapse of their marriage.
