A Toronto woman serving a life sentence for the murder of her seven-year-old stepson will be allowed to leave prison for a supervised visit with her recently widowed father, a Parole Board of Canada panel ruled Friday.

Marcia Dooley and her husband, Edward (Tony) Dooley, were convicted of second-degree murder in 2002 for the death of Tony's son, Randal.

The boy endured months of brutal physical abuse — most of it at the hands of Marcia Dooley — after he and his brother moved from Jamaica to Toronto to live with their father and stepmother in 1997, court records show.

At a hearing before a parole board panel on Friday, Dooley apologized for the pain her actions had caused as she requested permission for an escorted temporary absence from prison to visit her 75-year-old father in east Toronto.

"I am hurt and disgusted by the horrific crime that I committed but I know that crime does not define who I am today," she said, frequently breaking into tears as she spoke.

Dooley said she had lashed out in anger over having to care for two children without the support of her husband, who she said frequently left the family for months at a time to sell drugs in the U.S.

"I never knew, because of my frustration and overwhelmed feeling, how to control my emotions, and I had low self-esteem," she said.

Shortly after her husband's sons moved in, Dooley said she learned she was pregnant. She gave birth approximately six months before delivering the blow that killed Randal in 1998, the panel heard.

Post-partum depression "undoubtedly played a role" in the crime, Dooley's lawyer Fergus O'Connor said, noting that the condition was not mentioned at trial or in subsequent reviews of the case.

The parole board also heard that Dooley has two jobs in prison and has been living under minimum security since 2014. She has completed numerous counselling and anger management programs while incarcerated, it heard.

Visit granted on compassionate grounds

After listening to Dooley, the panel granted her request for an escorted temporary absence.

Dooley, who is currently serving her sentence at a facility in Gravenhurst, Ont., will be allowed out for eight hours — a four hour visit with her father plus travel time — under the constant supervision of correctional service officers, the panel ruled.

"We have taken into account (your father's) recent loss and his difficulty getting to the prison," lead parole board member Mike Sanford said.

Dooley was previously granted two supervised absences from prison on compassionate grounds in the weeks leading up to her mother's death in November 2017, and completed the visits without incident, the board heard.

She is eligible for parole in 2020.

Tony Dooley, also serving a life sentence, was approved for escorted temporary absences last year.