TORONTO

A B.C. woman who kidnapped her daughter 20 years ago and blamed her own traumatic childhood for her misguided actions was given an extraordinary sentence of house arrest Tuesday.

“The vast majority of cases support the conclusion that when a parent abducts their child contrary to a custody order, that parent is going to real jail,” Justice Mara Greene said in passing a 22-month conditional sentence against Patricia O’Byrne, 55, at the Ontario Court of Justice.

“She took full responsibility for her actions and did not do anything to vilify (the father) Joseph Chisholm to his daughter or the court,” Greene said, noting this unusual case merited a stay-at-home sentence plus 100 hours of community service.

The judge said a host of factors made this case exceptional, including an early guilty plea that spared any victim from testifying at all and the fact both the daughter and Chisholm begged the court to spare the mother a prison sentence to not “exacerbate the harm caused by the offence.”

“I repeat that this factor alone (the plea for leniency) should never result in the imposition of an otherwise improper or disproportionate sentence,” stated Greene.

The judge acknowledged the links between O’Byrne’s childhood abuse — prompting her to abduct her toddler — but the lengthy delay “does not explain why Ms. O’Byrne kept her daughter away from her father 18 years later.”

The father is “truly a wonderful person and while I appreciate that the daughter has grown into a wonderful young woman, there can be no doubt she would have benefited greatly from knowing her father,” Greene said.

“At some point, the abduction became less about Ms. O’Byrne’s concern for the safety of her child and more about protecting herself from detection and prosecution.”

In February, O’Byrne pleaded guilty to abduction in violation of a custody order by taking her then 20-month-old daughter from Toronto in May 1993.

She and her statuesque daughter, now 21, lived under assumed names on Vancouver Island until an anonymous tip led police in B.C. and Toronto to arrest O’Byrne in 2011. The daughter’s identity is protected by a publication ban.

Crown attorney Michael Callaghan said the mother’s scheme deprived a loving father of his child for 18 years and should be punished with up to 18 months in prison to deter other parents in custody battles.

O’Byrne was sexually abused as a child by male caregivers and she also witnessed horrific domestic violence against her mother that required plastic surgery for her face, said Callaghan. No abuses were reported to police.

Her abusive history “left her distrustful of men in general and hypervigilant in her need to protect her daughter from any perceived threats,” Callaghan said.