Quebec woman who scalded young boy over prank pleads guilty

MONTREAL — A Quebec woman who scalded a 10-year-old boy at her door with boiling water last year, frustrated by being the victim of a doorbell prank, has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

Stéphanie Borel, 47, entered the guilty plea at the Longueuil, Que., courthouse south of Montreal on Thursday.

The Crown and defence didn’t agree on a sentence, and her case will return to court on Jan. 28, 2026, for arguments. The Crown told reporters she intends to seek jail time.

The boy, whose identity is subject to a publication ban, suffered serious burns to about four per cent of his body including his face, chest, and shoulder blade after the Oct. 2, 2024, incident.

The Crown and defence say in a joint statement of facts that Borel was fed up by schoolchildren from a nearby elementary school who would ring her doorbell and run away, a prank known as the ding dong ditch. The statement said the boy and his friends were walking home from school when he tried to prank the woman, but Borel opened the door before he could ring the bell and tossed a container of boiling water at him.

“It’s hot, huh? Get lost,” she told the boy, who is black. The statement filed Thursday said there was no proof he was specifically targeted, or that his race played a role. The two did not know each other at the time of the event but lived on the same street.

The case created controversy last fall when Longueuil police went to Borel’s home after the incident but let her go on a promise to appear. The boy’s family went public with the assault and what they called the woman’s lenient treatment by the justice system.

Two days after the incident, Borel herself called 911 and said she wanted to file a harassment complaint against her neighbours over their reaction to her throwing hot water at the child. Borel told the operator she didn’t even know it was a child before committing the act.

“She clarified that the complaint she is making is not directed against the child, but rather relates to the harassment she has been subjected to by the neighbourhood since the incident,” the court document reads.

Amid intense criticism, Borel was arrested again nine days after the assault while at work and spent 21 days in jail, according to documents.

She told the court at the time that since her detention, her landlord cancelled her lease and she lost her job as an orderly.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2025.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press