A tale of deceit, motive and cruelty came to an end last week in Canmore Provincial Court after a former local day care owner and director was found not guilty of seven counts of assaulting children in her care three years ago.

Following a trial that took place in March 2011, which involved strong testimony from seven former employees of the now-defunct Dragonfly Daycare in Grotto Mountain Village, Susan Lee Preece was cleared of all charges by the Honourable E.J. Creighton on April 3.

In announcing his decision, Creighton also found the Crown’s key witnesses, the seven former employees, had a motive in their testimony to bring charges against Preece in an attempt to remove her from the child care facility.

“I believe these individuals colluded to bring forth these allegations with the objective that Mrs. Preece would be held criminally responsible for the allegations,” Creighton said. Read the full story at the Rocky Mountain Outlook.