A 37-year-old Surrey mother has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her son.

The criminal charge against Jaswinder Kang comes almost five years after her four-month-old baby, Jasvir Singh Kang, was found face down in a backyard pool on May 25, 2002.

He died weeks later at Children's Hospital in Vancouver.

For years, Surrey Mounties were unable to push through the case. They did a full sweep of the neighbourhood at the time of the infant's death and conducted more than 250 interviews.

The case was revived last year after police reviewed the city's unsolved homicides.

Of 69 cold cases, the Kang file came up high on the list and the three-member Unsolved Homicide Project Team pursued it aggressively.

"The message is we've not forgotten the victims, nor the family members," said Surrey RCMP spokesman Cpl. Roger Morrow.

"Certainly for family members, five years or longer is a very long time, but we needed the full co-operation of witnesses. [We] only get one kick at the can. So if we're going to trial, we have to make sure [we have] an expectation of a conviction."

In New Westminster Supreme Court yesterday, a frightened-looking Kang sat with shoulders hunched in the corner of the prisoner's box.

The petite woman had spent the night in custody following her arrest after work on Monday.

She was released yesterday after her husband, Daljit Kang, and a family friend each posted a $50,000 surety.

Bail conditions require Kang to turn in her passport and to report to a bail supervisor.

At the time of her son's death, Kang told police that a panhandler in his early 20s had knocked on the door of her basement suite at 6:30 a.m. and snatched the baby from her arms.

About 20 minutes later, Kang's landlord found the boy face down in the backyard pool.

Police said at the time they could not find a suspect who matched the description of the panhandler.

Investigators interviewed Kang for a full day, but she was not charged.

Kang's lawyer, Russ Chamberlain, told media in 2002 that his client had sustained cuts consistent with someone having to fend off a knife attack.

"She appeared to be strong, clear, alert and displaying no sign of depression," said Chamberlain at the time. "She behaved consistent with a woman who had her child seriously injured as a consequence of the conduct of others."

Chamberlain refused to comment yesterday.

Surrey RCMP said the Kang case is the second cold case now brought to court since the formation of the unsolved-homicides unit.

The first involved the murder of four-year-old Candice Walters in 1991.

The trial of Robert O'Sullivan is now before the courts.

The team will be expanded to five members next year and will have the ability to pull in more resources as cases develop.

"The operative phrase is stay tuned," said Morrow. "There are other investigations that we feel have the potential for a successful conclusion."

Kang's next appearance will be Tuesday in Surrey Provincial Court.