A 53-year-old mother accused of killing her daughter during an altercation on the outskirts of Saskatoon has been found not guilty.

The verdict was announced in Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench early Wednesday afternoon, about a day after the jury began deliberations.

The mother, Frances Sugar, was found not guilty of second-degree murder and not guilty of manslaughter in the death of her 34-year-old daughter Lindey Sugar.

Lindey was killed south of Saskatoon in June 2014. Police said she was killed following an altercation outside of a vehicle at Clarence Avenue South and Victor Road. She suffered a neck injury and was later pronounced dead in hospital.

A lawyer for Frances Sugar said during closing arguments Monday the altercation was a case of self-defence. Frances was physically outmatched by her daughter, who attacked her, the defence argued. Frances feared for her life and tried to make peace with her daughter, but was eventually forced to protect herself.

She didn’t even know her daughter was dead until police told her the next day, according to the defence. Frances also didn’t try to hide the knife and was too intoxicated to form the intent to kill her daughter, her lawyer argued.

The Crown, which argued throughout the trial Frances stabbed her daughter to death after a dispute, said during closing arguments Lindey provoked the fight but Frances responded with too much force. The mother was only threatened with bodily harm, not death, the prosecutor said.

The Crown also argued Frances was not as intoxicated during the alleged altercation as the defence argued. Frances drank vodka after stabbing Lindey and was walking normally along the side of the road when she was arrested, the Crown alleged.

--- with files from CTV Saskatoon’s Allison Bamford and Calvin To