Crown requires jail time for BC caregiver convicted in affected person demise

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The Crown is looking for jail time for a B.C. caregiver who was convicted within the demise of a lady with Down syndrome who had been in her care.

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In July, B.C. Supreme Courtroom Justice David Crossin discovered Astrid Charlotte Dahl, 54, responsible of failing to offer the necessaries of life in reference to the demise of Florence Girard, 54.

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In October 2018 police had been referred to as to Dahl’s Port Coquitlam residence to what appeared on the time to be a routine sudden-death name however which finally led to an investigation into the circumstances of the demise.

A pathologist concluded that the reason for demise was extreme malnutrition leading to hunger and demise. The decide discovered that Girard had misplaced a “stunning” quantity of weight.

The accused, who had recognized Girard for 30 years, testified that it was well-known that Girard didn’t wish to go to see docs or dentists and infrequently needed to be bribed to go to a medical appointment.

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Requested why she hadn’t requested Girard to see a physician given her decline in well being and weight, she mentioned she knew what her reply can be.

Within the final week, she didn’t take Girard to see a physician as a result of she believed it might have been traumatic and Girard wouldn’t have wished to have gone.

However the decide mentioned it was apparent to the accused, or must have been, that the failure to hunt medical consideration for Girard, significantly over the past weeks of her life, would result in a threat of hazard to her life.

He famous that the accused knew or suspected that by the final week of her life Girard was dying but didn’t search medical consideration and that by then Girard had stopped, or nearly utterly stopped, taking meals and fluids.

In his sentencing submissions Thursday, Crown counsel Jay Fogel argued that the vary of sentence for Dahl must be between 18 and 36 months in jail, and that the offender ought to obtain a sentence on the excessive finish of the vary.

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He famous that after March 2014 Dahl had ceased taking Girard to her medical appointments. Dahl selected to make selections that Girard not obtain medical consideration whereas her situation deteriorated over the course of the previous couple of months, he added.

The truth that Girard died in her caregiver’s hand-crafted her case extra aggravating and the time period the sufferer was deteriorating was important, mentioned Fogel.

In a sufferer influence assertion, Sharon Bursey, Girard’s sister, mentioned that when she was knowledgeable that her sibling had died of malnutrition, she was “heartbroken and confused.”

“Flo didn’t should die this manner,” mentioned Bursey, her voice breaking.

Glen Orris, a lawyer for Girard, started his submissions by arguing that the case legislation cited by the Crown was “method out of line” with the circumstances earlier than the courtroom. He argued that it was a “very uncommon” and distinctive case, noting that Dahl beloved Girard and believed she was appearing in her greatest pursuits.

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Orris mentioned {that a} interval of jail time was not essential and argued {that a} discharge, which might end in Dahl having no prison report, is an obtainable choice.

In a letter that she learn out in courtroom, Dahl mentioned she was “past traumatized” sitting earlier than the decide, including that she’d utterly shut down as an individual.

“I need to begin off by saying that I didn’t know that I used to be breaking any guidelines or legal guidelines caring for Flo the way in which that I did. Now I do and for that I’m actually sorry. There are not any excuses to make up for what occurred and my emotions come final in all of this.”

Dahl will probably be sentenced at a later date.

kfraser@postmedia.com

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