An Alberta couple has been found guilty in the death of a senior who spent days lying on a floor in her feces and urine.
June Briggs and Richard McElroy were convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life and criminal negligence in the 2023 death of Briggs’s mother, Dianne Simmons.
Court heard the 76-year-old had been living with the couple in a home north of Edmonton when she fell and remained on the floor for over a week.
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She became unresponsive, and paramedics, who reported her as being caked in her own waste, took her to hospital, where she died of multi-organ failure.
The defence argued the accused were not legally responsible for the woman’s death because she refused help, while the Crown said they owed her help due to their close familial relationship.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Kelsey Becker Brookes ruled leaving the woman in the dire state was unacceptable and any reasonable person would have recognized this.
“A reasonable person placed in these circumstances would recognize that leaving Ms. Simmons on the floor without medical support and basic care is unacceptable,” the judge said in a written decision released this week.
“An ordinarily prudent person would anticipate the risk to Ms. Simmons’ life by neglecting to provide care … and either provide it themselves or seek appropriate assistance if unable to do so.”
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