A British Columbia caregiver has been convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life, but acquitted of criminal negligence causing death, after a woman with Down Syndrome died in her care.
Florence Girard, 54, weighed just 56 pounds when she was found dead in Astrid Dahl’s Port Coquitlam home on Oct. 13, 2018.
At the time, RCMP cited a BC Coroners Service determination that Girard had died of malnourishment and starvation. Girard had been in care for most of her life and required around-the-clock help, police said.
Girard had resided in Dahl’s home for about eight years, under a live-in caregiving agreement overseen by the non-profit Kinsight Community Society.
A separate charge of failure to provide the necessaries of life laid against the Kinsight society was stayed in September, 2020.
At trial, the Crown alleged Dahl didn’t give Gerard her prescriptions or take her to medical appointments for a lengthy period of time. Gerard’s health declined, she stopped eating, and later died, the Crown alleged.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, the maximum sentence for failure to provide the necessaries of life is five years.
The case is slated to return to court on July 21 to fix a date for sentencing.
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