Crown seeks jail time for B.C. caregiver convicted after death of woman with Down syndrome

Warning: Disturbing content

As Sharon Bursey read her victim impact statement at Astrid Dahl’s sentencing hearing on Thursday, she kept her sister Florence Girard close to her.

“Her ashes are in my necklace that I wear every single day here,” she said outside New Westminster Supreme Court. “I loved her and I miss her.”

In July, Dahl was convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life for Girard, a 54-year-old woman with Down syndrome who died at Dahl’s Port Coquitlam home on Oct. 13, 2018.

The former caregiver was also found not guilty of a charge of criminal negligence causing death.

The court heard Girard starved to death, and had not had any medical appointments since 2014. A pathologist who performed Girard’s autopsy testified some of her teeth were broken and had cavities, and many were missing.

During the trial, Dahl took the stand in her own defence, and testified Girard did not like going to the doctor or dentist, and told the court she did not have the right to “force” her.

Dahl also testified Girard starting showing less interest in food in 2018, and when asked why she didn’t call an ambulance before her death, said it was not how she wanted “that moment to be for her.”

In an emotional statement to the court, Bursey read a poem she had written for her sister, and said Girard’s death had consumed her for years.

“I have struggled with anger, depression, and anxiety,” she said. “Flo did not deserve to die this way. My hope is that justice will be served.”

She also recalled the shock of seeing her sister’s body, telling the court “she looked like a tiny child in an oversized casket.”

Bursey said though it was difficult, she wanted to deliver the statement in person.

“I thought it was important for me to read it myself, so she could hear from me,” she said. “These last four years have been really, really hard.”

Prosecutor Jay Fogel said the Crown is asking for jail time in the range of 18 to 36 months.

“Because Ms. Dahl was seen as caring for Ms. Girard, as well as providing for her, that is what enabled this offence to continue for so long unobserved,” he said. “This is not a momentary lapse. This case is not about a decision by Ms. Dahl in the last days of Ms. Girard’s life of how to address it. It was long-standing. And that, in the Crown’s submission, is the moral blameworthiness that needs to be addressed in determining the fashioning of a fit sentence.”

Dahl’s defence lawyer Glen Orris argued against jail time, and raised the options of a conditional discharge or a suspended sentence with a period of probation.

“This is not a offence involving abuse. The relationship between Ms. Dahl and Ms. Girard was a genuine and loving relationship,” he said, and added his client is “extremely remorseful.”

“The issue here is Ms. Dahl fell below the minimum standard that is expected of a reasonable person in the circumstances that she found herself in. That’s what has been determined…in my submission, that was as a result of her making decisions that she should not have made, and I say, she was functioning through her heart rather than her head.”

Dahl also addressed the court, and said she deeply regretted that Bursey did not get the chance to say goodbye to her sister.

“I did not know I was breaking any rules or laws caring for Flo the way that I did,” she said. “Now I do, and for that I am truly sorry.”

She added she accepts full responsibility for her actions.

“I would do anything to see Flo again,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine life without her and to this day, I still can’t.”

Selena Martin with the group Homeshare Caregivers of B.C. came to court to support Bursey, and said a team of people should be involved in a homeshare situation, to protect against isolation and keep track of people in care.

“We need people in people’s lives every day,” she said. “They need a support team, they need a community support worker, they need respite…vulnerable people, people with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities, they need support, and our government isn’t providing it. And they’re an important, integral part of our community, and so that has to change.”

Bursey will now have to wait until Sept. 29 for the sentencing.

“For no jail time at all, that would be a complete injustice to my sister Florence,” she said. “I want it to be over.”