Home share co-ordinator testifies at trial of B.C. caregiver charged with criminal negligence causing death

Florence Girard is shown in an undated photo provided by her family.

Warning: Disturbing content

VANCOUVER -- The trial of a woman charged in connection with the death of a 54-year-old woman with Down syndrome who was in her care has now heard from a former employee of the non-profit that oversaw the home share arrangement.

Florence Girard was found dead in a Port Coquitlam home on Oct. 13, 2018. The Crown has said it’s alleging over time, Girard was no longer being brought to medical and dental appointments, and stopped getting prescription refills, leading to a decline in her health to the point where she wasn’t eating properly.

Prosecutor Jay Fogel has said the court will hear from a pathologist who believes Girard’s death was caused by starvation or malnutrition.

Astrid Dahl is charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life. The defence has not yet presented its case.

On Tuesday, Krista Maniezzo testified she had worked as a shared living co-ordinator with the non-profit Kinsight, which received funding from the Crown corporation Community Living BC, and Dahl was one of the caregivers she had been assigned to supervise during part of that time.

Maniezzo told the court she noticed Girard displaying some “memory loss” after she and Dahl moved to a townhouse about two years before her death, and said Girard would often ask when she would be going back home.

Maniezzo testified there was discussion about Girard seeing a doctor related to her memory loss in the months after the move, but added she never received an update on whether that happened.

Maniezzo also told the court end of life plans were never discussed, adding that would typically only happen if there was a reason to warrant it, such as someone being terminally ill.

Maniezzo testified there were no discussions about Girard’s condition worsening in any way other than her memory loss, and said Dahl never approached her about any problems related to taking Girard to appointments.

Maniezzo told the court the last time she saw Girard in person was on Feb. 15, 2018. In the summer of that year, she told the court Girard’s file was transitioned to another worker, due to the large number of files Maniezzo already had to oversee.

During cross examination, defence lawyer Glen Orris asked Maniezzo about how home visits were initially scheduled every couple of months, but then changed to quarterly visits due to a policy change.

Orris: But you’d agree with me, would you not, that you could visit anytime?

Maniezzo: Yes.

In an audio recording of a statement Dahl made to police the day after Girard’s body was found, Dahl said Girard’s appetite declined in the weeks leading up to her death. When asked by an RCMP officer why she didn’t take Girard to the doctor, she said she didn’t know and added “I guess I wasn’t panicked.”

In the statement, which was played on the second day of the trial, Dahl said on the day before Girard was found dead she had tried to feed her mashed potatoes but said she “wasn’t responding” to food.

“I pretty much knew that was going to be her last night alive. You could see it in her,” Dahl said. “She was trying to drink, you could see she wanted to, and then you could just see that she just gave up.”

Dahl said she placed Girard in bed and then went to bed herself, after taking some NyQuil to get some sleep following a flu she had come down with recently.

Dahl told the officer she went into Girard’s room the next morning around 10 a.m., and she was cold to the touch.

“I opened the door, called her name, went over, touched her on the forehead,” Dahl said. “I went back out. I went to my room, and closed the door. I don’t know if I was there for maybe half an hour. I didn’t know what to do…I didn’t know how to react.”

Dahl said she called police around 1 p.m., after getting her phone and researching what to do when someone dies.

Cpl. Shannon Lopetinsky asked Dahl if there was a point in the night when she thought Girard should go to the hospital. She said no.

“I guess in the back of my mind, I thought she’s going to be OK tomorrow,” Dahl said. “I don’t know.”

Other Kinsight workers, a police investigator and a pathologist are also expected to testify at the trial, which will continue on Wednesday.