'I'm sorry': Calgary parents plead guilty to neglect of disabled adult son
CBC
A Calgary mother broke into tears Friday after she and her husband pleaded guilty to failing to provide the necessaries of life for their severely disabled adult son.
Malinda Phillips and Jonathon Grunewald entered their pleas in Calgary's Court of Queen's Bench.
In an agreed statement of facts, court heard that the 29-year-old man was mostly confined to his bedroom over five years. He had been diagnosed at birth with severe cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder and brain damage.
He was rushed to hospital in October 2020 when he was found unresponsive in the family's home.
"He was admitted in critical condition, in a state of shock, and displaying the profound effects of hypothermia, sepsis and weighing only 43 pounds," said Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh.
Hospital officials alerted Calgary police and officers charged the couple last year.
"I'm sorry," sobbed Phillips before entering her guilty plea.
A sentencing hearing is be scheduled April 8. Court heard lawyers expect to present a joint recommendation for the sentences.
Walsh told court that Phillips and Grunewald admitted that their son hadn't used a wheelchair for three years and "was essentially bedridden, except for special occasions including family dinners and outings."
They were offered help for their son and in 2015 they began receiving $1,768 a month from Alberta's Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped program.
Walsh said Phillips didn't trust the medical community.
"[Phillips] acknowledged she had been offered home care assistance but turned it down as she did not believe it would be beneficial," Walsh said.
The mother also admitted to withholding food from the son four to five days a week.
"She acknowledged that this has been going on for the past four to five years and she noticed his medical condition declining about three years ago but did not take him to the doctor," said Walsh.
In the four years Chelsey Simmonds has worked at the Eva Rothwell Centre, she has seen the need increase every year at the centre’s community food pantry.
CBC is once again looking to make the holiday season kind in Windsor-Essex.
Acute Care Alberta has extended its contract for another year with a private surgical facility at the centre of probes into health procurement and contracting.
As food bank use continues to climb across the province, front-line workers in Thunder Bay, Ont., are working to improve both food security and education.
More ads could soon be coming to Toronto’s subway system.
The driver wanted in connection with a fatal hit and run on Highway 401 earlier this week has been identified, police say.
There are mixed feelings about the proposed Grays Bay road and port project, among people who live in nearby communities.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse and includes graphic content.
Provincial police in Lambton County have charged a 23-year-old man with second degree murder following a death investigation that began this past Saturday.
The Newfoundland and Labrador government is forming a working group to tackle what it calls systemic issues in the justice system, but answers or solutions could still be months away.
A woman has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in a 2024 fatal hit and run in Truro, N.S., where the victim was dragged down the street, a case that went unsolved for more than six months.
A stream of people showing up to a brightly lit front porch, each holding up a bottle of wine, spirits, or beer.
Sona Lakhoyan Olivier has been excluded from Quebec’s Liberal caucus for the duration of an investigation led by the National Assembly’s ethics commissioner, the party announced Thursday.