National org. says Sask. caregiver who sexually abused group home residents should face maximum penalty

WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse.

A national group that advocates for people who have intellectual disabilities says a Saskatchewan man should face the harshest possible sentence for the abuse he committed against vulnerable adults in his care.

Brent Gabona worked as a caregiver at Shepherd's Villa, a group home for adults with severe disabilities in Hepburn, Sask., from 1992 to 2009.

Thirteen years after leaving the group home, he confessed to police that he sexually abused five residents who were under his care.

Gabona pleaded guilty earlier this year to criminal charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a person with a disability. On Wednesday, lawyers made their sentencing submissions to a provincial court judge in Rosthern, Sask.

Crown prosecutor Lana Morelli said Gabona should spend 15 years in prison. Gabona's defence lawyer said his client should serve 6.5 years, telling the judge that Gabona was remorseful and a devout Christian who has the support of his friends and family. 

"We want to see the maximum sentence imposed, I mean, given the heinous nature of the crimes against a vulnerable population over such a prolonged period of time," said Robin Acton, president of Inclusion Canada, a national group that advocates for the rights and well-being of Canadians with intellectual disabilities and their families.

Inclusion Canada has called the nature of Gabona's crimes beyond distressing.

Acton questioned why there weren't safeguards in place at Shepherd's Villa to protect its vulnerable population.

Gabona has confessed to targeting non-verbal residents so they could not report what he was doing to them. Acton said non-verbal people do communicate, but the people caring for them need to be paying attention.

All of Gabona's victims were discharged from the group home because they began to display behavioural issues. Gabona remained employed, according to an agreed statement of facts submitted at his sentencing hearing.

Acton said the system appears to have failed the victims.

"Behaviour is a way of communicating," she said. "Where are the checks and balances? Where is the system in looking at why is it that this many people, [that] their services were discontinued because of behavioural issues?"

She also questioned what processes were in place that allowed Gabona to be hired at the group home in the first place. Court heard he was hired by his own mother, just months after being convicted of a sexual offence against a minor. At Gabona's sentencing hearing, the Crown prosecutor said his mother had been "well aware" of the conviction.