Crown seeks jail for care worker

Sheila Gerrard’s actions at home for people with disabilities called ‘despicable and deploring’

KITCHENER — A residential aide working in a home for people with severe disabilities who rubbed urine-soaked sheets on a blind man to teach him a lesson should go to jail for six to eight months for her “cruel and callous” behaviour, says a crown prosecutor.

Tricia Holmes said Sheila Gerrard’s actions were “demeaning and dehumanizing.” “There is no other way to characterize her behaviour,” Holmes told Justice Melanie Sopinka in Ontario court in Kitchener Monday. Holmes is also seeking three years of probation and ordering Gerrard receive counselling.

Holmes said placing urine-soaked sheets on a man’s naked body was “despicable and deploring.”

Gerrard’s lawyer Cooper Lord suggested Sopinka consider a conditional sentence of four to six months along with a period of probation.

Lord agreed rubbing urine-soaked sheets on a blind man was a “disgusting” act. However, it was a “momentary offence that didn’t cause pain or injury.”

Lord said the assault was on the lower range and the victim didn’t know what was happening.

Holmes repeatedly said the assault was not minor and more respect should be shown to “most vulnerable in society.”

“He could not defend himself. He couldn’t tell anyone,” she said. “He was completely at the mercy of Ms. Gerrard.

“He had very little value as a human being in her eyes,” Holmes said.

Gerrard, 62, worked for Community Living Cambridge at North Lodge where she assisted with the caring of seniors with severe developmental disabilities.

Gerrard pleaded not guilty to three charges; two counts of assault and one of uttering a threat to cause bodily harm, but Sopinka found her guilty of the charges.

He had very little value as a human being in her eyes. CROWN PROSECUTOR TRICIA HOLMES

Gerrard was acquitted of charges related to other residents.

The agency, which has been serving vulnerable people in the community for 63 years, has 325 full- and part-time employees and 24 group homes in Cambridge.

North Lodge is a 12-person home offering around-the-clock care.

Many of the residents have lived at the home for more than 25 years and some had multiple issues including cerebral palsy and dementia, Holmes said.

Court heard that Gerrard was trying to teach the elderly blind man, who has since died, a lesson. Gerrard also shoved the resident.

“She abused her position of trust in the most egregious of ways,” Holmes told the court.

Gerrard twice assaulted the resident in his 70s who had lived at North Lodge for 25 years. He couldn’t see, hear or speak and died shortly before the trial.

“He was almost infant like,” Holmes said.

“She had no patience. She used intimidation and fear to get what she wanted.”

One day in 2016, after soiling the bed, the man was on the toilet naked when Gerrard rubbed urine-soaked linens against his chest, court was told. An employee who witnessed it said Gerrard told her she was “teaching him a lesson.”

In court, Gerrard denied the allegation. The judge said she rejected Gerrard’s evidence “in its entirety.”

On another day in 2016, Gerrard grabbed the man, turned him around and shoved him into bed with both hands. The shoving caused him to lose his balance.

The employee who saw the incident, the same one who saw the incident with the sheets, said it made her feel sick to her stomach.

Gerrard also told an employee to administer medication to a resident, even though the employee was not trained to do so. Gerrard said she would “sign off for it” and was later heard saying the employee knew better than to “rat her out” or she would “slit the bitch’s throat.”

Holmes urged Sopinka to send a “strong and clear message” in sentencing Gerrard to jail.

“Abusing vulnerable persons will not be tolerated and such abuse will be dealt with harshly,” Holmes said.

Court heard that Gerrard had a good upbringing in a Christian home and maintains relationships with her siblings. Gerrard, a twin, was one of nine children.

Gerrard has three children. Two daughters were in the courtroom supporting her and described their mother’s actions as out of character.

Lord said Gerrard has a son with mental health issues who in the past had been violent. He is now on medication.

Lord said Gerrard, who worked for 17 years with six of them for Community Living Cambridge, was unable to find work after the incident. He said the media coverage of the charges caused her stress.

Lord said Gerrard denies any diagnosis on her mental health but felt shame because she was swearing more often. In her address to the court, Gerrard said she was innocent.

“These charges bothered my heart. They are not true,” she said.

“I would never do the things I was charged with,” she said. “I can not be remorseful for something I did not do.

“Before Christ and this court, I am innocent,” Gerrard said.

Gerrard will be sentenced next month.