‘I loved my father,’ says man who killed him

McCabe suffocated and strangled semi-paralyzed dad in Kitchener nursing home to ‘end his suffering’

KITCHENER — The defence paints it as a compassionate act. The Crown calls it a brutal killing.

Ronald McCabe, known by his middle name Morgan, worked as a manager at Home Hardware’s head office. He suffered a severe head injury in 2010 and was left semi-paralyzed. He could not speak and was fed with a tube.

“His condition would not improve and he would be expected to deteriorate over time,” according to an agreed statement of facts.

McCabe was moved into the AR Goudie long-term care home on Frederick Street in Kitchener. His wife said she knew he would not want to live like this.

On the night of March 7, 2016, his son, an intoxicated Adam McCabe, visited him, as he often did. He stuffed a towel down his father’s throat and strangled him. Cause of death was suffocation and external neck compression. His dad, 56, was in his bed when he was killed.

“I am truly sorry — I loved my father,” McCabe, 34, told a judge on Wednesday at his sentencing hearing. “I witnessed my dad fade away. I know he didn’t want to continue on living that way, with zero quality of life.”

McCabe, who had a good relationship with his dad, said he decided to “grant what I thought was his wish and end his suffering. I hope everyone understands what a tough position I was in.”

McCabe, who was homeless at the time, was originally charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter and will be sentenced on May 2.

Seeing his dad in a nursing home broke Adam McCabe’s heart, defence lawyer Stephen Gehl told court. He knew his dad would never get better.

“Adam wanted his dad back.”

Gehl said it was not an aggravated manslaughter but a compassionate act.

Crown prosecutor Nancy Komsa disagreed.

“This is not a compassionate killing,” she said. “Shoving a towel down a person’s throat and strangling them is not a compassionate way to kill someone. It was a

brutal attack.”

She added: “This was a man who took a vulnerable person and killed him with his own hands. His (father’s) physical limitations rendered him vulnerable and defenceless. He couldn’t fight to stay alive.”

A message must be sent to the public, Komsa said.

“There is no person who can take another person’s life willy-nilly as Mr. McCabe did on that day.”

McCabe, who has a prior record of four assaults, poses a “very real” risk to the community, Komsa said.

She is seeking 10 years in prison minus three years and three months of enhanced

pretrial custody (extra credit).

Gehl, noting no sentence will bring Ronald McCabe back, seeks eight to 21 months.

He asked Justice Pamela Borghesan to recommend he serve it in a prisonlike hospital so he can get help.

Adam McCabe may have had delusions when he killed his dad but they didn’t meet the standard of being not criminally responsible, Gehl said. He is taking antipsychotic medication.

McCabe, sporting a moustache and beard and his hair in a ponytail, apologized in court.

“What I did was wrong and I take full responsibility for my actions. I’m sorry I broke the law.”