A 72-year-old caregiver at a nursing home committed "a horrendous breach of trust" when he sexually assaulted an 86-year-old resident, a judge pronounced Friday.
"This is clearly a case that cries out for denunciation and deterrence," Judge Frank Maloney said as he sentenced Cesar Benjamin Guzman to 18 months in jail.
Mr. Guzman also received two years probation, is prohibited from working or volunteering at seniors residences and has had his DNA and name added to the national sex offender database.
"I am of the view a conditional sentence is not appropriate for this egregious breach of trust," Judge Maloney added. "This was a serious sexual assault, although not a major sexual assault."
The judge also ordered that $2,000 in restitution be paid to the victim's family for costs incurred to move her to a new home.
According to an agreed statement of facts, the woman's bed sensor alarm was tripped last July 24 in the afternoon, alerting a nearby nurse at Wentworth Manor in Calgary.
When the nurse entered the room, she found Mr. Guzman leaning over the victim, whose pyjama bottoms had been removed. The woman's legs were over the shoulders of the accused and he was holding her arms down.
The victim was yelling "Stop!" or "Get away!" according to the nurse, who said Mr. Guzman told her he was changing the woman's diaper. The nurse reported what she had seen and Mr. Guzman confessed to police.
Mr. Guzman, a physician in his native Peru, moved to Canada in 1998 and is a landed immigrant. He apologized to the victim and her family following his earlier guilty plea.
His own family - a wife of 51 years and five children - was present in court. They shook his hand, hugged and kissed him when his name was called out.
Mr. Guzman hung his head after the sentence was handed down and didn't look up as he was escorted out of the courtroom.
One of the victim's daughters was relieved that Mr. Guzman received the maximum allowed in the Criminal Code.
"I didn't think he'd get a day. I was expecting the worst so that I wouldn't be horribly disappointed," Marjorie Starr told reporters outside court.
"I'm very pleased that they gave him the maximum because he deserved it."
Despite the victim's dementia, she remembers what happened, said Ms. Starr.
"She talks about that man and she knows what we're going through right now through the courts. She's afraid to be alone at night. She asks us to stay or she asks to come home with us. She's frightened."
Judge Maloney said Mr. Guzman, as a former physician working for the Peruvian government, would have known that someone with dementia is not able to give consent to any kind of sexual encounter.
A complaint against Wentworth Manor has been filed with the Alberta government on behalf of the victim by the Elder Advocates of Alberta Society.
"This is an upscale place. How could this happen? This is a civilized facility," said society president Ruth Maria Adria.
"Allegedly this is a safe place for vulnerable persons."
Problems with elder abuse have reached epidemic proportions, said Adria, who made the complaint with the approval of the victim's family.
"Unfortunately, until you're intimately involved and it's a family member, it's a little difficult to even believe that it's happening."
Ms. Starr hopes the attack on her mother will push the Alberta government to making senior care homes safer. She suggested the use of video surveillance might help do that.
"The seniors would feel safer. Even to push a senior or talk nastily to a senior, it hurts them," she said.
"They're proud people. They're our moms and dads and they need to be treated with respect."