It was like raping a child, only worse.
When registered practical nurse Esau Davis sexually assaulted a paralyzed, mentally disabled patient "he knew he could count on a silent scream," the victim's mother said yesterday. "At least a child can cry for help."
Mr. Davis's victim was a 31-year-old woman with the mind of a six-year-old. Her vocal cords, like her hips and legs, are paralyzed as a result of a genetic brain malformation that caused severe cerebral palsy. She weighs just 80 pounds.
Although she has the mind of a child, her body is that of a mature woman -- a woman who can, and did, become pregnant in the assault in the fall of 1996.
The childlike victim sat in her wheelchair in court yesterday, clutching two brightly coloured stuffed dolls -- Sesame Street character Ernie and the Grinch who stole Christmas -- and stared intently as her attacker was handcuffed and led away to begin a four-year prison term.
Mr. Davis, originally charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm, was sentenced after pleading guilty last November to the lesser charge of sexual assault.
"[The victim's]suffering is beyond comprehension," Mr. Justice Peter Grossi of the Ontario Superior Court told Mr. Davis. "In addition, you have maligned a needed and continuing service to mankind -- that of caregiver."
Neither the victim nor her mother can be identified under laws protecting the privacy of sexual assault victims.
But the mother, herself a nurse at a downtown street mission, spoke at length to reporters after the sentencing to express her horror at the damage inflicted on her daughter and on the reputation of the nursing profession.
"Why should families ever trust any of us again with their vulnerable loved ones?" she asked. Mr. Davis has done "irreparable harm . . . to my beloved profession, and especially to all the wonderful male nurses I have known."
The victim was a long-term patient at the Salvation Army Toronto Grace Hospital in downtown Toronto, her mother said.
She had lived at home until she was 16 and too heavy to carry around, then spent several years in a private nursing home before suffering a series of strokes in 1992 that further damaged her brain and diminished her above-average intelligence to that of a six-year-old.
At Toronto Grace, she was completely dependent on staff to wash, change and feed her. Her personal care was given behind closed curtains to protect her privacy.
Mr. Davis's job was to perform these routine daily services.
It was only the victim's pregnancy that alerted medical staff and her family to the fact she had been raped.
In late 1996 she was suffering from pain, abdominal swelling and irregular menstruation.
Suspecting cancer, her family brought her to St. Michael's Hospital for tests, and in January of 1997, a 16-week-old fetus was found in her womb.
Because of her life-threatening health problems, which included past heart and kidney failures, her family and caregivers decided on an abortion.
"[My daughter,]who loves babies, had to face the horror of having her perfect, living baby boy taken out in bits and pieces to save her life," her mother said.
Almost miraculously, the abortion was not needed.
"It was only by the grace of God that she spontaneously delivered a stillborn baby into my hands 20 minutes before the abortion was to begin."
The baby was baptized at the victim's request, and handed over to police detectives, who had DNA samples taken to compare with samples from possible suspects. The results satisfied forensic scientists that Mr. Davis was the father.
After a pretrial hearing determined that Mr. Davis's DNA sample would be admissible as evidence, Mr. Davis pleaded guilty to the lesser charge on the second day of his trial last November.
Judge Grossi said the four-year sentence reflected credit for the fact Mr. Davis pleaded guilty and spared the victim the pain of testifying.