 A photo submitted in court shows 69-year-old Thomas "Tony" Butler severely emaciated and beaten. He was rescued by his children Julie Henderson and Justin Butler.
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NEWMARKET -- A barely speaking stroke victim was tied down like a dog while his much younger ex-girlfriend let her drug addict lover use the senior as a punching bag, a judge heard yesterday.
Prosecutor Michael Demczur cited months of abuse suffered by Thomas "Tony" Butler while in the care of Yasmin Madi before the now 69-year-old's grown children alerted police last March.
The family had their dad rescued by paramedics from his Richmond Hill flat after he told daughter Julie Henderson someone "hit me," son Justin said outside Newmarket court where Madi was being sentenced. Demczur said 6-foot-1 Butler weighed "68 pounds," suffered irreversible muscle tone loss, and was starved.
Madi applied makeup to disguise his punched, bleeding eye and other injuries inflicted by her new boyfriend, Ghassem "Gus" Shakeri, 42, the prosecutor said.
Doctors told police Butler's injuries included an arm left badly swollen and three broken fingers from being tied to his bed with "a dog leash," Demczur told court.
'MY HERO'
The former tool-and-die maker, a father of two and stepfather to his ex-wife's four daughters, years ago invented prosthetic limbs for children at Variety Village.
"He had a great sense of humour and was good with his hands," Justin said, later adding in a victim impact statement in court that his dad was "my hero."
But a severe stroke left Butler partly paralyzed, on a liquid diet via a feeding tube, wearing diapers and unable to speak. After he improved in therapy, Madi signed him out of hospital and took him home.
She had gained power-of-attorney after his stroke in 2004.
The abuse began after she invited Shakeri, a coffee shop co-worker, to live with them and a woman friend last year, Demczur said, adding Madi's new boyfriend was often out-of-control on heroin and an anti-cancer drug.
After Madi implicated her lover, he changed his pretrial not guilty plea Monday, pleaded guilty to assault plus breaching probation and got 18 months on probation, one day more in jail, plus credit for time served since April.
Madi, 42, sat stoically during proceedings that included Demczur playing a recording on a TV monitor of Butler struggling to name his abuser, while York Regional Police Det.-Const Hoyt Miller patiently had him nod "yes" or "no" in hospital.
'NEVER BE THE SAME'
Madi never admitted hurting Butler, but Judge Peter Bourque said she wilfully failed to care for her common-law husband and tried to mask her boyfriend's assaults.
She pleaded guilty last month to failing to provide the necessities of life.
Acknowledging Madi's longtime depression and Shakeri's influence, she was sentenced to 18 months in jail but with time served will spend three more months behind bars. In addition to three years' probation, she is banned from caring for a non-relative or having power of attorney over someone other than family. Madi must also undergo psychiatric treatment and provide a DNA sample.
The senior's condition has improved, including almost doubling his weight, his daughter said outside court, "but he'll never be the same.
"I'm not pleased she got away with it," Julie Henderson said. "But at least she's locked up for awhile."
