OTTAWA - A 44-year-old Gatineau, Que., orderly faces 20 months behind bars after graphic surveillance footage shows him using a 99-year-old Alzheimer’s patient for sexual gratification.
Trapped in the confines of advanced Alzheimer’s, the court heard Yves Laplante took the woman’s hand to masturbate with while she lay in bed.
He also touched her inappropriately on several occasions.
Laplante had been an orderly at the hospital for almost seven years, and it was his co-workers at the hospital who first told the administration they suspected dubious behaviour. That’s when they set up a hidden camera in the woman’s room and caught him in the act.
Once staff brought the evidence to police on Sept. 11, Laplante was fired.
Police and hospital staff were shocked by the case.
“I think just the fact of her condition and age (this case) is disturbing. It is uncommon,” said Gatineau Police Sgt. Jean-Paul Le May earlier this month.
Police say the elderly woman, who had been hospitalized since late August, has diminished mental and physical capacity, and can’t consent to any sexual behaviour.
At Laplante’s plea hearing, the Crown and the defence both agreed on a 20-month prison sentence bolstered by intense rehabilitation.
Laplante may also face three years’ probation and would not be able to seek any jobs working with the physically or mentally disabled.
The judge will deliberate the case and hand out his sentence on Friday.
mike.aubry@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @ottawasunmaubry
