**This article contains details some readers may find disturbing** Two people have each been handed a four-year prison sentence in the death of a vulnerable senior more than three years ago. June Briggs, 57, and Richard McElroy, 69, were found guilty of criminal negligence causing death in the death of Briggs’ mother, 76-year-old Dianne Simmons. A charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life against both parties was stayed by the Crown. Simmons died in hospital on June 8, 2023, after being admitted the day before. She was transported to hospital by ambulance after a 911 call placed by McElroy. According to court documents, Simmons was living at a rural property with her daughter and her common-law husband McElroy at the time of her death. The home on the property is described in the documents as having no running water, unkempt, and made more unsanitary by the presence of cats. Both Simmons and Briggs were dependent on McElroy for financial support and transportation. According to Justice Kelsey L. Becker Brookes’s sentencing decision, Simmons fell in the house seven to 10 days before the 911 call. She fell in the living area, in a space between two beds. After Simmons fell, she was unable to get up and neither Briggs nor McElroy helped her up. She remained on the bare wood floor for seven to 10 days wearing only a long t-shirt. At some point blankets were placed over her to cover the feces and urine that were covering her body. According to the documents, Briggs slept in the bed right next to where her mother lay on the floor, and the pair would have had to step over Simmons to move around the room. McElroy finally called 911 on June 7 after Simmons became unresponsive. When paramedics arrived, Simmons was hypothermic, unresponsive, and covered in feces and urine. She was rushed to hospital but never regained consciousness. According to the sentencing document, Briggs told her dying mother “this is all your fault” as she sat with her in the hospital. One of the paramedics who attended the scene testified that in his 26 years as a paramedic he had never seen a person who lived with other people in this condition. A second paramedic testified she had never seen such a case of neglect and smelled an odour from Simmons that she had never smelled before. Simmons’ cause of death was listed as multi-organ failure caused by sepsis from multiple infected, deep pressure wounds on her back and buttocks and exacerbated by hypothermia. In addition to the injuries that caused her death, it was also noted by the paramedics that her hair was matted, her finger and toenails were long, and she had bandages on her heels held on by duct tape. Sentencing decision The justice noted in her sentencing decision that both Briggs and McElroy have limited intellectual and mental capacity and had experienced some childhood trauma. Briggs has limited work history while McElroy had a 20-year history of employment and was working at a dairy at the time of Simmons death, servicing machinery and driving a tractor. Neither Briggs nor McElroy had a criminal record. The lawyers for both Brigss and McElroy argued for a reduced sentence because of the intellectual challenges faced by the pair. “I was not convinced Ms. Briggs’ challenges prevented her from appreciating the risk to Ms. Simmons once she fell. “I concluded Ms. Briggs understood that medical assistance was required from the moment Ms. Simmons fell and understood the minimum standard of care required to safeguard Ms. Simmons’ health and safety while she lay on the floor,” the judge wrote in her decision. “I also found no basis to conclude that [McElroy] was unable to appreciate the risk to Ms. Simmons after she fell and understood the base level of care required to preserve Ms. Simmons’ health and safety.” “What was expected of them was not perfection but basic human decency and it was not beyond their abilities.” The judge also took into account the lack of a guilty plea from either defendant and a lack of meaningful remorse. The defence called for a conditional sentence order of two years less a day for Briggs and McElroy, including two years of house arrest, followed by three years’ probation while the Crown called for a four-year prison sentence. In her decision, the judge said a conditional sentence was not appropriate in what she described as a “heartbreaking” case. “Ms. Simmons suffered for days before finally succumbing to her injuries - injuries and a death which were easily preventable,” she wrote. “I have concluded Ms. Briggs and Mr. McElroy possess a high degree of responsibility for the offence, despite their intellectual challenges, because the steps they needed to take, providing basic care to Ms. Simmons and seeking medical assistance, were well within their cognitive abilities as adults living independently.”
