A judge has ordered a man to get psychiatric treatment after he admitted to keeping his elderly sister and mother malnourished and sleeping in a filthy, maggot-strewn bedroom.
Although Andrew Jones left his relatives in “horrific conditions” he suffers from schizophrenia and had delusional ideas about how to manage their care, Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly said Friday.
The judge imposed a conditional sentence, to be served in the community, of two years less a day and three years probation.
Forensic psychiatrist said Dr. Julian Gojer is willing to treat him, so the judge directed it to be done.
“Mr. Jones’ schizophrenia impacted on his judgment and his capacity to care for his mother and sister,” Kelly said.
Crown prosecutor Kene Canton had called for a jail sentence of two years less a day, but the judge said Jones and the community are better served with him in psychiatric care for five years.
On Oct. 31, Jones, 58, pleaded guilty in Ontario Superior Court to failing to provide the necessities of life to his mother, Rosena Jones, thought to be between 89 and 93 when rescued, and his sister Rosemary Jones, then 67.
On April 17, 2009, police forced open the door of his house on Amaranth Ct., north of Lawrence Ave. W. and Allen Rd.
His mother was found in the upstairs bedroom, which smelled of urine and was infested with cockroaches.
She was found lying in her own feces, which was crawling with maggots.
Officers estimated her emaciated body weighed 30 pounds.
She was dehydrated, malnourished and unable to walk. She suffered from dementia. She later died of cancer.
Police returned to the house on July 14, 2009.
In his mother’s bedroom, they again smelled a foul odour, cockroaches crawling and on a small filthy blanket atop a mattress, a very small, skeletal frame — Jones’s sister, Rosemary.
She was found to be dehydrated and with low blood pressure. She was diagnosed with a psychotic mental illness.
Gojer testified that Jones has schizophrenia but the doctor could not determine whether he was “not criminally responsible” for the neglect of his family members.
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