A Toronto woman, who left her elderly and frail mother sitting on the floor in feces and urine for three days before calling 911, has been found guilty of failing to provide the necessaries of life, criminal negligence causing death, and manslaughter.

Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly stated that 73-year-old Eva Samonas, who was the primary caregiver for 96-year-old Vasiliki Atanasovksi, had a legal duty to her mother and she failed to perform that duty.

Furthermore, Kelly found Samonas showed a reckless disregard for her mother’s life and her conduct caused her mother’s death.

Atanasovski was diagnosed with dementia in 2017 and her daughter had been listed as her emergency contact and next of kin since. Samonas quit her job at the University Health Network (UHN) and moved in with her mother prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to care for her as she was unable to be left alone.

“Ms. Atanasovski had no contact with the world outside of her home other than medical appointments (which were non-existent after 2022) and infrequent walks around the neighbourhood, to the mall or to Sobeys accompanied by Ms. Samonas,” Kelly wrote in her reasons for judgment.

“Further, no one could see into the home from the street because the windows were covered in paper. As such, the only person who could identify that Ms. Atanasovski required help was Ms. Samonas as Ms. Atanosovski could not do so herself. Ms. Atanasovski was isolated and reliant on Ms. Samonas.”

The two women shared a home on Broadview Avenue in Toronto. The court heard that on Jan. 4, 2024, Atanasovski fell from the couch to the hardwood floor in the living room. Samonas attempted to lift her mother from the floor and could not do so.

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Samonas asked three people for help on Jan. 4 and 5 and all three people consulted recommended that Samonas call 911, but she did not.

“It was only on Jan. 6, 2024 when Ms. Samonas noticed that her mother’s right arm was cold, her knee was swollen and she was mumbling that she called 911. This was three days after her fall,” Kelly told the court.

When paramedics arrived, Atanasovski was found lying naked on the hardwood floor. Evidence states there was urine and feces both on the floor and on Atanasovski. The home was cluttered, dirty and unkempt, resembling a home occupied by hoarders.

Kelly said because the home was so cluttered, paramedics called for the assistance of the fire department to take Ms. Atanasovski to the ambulance.

When EMS and a member of the fire department rolled Atanasovki on to her side, they observed significant injuries. A large lower back open wound (a pressure ulcer) was black in colour. It was so deep that the sacral and coccyx bones were exposed, Kelly stressed.

Other parts of her back were red, likely cause by urinary or fecal soiling. Evidence stated there was a horrible smell emanating from Atanasovski that was overwhelming.

Atanasovski was taken to Michael Garron Hospital where she died the following day. A paramedic suspected a case of elder abuse and alerted the Toronto Police Service. Samonas was arrested in hospital.

The cause of death was described as “complications of prolonged immobility in a woman with pulmonary thromboembolism and atherosclerotic heart disease.” Various injuries that led to Atanasovski’s death can be traced to the pressure ulcer that developed on her back because of her prolonged immobility from Jan. 4 to 6, 2024, Kelly found.

Kelly said that by Jan. 4, 2024, Samonas was aware of her mother’s frailties and had called 911 in the past when her mother went missing. “She had accessed medical care in the past but did not do so at the critical time,” she said.

“The fact that Ms. Samonas did not phone 911 when her aging and frail mother fell and became immobile and then failed to provide her mother with basic care for the next three days, was a failure to provide the necessaries of life, thus endangering her mother’s life.”

Crown attorneys Matthew Boissonneault and Christine Jenkins told Kelly they are asking for a pre-sentence report. Jenkins said depending on the finding of the report, they may ask for a Mental Health Act assessment.

Outside of court, Boissonneault and Jenkins indicated they would be seeking a custodial sentence only on the manslaughter conviction, claiming the elements of the offences overlap.

Samonas, who was self-represented, broke down in tears after court and said she is in shock. She said she believes the first paramedic who testified about her mother’s condition was exaggerating. She also repeated what she told court when she testified, that her mother did not want to go to the hospital and she was not in distress.

“She kept saying, ‘If I go to the hospital, they’re going to kill me.’ And I kept saying, ‘No they’ll take care of you.’ ‘No, no. no, I’m going to die there. I’d rather die here.’ She did not want to go to the hospital,” Samonas said.

Aaron Wine, who acted as amicus for Samonos, told Global News that she could also serve a sentence in the community.

The lawyers will return to court in August to set a date for the sentencing hearing.

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