A former Victoria licensed practical nurse sentenced to six months in jail for assaulting three elderly residents of the Selkirk Seniors Village is appealing his conviction.
James Edward Christie was convicted in July of three counts of assault. Provincial court Judge Lisa Mrozinski found Christie struck and used uninvited and unnecessary force against the three patients, who were bedridden and in advanced states of dementia, in April and May 2015.
On Nov. 9, Mrozinski sentenced Christie to six months in jail followed by 18 months of probation.
“You struck at the private parts of two of the victims, causing them obvious pain. You caused the third victim to moan when you pressed your torso into her face, which you had covered with a blanket,” Mrozinski said.
“These acts were intentional, cruel and, quite frankly, sadistic in their nature. The residents you assaulted were the most vulnerable of an otherwise vulnerable population.”
The next day, Christie’s lawyer, Geof Simair, filed a notice of appeal against the conviction and the sentence. Christie was released from the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre on Nov. 16.
Simair is asking the Appeal Court to set aside the guilty verdict and enter an acquittal, or to order a new trial. Failing that, he is asking that the jail sentence be converted to a conditional sentence of between 12 and 18 months.
In the two-page notice, Simair said the conviction was unreasonable and not supported by the evidence. He said the judge erred in applying the standard of proof where witness credibility was a key issue, and erred in failing to weigh or consider Christie’s evidence.
The judge also erred in refusing to order a conditional sentence, he said, adding that the sentence was harsh and excessive.
Christie, 25, had no previous criminal record. His nursing licence has been suspended and he is taking a degree in business.
