The trial has wrapped up for a woman accused of administering a noxious substance to a woman in her care at a North Battleford group home.
Ashley Marie Johnson, 25, has been charged with administering a noxious substance with intent to cause bodily harm, administering a noxious substance with intent to aggrieve or annoy and simple assault.
Her two-day trial wrapped up Thursday at Battleford Queen's Bench Court. Judge Dennis Maher has reserved his judgment in the case, and will hand down his verdict May 8 in Battleford.
Until then, Johnson has been released on her own recognizance and the conditions of her release still apply.
Johnson faced a number of accusations that she had harmed Sylene Piatt, 22, a woman in her care at a North Battleford group home back on March 26, 2011. Piatt suffers from cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder and other afflictions including to the spine and is confined to a wheelchair.
Battlefords Residential Services, Inc., which runs the home, conducted an internal investigation of the incident. Following the investigation they suspended Johnson and later accepted her resignation. The RCMP laid criminal charges in May 2011.
The Crown relied on testimony from Tracy Erhardt, one of Johnson's co-workers at the group home. Erhardt had taken the stand on Wednesday as a Crown witness.
Erhardt alleged to have seen Johnson squirting lemon juice into Piatt's left eye, saw her rubbing hand sanitizer in Piatt's eyes using white gloves, and then witnessed an incident in which Johnson was alleged to have put peppercorns in Piatt's mouth. The series of events were alleged to have happened the evening of March 26, 2011.
Thursday, Johnson took the stand in her own defence and through questioning by defence lawyer Jay Watson, denied that either the lemon-juice incident or the peppercorn incident took place. When asked if she had squirted anything, Johnson said "no."
As for the hand sanitizer allegation, Johnson did admit under questioning she did touch Sylene's face and rub her eyes with white gloves on, but alleged that was in response to a situation where she was trying to remove hand sanitizer that Piatt had gotten into her eyes off her hands. Johnson said on the stand she would put hand sanitizer onto Piatt's hands as a way to prevent Piatt from putting her hands into her mouth.
In cross-examination the Crown asked a number of questions focusing on the significance of the date March 26, which happened to be the fifth anniversary of the death of the father of Johnson's child. Halyk Maathuis asked Johnson if she remembered going to a memorial that day, but Johnson could not remember.
Also brought up in court were text messages Johnson sent to Erhardt the day after the alleged incidents, where Johnson asked about Piatt's eyes. Johnson said on the stand the reason was she was concerned about how Piatt was doing.
According to the evidence Erhardt sent a message in response asking why there was a white substance around Piatt's mouth. In response Johnson texted "something about hot chili flake or pepper drool, laugh out loud." When questioned by Watson about that, Johnson said it was a joking reference to an incident in the kitchen between her and Erhardt, where a hair was found in a container of chili flakes. "It was all a joke," said Johnson.
In closing arguments Thursday, Watson said his client's testimony was clear and consistent.
"My respectful submission is there is a reasonable doubt," Watson said to the judge.
When he spoke to reporters following conclusion of closing arguments, Watson repeated many of the same points he raised during his closing arguments to Judge Maher.
"There was no evidence by anybody that there was injury to Sylene and her eyes. Number two, despite allegedly lemon juice being sprayed for five seconds, there was no evidence of lemon juice on her clothes. And if one looks at that peppercorn jar, it looks pretty full to me."
In her closing statement Halyk Maathuis asked the court to accept Erhardt's evidence on the stand, calling her "very clear and concise" and "detailed" in her testimony.
She added Erhardt coming forward was "against her own interest" and possibly put her own job at risk, and there was no benefit to Erhardt to make up a tale against Johnson.
"She witnessed a difficult set of circumstances," Maathuis told the court, and "did the right thing."
She also used the word "cruelty" and "bully" in describing Johnson's actions that day, and referred to Johnson's "flat" demeanour on the stand while testifying.
In speaking to reporters Maathuis said the judge will need to assess the witnesses and their credibility in coming to a decision.
"It involves being very attentive to the demeanor of the witness while they're giving their evidence and also paying attention to the manner in which they describe what they saw," said Maathuis.
"We all form opinions on what they have to say and the judge will have to do the same."
Sylene's parents were in the courthouse for the trial. Her father Roger Piatt spoke to reporters following closing arguments Thursday, at which time he admitted he had hoped matters would have been resolved that day instead of waiting until May for a decision.
"We're a little disappointed that things didn't end today, but we understand the process has to be followed," he said.
Piatt also expressed no doubt that something had happened to his daughter in the home based on what he heard in court.
"We as parents have always stood up for our daughter. I guess that's how we see our role. We're really happy that somebody was brave enough to come forward with what they've seen."
Despite what happened, Piatt continued to express confidence in Battlefords Residential Services, Inc., and the staff there, saying the family was informed right away.
"It shook our confidence for a while, but we met with the staff and we realized it's the act of an individual, not the problem of the whole organization."
