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montreal man ordered to pay $146,000 in alleged elder abuse case
the victim was a retiree who had worked as a nurse in montreal for 35 years. nearly $185,000 was taken from her bank account.
aug 7 2024
3 minute read
darren stone
/
postmedia news files
when a then-82-year-old woman first made her way to a montreal police station in 2017 to inquire about documents and id cards she had lost, officers could already tell her short-term memory was starting to fail her.
police notified her local clinic and a community aid centre to ensure someone was looking after her. but according to a recent human rights tribunal decision, it appears to have already been too late.
over the next three years, as the woman’s mental faculties continued to deteriorate, a man who entered her life as a repairman would drain nearly $185,000 from her bank account.
“abusing a vulnerable elderly person is unacceptable in our society,” quebec human rights tribunal judge catherine pilon ruled in july, ordering bevhaun gordon to pay the woman more than $146,000 in damages .
according to the ruling, gordon, 58, first met the woman after being hired to carry out renovation work on her home in 2016, six years after her husband died. the victim is identified only by her initials in the ruling.
a retiree from guyana who worked as a nurse in montreal for 35 years, the woman lived alone at the time and had no children. the ruling states gordon used the fact he is also guyanese to gain her trust and, although they are not related, began telling people he was her “nephew.”
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in the spring of 2017, the woman informed her bank her debit card had been stolen and she had noticed transactions being made without her knowledge: 32 in just one month, totalling $12,000.
after the transactions were traced back to him, gordon agreed to pay the money back. but in 2019, for reasons not explained in the judgment, the woman signed documents giving gordon control of her finances . (the judge questioned whether she would have been able to consent to this, given her state.)
in march of 2020, gordon was intercepted by police in a matter not related to the case. when officers found two of the woman’s credit cards and a bank statement in his wallet, he said he had them because he’s her nephew.
police opened an investigation. at the same time, they contacted the woman’s clinic to warn them of the situation. the clinic contacted gordon, who argued he was only using the woman’s money to help her, including by paying people to visit her.
the human rights tribunal ruled otherwise.
“the tribunal finds that mr. gordon took advantage of his position of strength with regard to (the victim), who was very vulnerable, in order to enrich himself at her expense,” pilon wrote.
overall, it was established that between 2017 and 2020, gordon withdrew just over $184,700 from her bank account. he used her cards for cash withdrawals at various branches and also made cheques out in his name, the decision says, which were immediately deposited into his own account.
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the decision also details at length the cognitive challenges the woman was facing throughout the ordeal. as early as 2017, tests revealed signs of declining cognitive abilities. she was prescribed medicine to help with alzheimer’s disease.
for nearly the next three years, however — the time period corresponding with the alleged financial abuse — she did not return to her doctor or continue the psycho-social support she was receiving at her local clinic.
by the summer of 2020, in a meeting with a specialist, she could no longer remember who gordon was, the decision states. nor did she realize he was in charge of her finances.
between january and june of that year, the decision adds, her medication was only picked up at her pharmacy for two months, despite gordon saying he was paying someone every week to make sure she took it.
“mr. gordon never sought support, even though (she) had cognitive problems. all in all, he took control of her and her finances,” pilon wrote, noting he also never contacted her family members.
“the tribunal considers it legitimate to ask whether he incited (her) to stop her psycho-social care in order to control and isolate her.”
the tribunal ruled gordon should pay the woman more than $146,000 in damages, including moral and punitive damages. the calculation took into account money gordon had already paid back and amounts it’s assumed he used for her day-to-day expenses.
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besides the human rights tribunal case, gordon has also been charged with fraud in criminal court. the case is set to be back before the courts this month.
contacted this week, his defence lawyer declined to comment.
“in regards to the pending criminal matter, my client is presumed innocent and i have no further comments to make,” wrote lawyer sharon sandiford.
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