Saskatoon

    • 'I don't think it's right': Sask. woman sentenced for aggravated assault on senior

    A Prince Albert man said he can start moving on, now that the woman who attacked his 89-year-old father has been sentenced. He said because of the assault, he lost both his mother and father.

    Curtis Klarenbach's parents Bev and Carl were excited to start the next chapter of their lives and settle into a senior’s residence.

    "It was a place where they could socialize. They could be with other people and do similar things, and it was comfortable for them," Klarenbach told CTV News in an interview on Friday.

    The couple looked forward to celebrating their 70th anniversary this year, but everything changed on January 2. That evening Bev and Carl were playing games in the common area when a woman began threatening the other residents. When 89-year-old Carl tried to stop her, he was assaulted.

    “He had skull fractures, a couple of brain bleeds, and a sac surrounding his brain was split so, he had spinal fluid leaking and causing pressure,” Klarenbach said.

    Carl was hospitalized for four months, and Klarenbach didn't think his father would survive. Before this incident, his father was his mother's caregiver, meaning both of them would have to leave their new home, become separated and move into a nursing home. Klarenbach said his mother died of a broken heart a month after the incident.

    “I think she just gave up. You spend that much time with somebody, and then you can’t,” he said.

    Carl and Bev Klarenbach were married nearly 70 years before an attack left Carl in the hospital and Bev with a broken heart. (Courtesy: Curtis Klarenbach)

    He said his father lost most of his cognitive abilities and has moved into a long-term care home. Carl often wonders where his wife is.

    “We explain it to him and he mourns, and then we move on,” Klarenbach said.

    April Ross, who was 40-years-old at the time of the incident, was charged with aggravated assault. On Wednesday, she received a four-and-a-half-year sentence, but with credit for time served, she has three years and 11 months remaining.

    “I don’t think it's right," Klarenbach said.

    “My dad’s in an eight by 12 room, and he will be for the rest of his life. My mom’s in an urn."

    He told CTV News he’s relieved the court process is over and can focus solely on caring for his dad.

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