Horrific details revealed at inquest into B.C. woman’s starvation death

globalnews.ca:

WARNING: The details in this story may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.

Florence Girard’s emaciated remains were found in Astrid Dahl’s Port Coquitlam home in October 2018. She weighed just 50.6 pounds when she died.

A coroner’s inquest into what happened to Girard started on Monday, in the hopes of finding systemic faults in the system.

Girard, 54, had lived with Dahl for about eight years as a part of a residential home-sharing agreement, overseen by the non-profit Kinsight Community Society.

At Dahl’s trial in 2018, court heard she didn’t give Girard her prescriptions or take her to medical appointments for a lengthy time period, that her health declined, she stopped eating and later died.

The official cause of death was “malnourishment and starvation.”

Dahl was convicted of failing to provide the necessaries of life in connection with Girard’s death.

Girard’s sister, Sharon Bursey, was the first to testify at the inquest on Monday.

She held back tears as she described her sister’s sassy personality, how she loved people and swam in the Special Olympics.

“She loved food,” Bursey said.

“She was always overweight, so it’s ironic she died the way she did.”

Bursey added she’s heartbroken her sister is gone and died in such a tragic series of events.

“I saw the pictures that the police took — horrific,” Bursey said.

“I don’t know how this happened. She deserved so much better, she was loved. Nobody deserves that.”

Bursey said her sister lived in a group home before moving to Dahl’s house and she thought the two had an amazing relationship.

However, she learned later that Girard lived in a suite with a baby gate so she couldn’t go anywhere. Her window was blocked and the movie Titanic was played on a