An elderly women sits in the warm sun surrounded by the shadows of winter outside Toronto City Hall
IN PHOTO: An elderly woman sits in the warm sun surrounded by the shadows of winter outside Toronto City Hall December 4. Toronto and most of southern Ontario has been basking in double digit celsius temperatures for the last 10 days making it feel more like early September rather than early December. Reuters

A 54-year-old Canadian man was convicted for sexually assaulting a female patient at a nursing home. The woman happens to be 103 years old.

Barry Wendel was seen with the woman at the dining area of the Tuxedo Villa nursing home on Dec. 29, 2009 with one hand down the front of the woman's pants and the other under her bra. A nursing home staff, who confirmed that incident, testified against Wendel who defended himself by saying that he was hugging the victim while checking her necklace. The woman was introduced to Wended by his friend whom he used to visit at the nursing home every week. He said that it was the woman's 103rd birthday when he hugged her for the first time as she asked him to give her "a good hug" on her birthday. Wendel also said that he used to hug the woman regularly during his next visits. He also claimed that the woman had once whispered to him that she wanted to have sex with him. There was another occasion when she flashed him, Wendel claimed. He said that it was a woman's nature to flirt, but he felt uncomfortable due to the woman's actions. However, he did not inform the authorities, so that they could take any action against her.

Judge Sid Lerner, on the other hand, found Wendel's action inappropriate. "If it did not occur, then clearly Mr. Wendel has contrived it as an explanation for the nature of his subsequent interaction with the victim," Toronto Sun quoted him, "If some or all of this behaviour did occur, then clearly Mr. Wendel's reaction to it was disturbingly inappropriate." According to Lerner, Wendel demonstrated the behaviour of a man who was likely to get attracted by such behaviour. Alternatively, if his justification was true, Lerner said it meant that Wendel had tolerated such behaviour. The judge also relied on the testaments of the staff member who had no motive to lie while his view for the alleged assault was unobstructed.

Lerner also said that he was convinced that the victim had not consented to the sexual activity. One of the doctors testified that the woman was too cognitively impaired to consent to sexual acts. Wendel will reappear in March 2015 for sentencing.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au