TORONTO - A Toronto woman was in critical condition Monday after being found frostbitten and unconscious in a frigid, smelly garage where police allege her son and daughter-in-law had kept her for several months.
Police said they were puzzled as to why the couple, who remained in custody on charges related to the case, had moved the 68-year-old woman from their east-end home into the attached garage.
"It's definitely a concerning case," said police Const. Tony Vella.
"Under no circumstances should anybody be living under those type of conditions."
Investigators said the woman, whose name was not released, was sleeping on a makeshift plywood bed, with only a small vent supplying a tiny bit of heat.
She apparently had use of a portable toilet, which had not been emptied and created a "strong odour," they said.
She also had not eaten properly, according to police.
Paramedics initially responded to the home last Wednesday after the son found his mother unconscious and called in a "medical complaint," police said.
On discovering the woman's living conditions, paramedics alerted police.
"She was suffering from frostbite. She was obviously freezing in the garage. She was not being fed properly. She was not being taken care of," Vella said.
"It's not a proper living quarters at all for anyone to be living. There's no insulation."
Police said they had been able to determine the woman had been living inside the house near McCowan Road and Finch Avenue East for some time before the couple moved her into the garage in November.
However, they said it was unclear why the pair made the decision to move her into the garage.
Police arrested the couple on Friday.
Kwong Yan, 43, and Qi Tan, 28, both of Toronto, were charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
Given the woman's condition, the charges could be upgraded, police said.
The couple appeared briefly in court on the weekend and were in custody pending a bail hearing on Tuesday.
Police provided no details about the charged couple. They were asking for anyone who knows them or the woman to step forward with information.
It was not immediately known if they had hired a lawyer.
