By Alicia McCutcheon
A Wiikwemkoong man has been charged with aggravated assault in the death of a Wikwemikong Nursing Home resident, the Manitoulin Expositor is reporting.
Joseph Mark Edwards, 67, another resident of Wikwemikong Nursing Home, was charged June 8 with assault and aggravated assault in the death of Jim Still.
The Expositor reported the two charges do not stem from the same 2017 assault on Still, however. On June 5, police allege Edwards assaulted an elderly woman, another nursing home resident. That is the assault charge.
Edwards was then charged on June 8 with aggravated assault for the August 25, 2017, beating of Jim Still, a Korean War veteran.
The Expositor has been attempting to discover what took the police so long to lay a charge in the death of Still.
Both families of the victims have been contacted. Comment was also sought from Wikwemikong Nursing Home, which referred the paper to the original statement made by the facility following Still's death.
“On behalf of the staff and residents of Wikwemikong Nursing Home, we extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family of Mr. Robert Still," the statement read. "We have always, and will continue to strive to provide the best quality of care to the residents of the nursing home. We are fully cooperating with the authorities in the investigation of this incident and further conducting our own internal investigation in order to better understand what happened.”
Information is also being sought by the paper from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, regarding policies and procedures for dealing with violent nursing home residents.
Police and nursing home administration would not confirm whether Edwards remained at the Wikwemikong Nursing Home following the alleged assault on Still last August or was removed to another facility for a time and then returned to the Wiikwemkoong facility when the second alleged incident took place in early June.
