A man accused of enslaving a homeless man for almost 25 years and stealing his baby has been found not guilty of forcible confinement but guilty of abducting a child under 14.Gary Willett Sr. was found guilty of assault, theft and abduction but not guilty of forcible confinement or fail to provide necessaries of life.Judge John McMahon delivered his verdict Friday to a courtroom at 361 University Ave. full of friends of the alleged victim, Tim Goldrick, and family members of the accused. Willett Sr. had pleaded not guilty to assaulting, forcibly confining and denying the necessaries of life to Goldrick, as well as stealing his government disability cheques, forcibly confining his partner and abducting their son. His wife, Maria Willett, faces the same charges and is also charged with assaulting Goldrick’s partner and five children in their care. Her trial is set for September.Willett Sr.’s judge-only trial took place this fall for six weeks. Willett Sr. and Goldrick both testified, along with family and former friends of the Willetts. Crown attorney Jennifer Strasberg argued in her closing submissions that Willett Sr. took advantage of Goldrick and his partner Barbara Bennett, both of whom have “unspecified intellectual disabilities” and were homeless, by offering him a place to live in exchange of their government disability cheques. A few years after meeting the Willetts, Goldrick and Bennett had a son, Strasberg said. Without their permission, Willett Sr. falsified birth records and claimed the baby as his own. Willett Sr. then confined Goldrick and Bennett to a “psychological prison,” Strasberg said. Goldrick lived with the Willetts for decades. In that time, Willett Sr. would beat and threaten him and deny him food and medical care. Defence lawyer Sam Goldstein presented a different scenario, in that Goldrick chose to live with the Willetts because they provided him with a good life, he said in his closing submissions. Go ...
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