A Montreal nurse who allegedly took advantage of the vulnerability of priests residing in CHSLDs in order to sexually assault them was finally arrested after allegedly killing five people over a period of a year and a half.
“He was in a position of authority, [les victimes] were in a situation of dependency, ”we can read in the denunciation concerning Francisco Ferna Abarca Mena and filed in the last days at the Montreal courthouse.
Head bowed and embarrassed, Abarca Mena, 56, was back in court on Monday to face 10 charges in connection with abuse he allegedly committed from January 2022, when he worked night shifts in a CHSLD on the east side of the island.
According to information collected by The newspaper, Abarca Mena allegedly targeted four priests, as well as a fifth resident who had given him a nickname insulting to homosexuals. According to our information, the oldest alleged victim is almost a century old, while the youngest is 85 years old.
paralyzed
Thus, when he had to give them care, he would have lingered “inappropriately” on their genitals, and could apply ointments there for “a really long time”, according to what it was possible to learn.
But Abarca Mena’s alleged misconduct did not stop there. In addition to these gestures disguised as care, the nurse would have taken the opportunity to make explicit sexual gestures, sometimes while the alleged victims were semi-conscious.
“One of the victims wondered if she had dreamed”, told the Log someone knowledgeable about the case.
One of the priests was “paralyzed” during one of the alleged assaults, claiming to have felt “like a woman who has been raped”.
“He was unable to move, he did not know what to say,” we learned.
And once his dirty work was done, Abarca Mena often launched a “See you next time!” » to his victim in order to tell him that he was going to come back, according to what it was possible to learn.
Fired
The Abarca Mena carousel, however, ended at the beginning of the month, when the management of the CHSLD was informed that “inappropriate acts” would have been committed by a nurse. The next day, the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-Montréal received a complaint and in the days that followed, a police investigation was launched.
“As soon as we were informed of the alleged acts, the nurse was suspended to allow the investigation to take place,” the CHSLD said in a press release.
Abarca Mena, who has since been fired, was quickly arrested. He now faces 10 charges, five for sexual assault and five for inciting “a mentally or physically disabled person to touch him or herself, without his consent.”
At the request of the Crown, he will remain detained at least until his return to court next Thursday.
