A Connecticut man was ordered to serve six and a half years behind bars for locking his mentally ill sister in what police describes as a 'dungeon.'
Arthur Gauvin, 60, of Seymour pleaded guilty in April to charges of abuse and cruelty, and has said that he hopes he will be able to "help heal his shattered family."
"Mr. Gauvin expressed sadness, remorse and regret, and he knows what he did was wrong," Daniel Ford, Gauvin's lawyer, said on Friday, according to the Toronto Sun.
On Friday, Arthur spoke to the judge, attempting to explain why he left his mentally ill sister, Nancy Gauvin, covered with feces and laying on a bed soiled with urine inside her locked bedroom.
"I tried my best to take care of her. I ran into dead ends," Gauvin said during his sentencing hearing at Superior Court on Thursday, according to Hartford Courant.
Nancy Gauvin suffers from dementia and diabetes and her brother Arthur became her caretaker. Arthur acquired control over Nancy's affairs, her home and her Social Security disability checks through a power of attorney.
Seymour Police went to their home on April 24 to check on Nacny after receiving an anonymous complaint. They found her looking "gaunt and disheveled" while lying in bed covered with feces, urine and decomposed food.
The bedroom door was locked from the outside and the only window was covered with two big boards that were painted black and screwed into the outside frame.
After completing his six and a half years stint in prison, Arthur will be put on probation for another five years, according to the Connecticut Post.
