Helena Munroe PhD, MsED, OT

Canadian and British citizen, married M.A.(Sandy) Munroe, December 26, 1964. Renewal of vows, June 2004. Career Occupational Therapist, working and teaching at the university level in both Canada (Dalhousie) and Aberdeen, Scotland, specializing in dementia care. Retired back to Nova Scotia with her husband in October 2000. In 2001, being fully mentally compentent, gave an enduring Power of Attorney to her husband, and should he be unable to carry this out, alternately to her close personal friend and professional colleague, Carol Bowlby Sifton. May 2003 diagnosed by Dr.Roger McKelvie, Neurologist, with Alzheimer's disease. April 2005 found by Dr.Daniel Carver, Geriatrician, to be no longer competent and the Power of Attorney was enacted by her husband. October 2005 noted by Dr. Carver and family physician Dr.K. Plaxton to have progressed to the stage of dementia, to be receiving excellent care from her husband and to continue to wish not to have her family of origin involved in managing her care. November 22, 2005, Heli was visited for the first time ever in her Canadian home by her brother Marek Pospieszalski. On November 24, 2005 Marek told Heli's husband that he was taking her and her dog Spike, out to lunch, but instead put her on a plane to the UK via Boston. Heli's authentic UK and Canadian passports were in their safety deposit box (not lost/stolen). Except for one phone call (of which there is a transcript) on November 27, 2005 Marek has never let Sandy nor any of her Canadian friends, speak to her nor reveal her whereabouts. The RCMP were contacted immediately but on advice from the Public Prosecution Service of Nova Scotia, would not lay kidnapping charges, in spite of the fact that Heli was declared by her doctors to be incompetent and had long ago given an enduring Power of Attorney to her husband. In December 2006 the Power of Attorney given by Heli to Sandy and Carol was upheld by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. No action has been taken by the NS Public Prosecution Service.