A Toronto man and his wife who have been accused of forcing his mother to live in a freezing garage have retained separate lawyers, opening the possibility that they couple may testify against one another in court.
CTV Toronto's Tamara Cherry reported that Kwong Yan, 43, and Qi Tan, 28, appeared in a Toronto court on Tuesday, represented by separate counsel.
Yan's lawyer David Hao did not appear in court on Tuesday, while Tan's lawyer Haiyun Wang did not say whether the couple would testify against one another.
"I think this is a potential concern," Wang said. "At the moment I do not see any conflict but just to be safe that's why they retained different counsels."
Yan and Tan have been charged with failing to provide the necessities of life and criminal negligence causing bodily harm after police found a 68-year-old woman unconscious and freezing in a garage attached to their Scarborough home.
The woman remains in hospital recovering from a mild stroke, pneumonia and frost bite to her arm, fingers and toes.
Police allege that the woman had been forced to live in the garage for months with little more than a thin mattress, a soiled port-o-potty and bucket of water for bathing.
Police allege the garage was not adequately heated, leaving the woman to suffer through several months of bitter winter weather.
The woman had been declared legally incompetent and placed under her son's care in the fall of 2010.
Yan and Tan remain in custody after being denied bail on Feb. 26, but Wang said they each plan on applying for a bail review.
The couple's six-year-old daughter remains at their family home in the care of a family member.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Tamara Cherry
