CANADA Cases

Mom pleads guilty to child neglect
January 25, 2011 | 4:28 PM NT

A central Newfoundland mother pleaded guilty Tuesday in an alarming child neglect case that involved severe burns, broken bones and brain trauma.

The Grand Falls-Windsor woman, who cannot be named because of a court order, did not attend court on Tuesday. Instead, her lawyer entered a guilty plea to a charge of failing to provide the necessities of life.

The case involved a five-year-old boy who was rushed to the Janeway hospital in St. John's after authorities visited a Grand Falls-Windsor apartment and discovered the child had severe burns on his legs. The boy's legs were so infected that he was kept in hospital for three months.

The case became notorious through disclosures made in the case of Glenn Budgell, who pleaded guilty to 11 charges related to mistreatment of the boy, as well as assault of two other boys. Budgell was given a three-year jail sentence.

During his trial, it came out that the mother had been treating the burned boy with medicated cream and bandages, instead of taking him for medical treatment for infected wounds.

The five-year-old had also suffered brain trauma, broken ribs and pelvis and partial paralysis in one arm.

The mother was subsequently charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.

The woman will be sentenced in March.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/01/25/mother-child-neglect-125.html#ixzz1C6geFNSl

Related:

Mom defends accused in N.L. child assault case

Injured boy might have died from burns, court told

Prison sentence in N.L. child neglect case

Sketch released of suspect and his tattoo in attempted Chilliwack child abduction
January 26, 2011


Chilliwack RCMP have released composite sketches of a suspect and his unique hand tattoo after an attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl Nov. 22

Chilliwack RCMP have released composite sketches of a suspect and his unique hand tattoo after an attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl in November last year.

Police say the suspect is described as Caucasian, five feet six inches, in his 30s and with a slim build. The suspect may have pimples on his face, and was wearing black-rimmed glasses. The male was also described as having a blue and green tattoo of a snake on the back of his left hand.

Police say the man had approached the girl at the Chilliwack Landing Leisure Centre, about 5 p.m. Nov. 22, and offered her a ride.

She said no and walked back to the centre where she had just finished a swim, police say.

Then the man pursued her and apparently tried to grab her shoulder. But the girl went inside and waited for her mother to pick her up, and the man left.

If you have any information on who the suspect may be, please contact the Chilliwack RCMP at 604-792-4611 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477). Crime Stoppers tips can also be made online at www.chilliwackcrimestoppers.ca . A reward of up to $2,000 dollars may be offered for information that leads to identifying the suspect.

Read more

Quebec couple arrested in sex assault of toddler
January 26, 2011

A young couple in Sherbrooke, Que., has been charged after an 18-month-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted over the past few months.

Sherbrooke police arrested a 24-year-old man on Saturday and a 20-year-old woman on Monday.

Under law, the name of the child and anything that could identify him or her can't be released.

"Because of the age of the victim, we cannot reveal details on this file, in order to protect the identity of the young victim," said Sherbrooke police spokesman Martin Carrier in French.

There are reports the 24-year-old has been accused of possession of pornographic material, sexual contact with a minor, assault and sexual assault.

"The two individuals are well known to police," Carrier said.

The woman is expected to attend a bail hearing on Thursday. The man will appear in court Feb. 1.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2011/01/26/mtl-infant-sex-assault.html#ixzz1CCICof1r

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Parents accused of sexually assaulting their 18-month-old daughter
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The mother, 20 and father, 24 appeared before Judge Michel Beauchemin of the Court of Quebec to be charged with a string of charges related to acts committed against their own child.

The father appeared in court Monday. The mother appeared in court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to charges filed against her.

The mother is charged with sexual assault, sexual touching, sexual assault with the participation of another person and invitation to sexual touching. She will return to court for a bail hearing.

The accused father in this case was registered as a sex offender for a period of 20 years. He will return to court on Feb. 1.

Read moreRead more

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More charges against the father
February 1, 2011

(SHERBROOKE) Charges of incest, sexual assault with the participation of another person and invitation to sexual touching, were added against the 24-year-old father to various other charges of sexual abuse on his 18-month-old daughter.

Serious charges were also brought against the mother of the girl. The man who can not be named to protect the identity of his young victim was back in court Tuesday in Sherbrooke.

His lawyer Me Stéphanie Côté registered his pleas of not guilty to the charges against her client.

The individual charged in this case, who was already registered as a sex offender for a period of 20 years, is also accused of sexual assault, sexual interference, possession of child pornography and three counts of assaulting his wife . Some of the charges against the father include minimum periods of detention.

In 2007 he was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2007 for various acts of a sexual nature on minors.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/la-tribune/sherbrooke/201102/01/01-4365905-bebe-agresse-dautres-accusations-portees-contre-le-pere.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_lire_aussi_4363601_article_POS4

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Accused child abuser faces new incest charge
February 24, 2011

Already facing charges of sexual abuse and incest for acts committed against his 18-month-old daughter, a 24-year-old Sherbrooke man saw another charge of incest against his own sister laid against him on Wednesday.

Detained since his arrest last month, the information was made public during the suspect’s judicial hearing at the Raynald-Fréchette courthouse Wednesday morning.

According to reports from the courthouse, the acts against his sister are said to have been committed in December 2010. The victim, said to be in her twenties, could also face similar charges to those of her brother.

The 24-year-old father is already facing a series of charges including incest, sexual assault in the presence of another person, inciting sexual contact, possession of child pornography, sexual assault, and assault against a minor. The charges are stemming from acts committed between October 2010 and January 2011.

The 20-year-old mother of the victimized child has also been detained and charged with a series of crimes related to the affair.

The father’s defence lawyer Stéphanie Côté asked that her client undergo a psychiatric evaluation; a request granted by presiding Quebec Court judge Michel Beauchemin. Lawyer Émilie Baril-Côté is handling the case for the Crown.

The 18-month-old was handed over to Child Protective Services (DPJ) following the arrest of her parents.

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, incest is defined as having sexual intercourse with another person, knowing that the person "is by blood relationship his or her parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild.”

The mother is scheduled to appear in court on Friday where she will learn whether judge Beauchemin will grant her conditional release.

The father’s next court date has been set for March 4.

http://www.sherbrookerecord.com/content/view/598582/1/

Grandma tells court that girl is 'angry teen' after abuse
January 28, 2011 4:02 AM

SURREY - A Guildford grandma testified in Surrey provincial court Wednesday that before her nine-year-old granddaughter was allegedly attacked by long-time family friend Kyle Berkson in their home, she used to enjoy playing with her Barbie dolls.

"She grew up instantly into an angry teenager," the grandma said. The woman's name cannot be published, on account of a court-ordered publication ban shielding the identity of the victim.

Berkson, 36, is on trial, charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit sexual assault with a weapon, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference and making threats. He's accused of sneaking into the home in the dead of night.

Berkson listened from the prisoner's dock, with his hair cropped close and wearing a red prisoner shirt, as the woman testified.

The court heard she and her common-law husband have custody of the girl, and that their bedrooms were next to one another, at the rear of their house. During the wee hours of April 23, 2010, she said, she called emergency 911 after her granddaughter came into her room.

"She showed me her arm," she told the court. "It was bleeding. She showed me her shorts were cut, right in the crotch area."

The woman said she noticed the back porch door, which she said was usually locked, was ajar. It leads to a stairway heading into their backyard.

"It looked like he left in a hurry," she said.

The witness said she's known Berkson since he was 12 years old.

"He was a bit of a problem child," she said. She added that Berkson's dad had been a locksmith.

The court heard Berkson had visited the home "many times" before.

The trial continues.

Read more: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/news/Grandma+tells+court+that+girl+angry+teen+after+abuse/4183534/story.html#ixzz1CL3ugyrw

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A child's scars can linger for a lifetime
January 28, 2011

Men who molest children --and it's usually men who have a compulsion for this -- are often considered the scum of the earth.

Shocking evidence this week at the trial of a man charged with molesting a nine-year-old Surrey girl shows why this is the case.

As the grandmother of the victim testified, the little girl used to be a normal, happy-go-lucky child who played with dolls and wanted to be a princess.

But all that changed one night eight months ago when the girl woke up her grandma, who'd raised her from a young age, to tell her that she'd been "raped."

The grandmom told the court that, since then, the girl's personality had undergone a complete transformation: "She grew up instantly into an angry teenager."

For example, the girl doesn't pay attention to her personal hygiene as she used to do. And she pretends to be a bigger, stronger person than she is.

What appears to have occurred is what happens to all child victims of adult molestation: They lose their innocence . . . and they lose it far too early.

Attacks by child molesters are not simply physical in nature. They literally steal a child's soul.

The damage this causes is incalculable. It can linger for a lifetime and even get handed down from one generation to another.

That is why society has every right to feel revulsion to these kind of sexual assaults -- and why it must do everything in its power to stamp them out.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/child+scars+linger+lifetime/4183044/story.html#ixzz1CL4GijGP

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Surrey girl, 10, faces alleged molester in court
January 28, 2011

Warning: Disturbing content.

SURREY - A young Surrey girl testifying against her alleged abuser Kyle Berkson in Surrey provincial court today described the "rape" in detail but admitted under cross examination that it's possible "she might be wrong" that it was Berkson who assaulted her.

SURREY - A young Surrey girl testifying against her alleged abuser Kyle Berkson in Surrey provincial court today described the "rape" in detail but admitted under cross examination that it's possible "she might be wrong" that it was Berkson who assaulted her.

Berkson, 36, is on trial, charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit sexual assault with a weapon, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference and making threats. He's accused of sneaking into the girl's Guildford home in the dead of night and sexually assaulting her in her bedroom.

There is a publication ban prohibiting the publication of any information that could identify the 10-year-old girl.

She was nine when the crime is alleged to have happened. She told the court she was sleeping in bed, on her back, when she was woken by a man sitting on top of her. She said she could "kind of" see his face, and that he had hair like Elvis.

"I think it was Kyle Berkson," she testified. "It sounded like him and kind of looked like him." She identified Berkson in the prisoner's box.

She said the attacker whispered to her to be quiet, and she obeyed because she was scared.She said he put his finger inside her and "it hurt." He also licked her face, as well as down below, she told the court, and she felt "very, very grossed out and scared." He then put his legs on her shoulders.

"He started humping me."

Crown prosecutor Annette Jung asked the girl if she knew what sex was, and she replied, "It's a boy and a girl trying for a baby."

As he was leaving, she said, "he told me to be quiet, stay there five minutes or he and his buddy would start shooting."

The girl testified that after four minutes had passed, she went to her grandma's bedroom, which was next to hers, "and told her I got raped."

Her wrist was also bleeding.

"Somewhere in the events he stabbed me," she said. "I think it was a pocket knife."

Her grandma testified in Surrey provincial court Wednesday that after the assault the girl "grew up instantly into an angry teenager."

The court heard she and her common-law husband have custody of the girl, and that their bedrooms were next to one another, at the rear of their house. During the wee hours of April 23, 2010, she said, she called emergency 911 after her granddaughter came into her room.

"She showed me her arm," she told the court. "It was bleeding."

"She showed me her shorts were cut, right in the crotch area."

The woman said she noticed the back porch door, which she said was usually locked, was ajar. It leads to a stairway heading into their backyard.

"It looked like he left in a hurry," she said.

The grandma said she's known Berkson since he was 12 years old.

"He was a bit of a problem child," she said. She added that Berkson's dad had been a locksmith.

The court heard Berkson had visited the home "many times" before.

During cross-examination on Friday, defence lawyer David Gable asked the girl if it's possible she'd had a nightmare, and the attack was imagined. She replied that that wasn't the case.

Berkson listened from the prisoner's dock, with his hair cropped close and wearing a red prisoner shirt, facing the girl as she testified.

Gable questioned her about the identity of her alleged attacker.

"The first thing I thought was Kyle Berkson," she told the court. "I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure it was Kyle."

"I couldn't see the eyes, ears or nose," she said.

Gable asked how she knew what rape was.

"I saw on the news about people getting raped," she replied. Asked where she'd heard the word "humping," the girl replied, "I'm not sure...I just know words."

Asked how she felt about all of this, she said she was scared and shocked.

"Maybe this didn't happen?" Gable suggested.

"It did," she said firmly.

The trial continues.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Surrey+girl+faces+alleged+molester+court/4187997/story.html#ixzz1CPGAKbOw

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Judge reserves decision on Surrey sex assault case
February 3, 2011

Lawyers wrapped up their cases Wednesday in the sexual assault trial of Surrey's Kyle Berkson, with the defense suggesting that the alleged young victim may have exaggerated or fabricated the entire incident.

Berkson, 36, is accused of sneaking into a nine-year-old girl's bedroom last April and sexually assaulting her in her bed. He faces charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit sexual assault with a weapon, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference and uttering threats.

In making his closing submissions, defense lawyer David Gable told the court the case against Berkson is purely circumstantial, and said there are many missing pieces to what he called a "jigsaw puzzle" of evidence.

Gable argued a medical exam provided no solid evidence a sexual assault even occurred – noting an attending doctor said the demeanour of the girl was unusually upbeat under the circumstances.

Gable also said evidence identifying Berkson as the perpetrator is deficient, if a sexual assault indeed occurred. He said the description of the perpetrator varied widely from witness to witness and that perhaps the alleged victim was using Berkson as a "reference point" in terms of providing a description of her attacker.

The Crown disputed the assertion the evidence is only circumstantial, noting there is not only direct and corroborative, but ample physical evidence, such as Berkson's DNA on the girl's cheek, a pill bottle of the accused's found in her bedroom, and the victim's torn bathing suit bottom.

Prosecutor Lynett Jung argued the "constellation of evidence" proves beyond a reasonable doubt Berkson is guilty on all four charges.

She said Berkson had been in the home many times and was familiar with the unique layout, a witness saw a man similar in description to Berkson sitting in a car adjacent to the victim's home prior to the offense, and another witness testified the accused had bragged about his ability to crack any lock (his father is a locksmith).

The girl, now 10 years old, testified last week that she woke up in the middle of the night last April 23 to a man sitting on top of her. She said he sexually assaulted her, tried to get her to perform oral sex, licked her cheek and threatened her before leaving. She said the man sounded and "kind of" looked like Berkson, a friend of the family's, and identified him in the courtroom.

Gable warned to be cautious when dealing with such a young, sympathetic witness as it makes the objectivity of the court that much more difficult.

The judge reserved his decision, but a verdict is expected within the next two weeks.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/115143019.html

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MAN GUILTY OF SEXUALLY ASSAULTING 9-YEAR-OLD GIRL
February 15, 2011

The little girl, flanked by her parents and a family friend, smiled when the judge read the guilty verdict Tuesday afternoon.

Kyle Berkson, the man accused of sneaking into her bedroom when she was nine years old and sexually assaulting her, was found guilty of breaking and entering with intent to commit sexual assault with a weapon, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference and uttering threats.

Outside Surrey Provincial Court, the now-10-year-old girl, who cannot be identified under court order, said she was "glad" Berkson had been convicted.

Her grandmother, who has been caring for the girl since she was a baby and whom she calls Mom, said she hoped no other family would have to go through anything similar.

"A child should have the right to sleep in their own home," she said, lauding her daughter for being brave and taking the stand.

The girl testified during the trial that she woke up in the middle of the night last April 23 to a man sitting on top of her. She said he sexually assaulted her, tried to get her to perform oral sex, licked her cheek and threatened her before leaving. The girl said she was scared and that the man sounded and looked like Berkson, a friend of the family's.

A pill bottle with Berkson's name was found in the child's room after the incident, as was a flashlight and pair of scissors which her parents said were not theirs. The shorts the girl wore to bed had been cut in the crotch area.

As well, Berkson's DNA was found on the girl's cheek – consistent with her testimony that he licked her. Judge James Donald Bahen said the chance the DNA was not the accused's was one in 1.4 trillion.

During the trial, prosecutor Lynett Jung said Berkson had been in the home many times and was familiar with the unique and complicated layout, and another witness testified the accused had bragged about his ability to crack any lock (his father is a locksmith).

Defense lawyer David Gable had argued the case against Berkson was purely circumstantial, and said there were many missing pieces to what he called a "jigsaw puzzle" of evidence. He suggested that perhaps the girl had made the story up.

Judge Bahen disagreed.

"This incident was not a bad dream or a deliberate fabrication," he said, noting the child wouldn't sleep in her own room after the incident and wanted to get a new bed.

He credited the girl with her clear, carefully worded and intelligent testimony, saying she never appeared flippant and took the court process seriously.

Berkson will be sentenced at a later date.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/116268129.html

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Surrey sex predator's lawyer a no show; dangerous offender hearing put off
March 18, 2011

Prosecutor Lynett Jung was in Courtroom 103 at Surrey provincial court Friday morning to begin the process of having the guilty man declared a dangerous, or long-term, offender.

Jung said she was going to ask the judge to order a psychiatric assessment of Berkson as the first step in the process, but the guilty man's lawyer, David Gable, didn't show up.

The hearing was scheduled to begin at 9:30 that morning, but 90 minutes later, Gable had still not been located and the girl's grandparents were informed it was unlikely the hearing would proceed that day.

A new date had not been set when this story was filed.

Read more: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/life/Surrey+predator+lawyer+show+dangerous+offender+hearing/4466946/story.html#ixzz1H9rynXNT

Teenager recounts drunken night of horror spent with man facing DTES drug charges
January 29, 2011


Friends and family of victims outside the bail hearing for convicted sex offender
Martin Tremblay at B.C. Provincial Court in Vancouver, B.C., January 28, 2011.
Photograph by: Nick Procaylo, PNG

Tears run down the 17-year-old girl’s face as she recounts in a whisper the drunken night two years ago she spent with a sex offender previously convicted of sexually assaulting five teenage girls.

Standing outside Vancouver Provincial Court, the girl agreed to talk through her fear and embarrassment because she wants to make sure Martin Tremblay, 45, stays behind bars.

Tremblay, convicted in December 2003 of sexually assaulting the five girls between the ages of 13 and 15, all First Nations, was scheduled for a bail hearing Friday on a string of drug charges relating to offences in Vancouver this year.

Last year, Tremblay was linked to two teenage girls who died within hours of each other, but was never charged.

The Province has learned that Tremblay’s arrest this month is related to Project Rescue, one of two major Vancouver police investigations unveiled last week targeting the city’s most violent and predatory drug dealers.

Vancouver police announced Thursday that they’d made eight arrests connected to projects Tyrant and Rescue and promised more would follow. Tremblay was not mentioned, but Const. Lindsey Houghton said details of his arrest on drug charges will be forthcoming.

Families of Tremblay’s alleged victims and women’s groups from the Downtown Eastside, meantime, staged an emotional protest Friday outside the courthouse, concerned that Tremblay could get bail.

“It scares me,” the girl said when asked about the possibility of Tremblay getting out. “[I want the courts] to keep him in jail and keep him away.”

It was two years ago, she says, that Martin Tremblay walked into her life, a man described as a charmer who liked to flash his cash and who the other girls referred to as their street dad.

It’s the term her close friend, Kayla Lalonde, used when introducing her to Tremblay that first night the three of them shared sips from a bottle of hard liquor. Tremblay kept the bottles coming and soon they went to another house, where she blacked out.

She says she woke up the next morning in a car park, half-dressed with no shoes on, but has never reported the incident to police. Lalonde, she says, woke up at a downtown bus stop with no clothes on.

A year later, on March 2, 2010, Lalonde was dead, her body dumped on the side of the road in the 400-block of Rumble Street in Burnaby. She was 16.

Later that same morning, her friend, 17-year-old Martha Jackson Hernandez, died in hospital after being rushed by ambulance from a home in the 4200-block of Smith Crescent in Richmond that was being rented to a Martin Trembley.

Toxicology reports indicate the girls died from a lethal mix of alcohol and drugs and police believe their deaths are linked. At the time, friends of the two teens told The Province the girls had been hanging out with a man they called Martin.

During his B.C. Supreme Court trial in 2003, Tremblay admitted to court that he lured the teens to his home with promises of drugs and alcohol. When they passed out, he videotaped himself assaulting them.

He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and 18 months’ probation.

Outside Vancouver court, Mona Woodward, Women’s Memorial March organizer and Sister Watch representative, said she wonders whether Tremblay may have more victims who are too afraid to come forward.

Selena Chavez, 13, who also attended court Friday, says she knows a few teenagers who have had bad experiences.

“I just want him to stay in jail and for people to not have to worry about being sexually abused or drugged by this man,” she said. “I don’t think we should have to worry about this kind of stuff.”

Tremblay’s bail hearing was postponed to Feb. 3 and he remains in custody.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Teenager+recounts+drunken+night+horror+spent+with+facing+DTES+drug+charges/4191584/story.html#ixzz1CV4pmVqT

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Sex offender a community menace: protesters

Protesters from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside gathered outside a provincial court building Friday to protest the possible release of a convicted sex offender.

About a dozen members of the city's First Nations community said they opposed the release of Martin Tremblay, who was convicted of five counts of sexual assault in 2003.

Tremblay, 45, was sentenced to 14 months after he was found guilty of plying five aboriginal teenaged girls with drugs and alcohol and then videotaping his sex acts with them after they passed out.

He was scheduled to make a court appearance Friday on charges of trafficking crack cocaine and had been in custody since his arrest.

The protesters alleged that young women in their community weren't safe if Tremblay was on the streets.

"I think that if this guy gets released that that's saying something to the community that, you know, they're not caring for youth, and they're not caring for people," one protester said

Read More


Related:

Teens' deaths drug and alcohol related: police

Party drug blamed for teens' deaths

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Vancouver police call out to sex victims
February 11, 2011

Vancouver Police have taken the extraordinary step of issuing a public plea for victims of a man called Martin Tremblay.

Tremblay is currently facing four counts of trafficking cocaine and one charge of possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking, but has a criminal record for plying teenage Aboriginal girls with alcohol and drugs and then sexually assaulting them.

Police believe there are more victims and they're asking them to come forward in an effort to keep Tremblay in jail.

Tremblay, 45, was convicted of five counts of sexual assault in 2002 and sentenced to 14 months after he was found guilty of plying five aboriginal teenaged girls with drugs and alcohol and then videotaping his sex acts with them after they passed out.

In March 2010, Tremblay was linked to two teenaged girls who died within hours of each other.

Kayla LaLonde, 16, and Martha Hernandez, 17, had partied at Tremblay's home the night before they died as a result of overdosing on a combination of drugs and alcohol.

Lalonde was found dead on a Burnaby street after witnesses said she had been dumped from a van.

Hernandez died later after being rushed by ambulance from Tremblay's Richmond home.

No charges have been laid in connection with the girls' deaths.
More charges in alleged terror ring

Police also said charges have been laid against 11 individuals for crimes targeting vulnerable people in the Downtown Eastside. In all, 48 charges have been laid including extortion, sexual assault, forcible confinement and assault with a weapon

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Martin Tremblay

More Arrests – Sister Watch Project

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Police seek witnesses to help keep sex assault suspect in jail
February 11, 2011

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As well as information about the RCMP investigation, police on Friday released a photograph of Mr. Tremblay and information about his previous crimes in an attempt to encourage victims of the sexual assaults to come forward with evidence that might help keep the Downtown Eastside resident in jail.

“We don’t usually tell you about a person’s extensive criminal record or that we suspect their involvement in many unsolved crimes, but this time is different,” said Inspector Robinson. “The only way we can guarantee that he won’t harm more women is if he stays in jail.”

At least 14 Aboriginal girls have come forward as witnesses, but some are still waiting to speak to investigators, said Mona Woodward, executive director of Aboriginal Front Door Society, a resource centre for aboriginal people downtown. Women’s groups unsuccessfully tried to persuade the courts to classify Mr. Tremblay as a dangerous offender in 2003. Ms. Woodward criticized the police and justice system for releasing Mr. Tremblay without conditions eight years ago.

Mr. Tremblay was charged with drugging girls, ages 13 to 15, and shooting videos of himself assaulting them while they were unconscious. Some of the girls learned of the assaults during the trial when they were shown still photos from the videos.

READ MORE

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Convicted sex offender Martin Tremblay

Downtown Eastside sexual predator Martin Tremblay behind bars
February 15, 2011


Alanna Gauley, 22 (L) and Krystal (R) outside B.C. Provincial Court in Vancouver on Tuesday
February 15, 2011. Both girls claim to be victims of sexual predator Martin Tremblay.
Photograph by: Les Bazso, PNG

A young woman sobbed in outrage in B.C. provincial court Tuesday as convicted sex offender Martin Tremblay was sentenced to 11 months in jail on two drug counts.

Outside, an angry circle of young aboriginal women drummed and shouted out their anger, holding up the photo of Tremblay released by Vancouver police, who on Feb. 11 identified Tremblay as a convicted sex offender and have asked all potential victims to come forward now he’s in jail.

Tremblay, 45, was convicted Tuesday only of two counts of trafficking and possession of cocaine on the Downtown Eastside.

B.C. provincial court Judge Gregory Rideout rebuked the “predatory nature” of men targetting vulnerable drug-users struggling to survive.

“That struggle is not helped by people like Mr. Tremblay coming into the Downtown Eastside to traffic,” noted Rideout.

“Violence and drug-dealing seem to go hand-in-hand,” said Rideout.

Inside the courtroom Alana Gauley, 22, sobbed and shouted “rapist” before leaving the court in tears.

“Martin Tremblay drugged me with the date-rape drug and raped me when I was 14,” claimed Gauley. “He gave me a big glass of orange juice and that was the last thing I knew. I woke up naked on his bed.

“He did the same thing to my sister and like, 10 girls that I know of, just buying them any alcohol they wanted, and any drug,” alleged Gauley, saying that Tremblay plied underage native girls with alcohol and drugs and asked them to call him “Dad.”

Tremblay was convicted in 2002 of five counts of drugging underage aboriginal girls, then sexually assaulting them and videotaping the assaults.

Some images have even been posted on the Internet, horrifying young victims, who also say they have been threatened by Tremblay’s friends.

READ MORE

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February 23, 2011

A Vancouver Police media blitz to keep an accused serial rapist behind bars has had promising results.

Nearly two weeks after police held up a photo of Martin Tremblay and pleaded with victims to come forward, Cst. Jana McGuinness says several new tips are being pursued, "I can't share a lot of detail at this point because they're fairly sensitive, but the information is coming in and that's very encouraging. A little bit early to speculate on where these investigations will go, but we are encouraged by what we're hearing."

Earlier this month, the 45-year old convicted sex offender was sentenced to 11-months on drug charges, but Tremblay's also suspected of assaulting several young First Nations women after getting them drunk or high.

http://www.cknw.com/Channels/Reg/NewsLocal/Story.aspx?ID=1369332

Judge: Child porn is a 'crime of choice'
28 January 2011

A 21-year-old man was sentenced Thursday to one-year in jail after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography at Medicine Hat Provincial Court.

"This is a gross abuse of children in our society," said Judge Ted Fisher in sentencing Devin Wayne Resener, adding that it was a "crime of choice."

Resener was also handed a three-year probation order which will ban the man from owning a computer or accessing the Internet except for work purposes.
He will also be prohibited from contacting any child under the age of 16 without prior approval from a probation officer.

In a separate prohibition order, Resener has been banned for five years from any public space such as a school, park, playground or swimming pool where there is likely to be children younger than 16.

Resener will also be required to be registered on the national sex offender list for 10 years and to submit a DNA sample.

Police charge man in 1990 rape

It was a cold February evening 21 years ago when Brian Begbie, then a young Kingston Police patrol officer, arrived at the scene of a horrific rape and brutalization of a nine-year-old girl.

In a crime that is every parent's nightmare, the girl was snatched at random near her Macdonnell Street home in the early evening hours of Feb. 20, 1990, by a man she didn't know and who did not know her.

He drove her to a dark place in another part of Kingston where he raped her, brandished weapons and threatened her and her family with death.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Begbie said yesterday at the same time that Richard James Joyce, 44, was standing up up in provincial court downtown to have 12 charges arising from that night read to him.

"I will never forget it."

Paul Tohill, now retired, was then a young detective. He investigated the crime and it stayed close enough to him that upon his retirement, he made sure that other detectives were briefed on the case and would continue working it.

The case stuck in the minds of everyone who worked on it, not to mention a shocked city that believed such things could never happen here. Police don't take any crime more seriously than a sex crime on a child.

Friday they charged the man they believe did it: Joyce, who is serving a life sentence for his involvement in another high-profile crime, the robbery and murder at the Nozzles Gas Bar in 1991.

Every year he was on the force, Tohill remembered meeting the girl's mother on the anniversary of the rape.

Tohill could do little more than assure her the police had not given up on the case and any new leads or evidence would be taken seriously.

The young girl had been home with her mother that night watching movies. She convinced her mother to let her buy a bag of chips at a nearby convenience store at around 6 p.m.

She was walking home on Macdonnell near the intersection of Scott Street when she was accosted by a lone man, pushed into a car and driven to a secluded area.

"She was almost home," veteran sex-crime investigator Staff Sgt. Carolyn Rice said Friday.

The youngster was returned to the neighbourhood, dropped off several blocks from her house by her assailant later that night.

Before he let the terrified and injured child go, the man vowed to kill her and her mother if either one said anything to police.

With little physical evidence and no real crime scene, police did not find the man or the vehicle in which the crimes took place.

When he cleared out his desk for the last time, Tohill reminded his fellow officers that there was still DNA evidence from the case in secure storage. It had been fruitlessly tested in 1990, when DNA fingerprinting was still in its infancy.

When it was sent back to a crime lab in Toronto in November, it came back with one of the two sweetest findings a detective can receive: identifiable DNA.

That, of course, is no good at all unless police have someone to compare it to, but as Joyce was by then in the national DNA database, a subsequent search produced the second-sweetest result for a police investigator: a match.

Tohill came back out of retirement for Friday's news conference and he had difficulty keeping his emotions under control as he spoke about the case.

Like Begbie, he also remembered every detail of that long-ago case and his voice broke a little as he discussed a random and savage attack on a little girl walking home with a treat on a Tuesday evening.

As years went by, Tohill stayed abreast of the latest breakthroughs in forensic and DNA collection in hopes he would read of a test or a technique app l i cab l e to the case that still chewed at him.

"It's cases like this that wear on me," Tohill said. "To have this behind me after all these years, this is good."

Police are now investigating whether Joyce may have been responsible for any other similar crimes, and whether any other cold cases match the pattern in this one.

Abductions of children by total strangers are incredibly rare, despite the media coverage they generate, and it is unlikely that a person who would commit such a crime had never targeted children, either before or since.

Police Chief Stephen Tanner said the breakthrough was a result of solid police work combined with evolving DNA technology.

"What this says is that we will never give up on a case, no matter the age, whether it happened 20, 30 or 40 years ago," he said, noting the national DNA data - base is growing every day and police can get a DNA hit on a piece of evidence on a Wednesday that they would not have gotten from the same evidence the day before.

Judges can order people to provide a DNA sample upon conviction of a crime, and such samples are mandatory in violent or sexual crimes.

Tanner said technology and the growing DNA bank will continue to break cases that were previously unsolvable and police are taking advantage of it.

"We will continue to look into every cold case and we will continue to investigate them all."

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2952947

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Killer admits to sex assault on child
Feburary 01, 2011

Richard Charles Joyce, already serving life with no parole eligibility for 25 years for his role in the brutal first-degree murder of Margaret Yvonne Rouleau almost 20 years ago, has admitted to being the sexual predator who attacked a nine-year-old girl, 15 months before the murder.

Joyce, 43, pleaded guilty Monday in Kingston's Ontario Court of Justice to eight of the 11 charges laid against him just last week, all arising out of a previously unsolved case of abduction and sexual assault on a child.

Justice Rommel Masse accepted a joint recommendation from Joyce's lawyer, Brian Callender, and assistant Crown attorney Ross Drummond, sentencing the convicted murderer to 10 years in prison, which out of necessity, must be served concurrently with his pre-existing life sentence.

After hearing the facts, however, Masse told him "your behaviour toward this nine-year-old girl was unspeakably brutal," and added, "I'm at a loss for words to say how I feel."

Joyce admitted, through his guilty pleas, to kidnapping the child; threatening her with death; using a knife in committing a sexual assault on her; beating her with a snow brush; threatening the little girl that he'd kill her mother; sexually touching her; inviting her to touch him sexually; and carrying a knife for the purpose of committing a sexual assault.

Drummond told the judge the crimes were all committed on Feb. 20, 1990, a Tuesday night when The Wizard of Oz was being broadcast on TV.

The child and her mother were planning to watch the classic together and, shortly after 6 p.m. that night, Drummond said the nine-year-old was allowed to take the five-minute walk to a neighbourhood store to buy potato chips.

She was on her way back, walking north on Macdonnell toward Scott Street with her snack, he told the judge, when a man on the sidewalk in front of her appeared to drop his keys on the ground.

As he bent, ostensibly to pick up his keys, the approaching child was manoeuvred into stepping around him, toward the outside of the sidewalk and Drummond said the stranger sprang his ambush, shoving her toward his vehicle, which was parked at the side of the road.

He told Masse the child screamed as she was being abducted. But her abductor -- Joyce as it now turns out -- slapped her hard across the back of the head until she stoppedt.

He then drove her west out of the centre of the city, past a number of landmarks she recognized such as Red Lobster, to a remote location on Woodbine Road.

There, Masse was told, he parked his vehicle, forced her to strip and sexually terrorized her according to the Crown prosecutor.

Drummond said the nine-year-old was told by her abductor that if she didn't co-operate he'd kill her and leave her in a ditch.

Masse heard that he then groped her and raped her twice, anally, while holding the flat of his knife against her throat.

Joyce had equipped himself with a bag of Vaseline to accomplish the crime, the judge heard, and in between attacks on the her, he beat the backs of her legs with a snow brush he had in his vehicle until he raised welts on her skin.

Drummond said she had to ask to use the bathroom after the first attack and he permitted her out of the vehicle to defecate in the snow, told her to use her undershirt to clean herself and then throw it away on the snow bank.

Then he hustled her back into the vehicle attacked her a second time the same way.

He also forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to rape her vaginally, but couldn't physically accomplish it, even with his bag of vaseline because she was just too little.

The girl's mother had called police around 7 p.m. and reported her daughter missing when she failed to return from the store and couldn't be found.

Drummond told the judge that her assailant, after he finally had his fill of molesting the child, drove her back to her neighbourhood and released her around 8 p.m., but only after he'd threatened the child that he'd kill her and her mother if they talked to police.

Joyce agreed to all of the facts and when asked by Justice Masse if he had anything he wanted to add said "no".

He also later declined the judge's invitation to say anything on the record in his own behalf and sat through the recitation of his crimes with his eyes on the floor.

Defence lawyer Callender noted that his client, until last week, had been on the verge of a hearing to ask for a reduction in his mandatory 25 year parole ineligibility.

He conceded that what Joyce did that February night was "a very heinous and unspeakable crime." But he also observed, in recommending the 10-year sentence to Masse, that when Joyce committed it "he was a person without a record."

Callender also told the judge his client had only learned the extent of the charges against him on Friday, but chose to enter guilty pleas before the final results on his DNA analysis were even completed. Consequently, he said, "I'm urging the court to give Mr. Joyce considerable credit for acknowledging his wrong doing," and not forcing the victim or her mother to testify, notwithstanding that he didn't come forward about the crimes on his own.

Drummond agreed that Joyce was pleading guilty before the Crown was actually in a position to prove its case.

But he suggested the victim would have been spared at least some pain had he admitted his crime while in prison.

She didn't know her attacker was locked up, Drummond observed, so "for 19 years, she's lived with the knowledge that somebody in Kingston did this to her and may still be out there."

Joyce was caught only because his DNA was taken while in prison serving his sentence for first-degree murder. In 1990, when he attacked his young victim, there was no National DNA data bank and even if there had been Joyce, with no criminal record at the time, wouldn't have been included.

It just happened that now retired Det. Paul Tohill never forgot the case and reminded his fellow officers before leaving the force that there was still DNA evidence on it in secure storage.

That evidence was re-submitted to the Centre for Forensic Science last March and they got a hit on Joyce's DNA in the data bank in October, which opened the way to obtain a fresh sample for a full match.

Drummond observed, additionally that while Joyce's criminal record is short the two crimes on it had a major impact on the local community and "changed the city of Kingston."

The murder at Nozzles Gas Bar, "left a hole in the heart of everyone who knew Yvonne Rouleau" he told the judge, and turned a thriving business in the heart of the city into a parking lot. And the abduction of a child in elementary school, minutes from her home, took away the sense of security parents had in their own neighbourhoods.

Directing his remarks to the prisoner, the judge said "Mr. Joyce, I've been a student of criminal law for 35 years and I've been sitting on the bench almost 22 years," and while he admitted it was tempting to believe after that much time that he'd seen the worst, "clearly I haven't seen it all."

Masse characterized Joyce's as "one most brutal sexual assaults" he'd ever heard and in addition to the 10-year sentence, ordered him included on the Sex Offender Information Registry for life and imposed a life-time ban on him frequenting parks, play grounds and other places where children under 14 are or could reasonably expected to congregate as well as a life time weapons ban.

After the sex charges were laid, Joyce, who had cascaded down to a minimum security institution over the years, was sent back to the Millhaven assessment unit where his security rating will be reviewed. It's also expected that the additional 10 year sentence, while it adds no actual years to his sentence, will have an impact on his parole prospects.

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2955884

Baby found abandoned in hotel

EDMONTON - A mom has been charged after a baby boy was found abandoned in a west Edmonton hotel, say police.

The infant is now in the care of Alberta Child and Family Services.

The mother was charged with willfully causing a child to be in need of protective services after officers responded Friday morning to a report of a baby found abandoned at the Continental Inn on Stony Plain Road and 166 Street.

"It appears that a mother and her newborn baby checked into the hotel earlier in the day. The baby was alone and unsupervised when alert hotel staff found the baby," said police spokesman Chad Orydzuk.

The baby boy is in good condition, he said.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/01/28/17073086.html

Sexual Assault Alert,
Man wanted in sexual assault investigation
January 26, 2011

The Toronto Police Service would like to make the public aware of a sexual assault
investigation.
It is reported that:
− on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at approximately 8 p.m., a 14−year−old boy had been at a library in the Burnhamthorpe Road/The East Mall area when he was befriended by a man,
− the man offered to walk the boy home,
− as the two walked southbound on The East Mall, the man led the boy into The East Mall Park where the man sexually assaulted the boy,
− the boy fled the area,
− the man was last seen near the bus stop on The East Mall, next to the park.

The suspect is described as having a brown complexion, 18−19, 6’, 130 lbs., with brown eyes, dark−brown, short, curly hair and was clean shaven.
He was wearing a white sweater/jacket, blue jeans, and brown leather shoes. He was carrying a backpack/school bag.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Constable Boyd Li at 416−808−7474, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook.

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Update, Composite sketch of suspect released
January 28, 2011

Composite sketch of suspect in sexual assault investigation

The Toronto Police Service has requested the public's assistance identifying a man wanted in a sexual assault investigation.

See previous release.

Police have released a composite sketch of the suspect.
For more information on reporting sexual assaults, please click here
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416−808−7474, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook.

Mom uses scrub pad to punish child: Police
January 30, 2011

A Barrie mom wound up in police custody Saturday night after police say she punished her nine-year-old child inappropriately.

Police say it became apparent the child had been punished with some of bristle pad because the youngster's hands were all raw and chafed.

Turns out, police say, the mother had used a scrub pad.

The 49-year-old mom was charged with assault and the child was put under the care of the Simcoe County Children's Aid Society.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2953813

Hamilton man facing child porn charges

A 69-year-old Hamilton man is facing a slew of sexual assault and child pornography charges after a search of a Waterdown home Thursday morning.

The Hamilton police investigation began after an alleged sexual assault victim came forward claiming she was assaulted during the summer of 2004 at a Waterdown recreational facility.

During a search of the Waterdown home around 8:30 a.m. Thursday police seized a number of computer equipment.

Police believe there may be further victims.

Anthony Burke, 69, is charged with four counts of sexual assault, four counts of sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, exposure of genital, criminal harassment, possession of child pornography, making child pornography available, making child pornography and voyeurism.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact the victims of crime unit, Detective Tyler Preston at 905-540-6254 or Detective Sandy Walters at 905-540-5050.

http://www.thespec.com/news/crime/article/479445--hamilton-man-facing-child-porn-charges

Former Calgary scouter gets 25 years for running Thai brothel for pedophiles
January 31, 2011


John C. Wrenshall, formerly of Calgary

CALGARY — Calling him a "repeat, dangerous sexual offender," a judge has sentenced a former Calgary man to 25 years in a U.S. prison for running a brothel for pedophiles.

John Wrenshall, 64, was sentenced in a courtroom in Newark, New Jersey, on Monday for inviting men to travel from around the world to his home in Thailand to sexually abuse young boys.

Wrenshall pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to engage in sex tourism, conspiracy to produce child pornography and distribution of child pornography.

"John Wrenshall created a place where innocent children were sexually brutalized as a vacation pastime," said New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman in a statement.

"Children represent what is best in us, and Wrenshall's monstrous conduct represents the worst . . . It is fitting that a man who has condemned children to live with unimaginable scars for his pleasure and profit should spend decades of his own life in a prison cell."

It is not the first time Wrenshall has been convicted of sex crimes against children.

The former scout master and senior choir member at a Calgary cathedral was jailed for a year in 1997 for indecently assaulting eight young choir boys as far back as 36 years ago.

Wrenshall befriended all the boys after they joined the choir or attended scout meetings, according to the court.

Wrenshall also was convicted of a similar offence in 1970 and given a suspended sentence with two years probation.

Wrenshall emigrated to Thailand from Calgary and had been living just outside of Bangkok, since 1999 or 2000. U. S. authorities allege that's when he began a sex-tourism operation.

According to court documents, Wrenshall admitted that from at least as early as January 2000, he arranged trips to his home during which U.S. citizens and others paid him up to $200 to engage in anal sex, oral sex and other sexual acts with Thai boys, some as young as four years old. Wrenshall's customers were allowed to videotape and photograph their abuse. Wrenshall also personally victimized the boys in order to "train" them for his paying customers.

Wrenshall's illicit world came crashing down with the May 2008 arrest of his New Jersey client Wayne Corliss after photos of him surfaced on the Internet.

Corliss, 59, pleaded guilty to three counts of sex tourism and production of child pornography after a photograph of him sexually abusing young children in Southeast Asia circulated and were discovered in Norway.

Three of Wrenshall's U.S. clients — Corliss, Burgess Lee Burgess and Mitchell Kent Jackson — have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced on sex tourism and related charges.

Corliss was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Burgess and Jackson were sentenced to 78 months.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Former+Calgary+scouter+gets+years+running+Thai+brothel+pedophiles/4198378/story.html#ixzz1Cg0UI6C9

Murder victims’ family members speak out
February 01, 2011

Family members of women missing or murdered along the Highway of Tears called on Missing Women Commission of Inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal for a separate inquiry.

Oppal was in Prince George Friday for an informal, pre-inquiry public forum. Family members and aboriginal leaders said disappearances and murders of women in the North took place under very different circumstances than the women missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and convicted serial killer Robert Pickton’s victims.

Brenda Wilson said the murder of her sister, Ramona Wilson, in 1994 should be grouped with Pickton’s victims.

“The majority of the girls that went missing on the Highway of Tears are, in fact, girls — not grown women,” Wilson said. “They have answers. They have a killer behind bars. We have no answers in these cases.”

Ramona was 16-years-old when she went missing from Smithers on June 11, 1994. She told her mother she was going to a friend’s house in Smithers, then tried to find a ride to a nearby reservation to visit friends there, Wilson said.

When Ramona didn’t come home, her family started looking for her at all her friends’ homes, school and her part-time jobs.

“We contacted the police and they weren’t very helpful at that time,” Wilson said.

“Why did they not send out an amber alert? Why did they not start an investigation right away? Our human rights have been violated.”

Ramona’s body was found 10 months later near the Smithers Airport.

Read more

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Burns Lake, B.C. - 17-year-old Chassidy Charlie of Burns Lake is the third young woman to be murdered in northern BC in recent months. 36-year old Cynthia Maas of Prince George, and 15-year-old Loren Donn Leslie of Fraser Lake were added to the growing list of murdered women this past fall. Elsewhere in BC, the death of 18-year old Tyeshia Jones in Duncan was ruled a homicide this week.

Tracy Porteous, Executive Director of the Ending Violence Association of BC, is asking when enough is enough before serious action is taken to address violence against women. "If this many people were dying due to airplane crashes or Influenza in this province, we would have national action," says Porteous, "We would probably see the Centre for Disease Control or the National Aviation Board swooping in to BC, the numerous policy analysts and investigators trying to figure out what's happening. But for crimes against women, we don't even have an office that's responsible." Porteous is calling for a comprehensive public education campaign in schools to address issues of violence. She says we need to change the whole culture to encourage more people to speak out against violence they witness or experience.

Read more

Sentencing judge to consider sex offender's aboriginal upbringing
January 28, 2011

WINNIPEG — He’s a career criminal whose latest attack sickened veteran police officers and had parents clinging to their children. But if Greg Hope has his way, he’ll catch a legal break and do less time in prison than other similar offenders.

His sentencing has been adjourned for preparation of a court-ordered report studying what, if any, effect his aboriginal upbringing should have on his punishment. The report is based on a Supreme Court case which said some First Nations offenders should receive more lenient sentences based on hardships they endured in life.

Hope, 35, pleaded guilty this week to kidnapping and raping a six-year-old girl from a Winnipeg playground last spring. It was a random attack that has left the victim physically and emotionally traumatized.

Hope admits going to the inner city playground one Sunday evening last May. He tried to befriend the girl, then lured her to a nearby home where she was brutally attacked. She was eventually allowed to return to the park, where family members found her crying.

Hope told police he was drunk and has little memory of it. No other details of the case were presented to court Wednesday. Hope remains in custody.

Read more

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Lakrtiz: Unhappy childhood doesn't excuse crime
January 31, 2011

Whose childhood should take precedence - Greg Hope's, or that of the six-year-old girl he snatched from a playground and sexually assaulted?

I'd vote for the little girl's childhood to take precedence, hands down, and I suspect most Canadians would agree. But, alas, our judicial system is toying with other ideas.

Last week, Hope, 35, pleaded guilty in a Winnipeg courtroom to sexual assault causing bodily harm and abducting a child under the age of 14. Winnipeg Free Press reporter Mike McIntyre described the incident, which happened last May, as "a completely random attack that has left the victim physically and emotionally traumatized."

Each of Hope's offences comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years. However, sentencing has been delayed because the court has ordered a report on, according to McIntyre, "what, if any, effect (Hope's) aboriginal upbringing should have on his punishment."

Yes, it's a case of his childhood against hers. Do the (presumably) unhappy circumstances of Hope's childhood merit him receiving a lighter punishment for having made the circumstances of this little girl's childhood far worse than unhappy? He stole her childhood away, forever, leaving her "physically and emotionally traumatized." The emotional trauma will last a lifetime. Shouldn't that count more than his own possibly dismal background?

Hope approached the girl at the playground as she played with her brothers, and attempted to make friends with her. He subsequently lured her to a neighbouring house, and after attacking her, let her go. She was later found at the park, crying.

Hope's record goes back nearly 20 years, during which time he racked up mainly property crimes and breaches of court orders, but there were also weapons offences and threats. Hope also admitted to problems with crack cocaine and alcohol, which he said fuelled his property crimes. He said he doesn't remember much about the attack because he was drunk.

The court, in ordering the assessment of Hope's upbringing, is acting on the Supreme Court of Canada's 1999 ruling in R. versus Gladue, whose effect on sentencing is described by the Justice Education Society (formerly the Law Courts Education Society of B.C.) thus: "Gladue asks judges to apply a method of analysis that recognizes the adverse background cultural impact factors that many aboriginals face. In a Gladue analysis these factors, if present in their personal history, work to mitigate or reduce the culpability of offenders."

The society adds: "This does not, however, mean that all aboriginal offenders automatically qualify for lighter sentences than non-aboriginal offenders. The principles of sentencing apply to all offenders equally, and so in many situations, such a remedy will not be appropriate to the circumstances of the case."

If any case merits being outside of Gladue's purview, it is this one.

Nobody will argue that "adverse background cultural impact factors" have had a deleterious effect on many aboriginal children. The echoes of the Indian Residential School legacy, sadly, continue to reverberate down through the generations. Aboriginal children experienced horrific things that their white counterparts did not, growing up.

But something equally horrific has been done to this little girl, and its echoes will reverberate down through all the years of her life.

There comes a moment when Greg Hope, an adult, must answer fully for his actions, and this moment - when his actions have had a devastating effect on a child's life - is it. Nothing should "mitigate or reduce the culpability" of this offender, because nothing will mitigate the effects of the crime on that little girl.

Read more

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Man gets 12 years for raping 6-year-old girl
March 24, 2011

A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for randomly kidnapping and raping a six-year-old girl from a West End playground last spring.

Greg Hope, 34, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a crime which sickened veteran police officers and had parents clinging to their children. He returned to court Thursday afternoon for sentencing.

Crown attorney Jennifer Mann was seeking a 14-year penalty, which is the most allowed in Canada for the crime of sexual assault causing bodily harm. Hope’s lawyer requested an eight-year sentence. Provincial court Judge Fred Sandhu took a brief adjournment before returning later in the day to give his decision.

"What Mr. Hope did is beyond despicable. This is a parent’s worst nightmare," said Sandhu.

Hope has spent the past 10 months in custody which was given single-time credit. That leaves him with another 11 years and two months to serve. Sandhu took the rare step of ordering him to spent at least half his remaining time behind bars until he is eligible for parole. Normally an inmate can seek release after serving just one-third of their sentence.

Hope admits going to the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre near Ellice Avenue and Langside Street, where the girl was playing with several older brothers one Sunday evening last May. He tried to befriend the girl, then lured her to a nearby home where she was brutally attacked. She was eventually allowed to return to the park, where family members found her crying and missing one of her shoes. She was taken to hospital for treatment.

Hope told police he was drunk at the time of the attack and has little memory of it.

As the Free Press revealed last year, Hope has a long criminal record and was released from jail only a few weeks before the attack.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Crown-seeks-maximum-penalty-for-man-who-raped-6-year-old-girl-118611499.html?viewAllComments=y&device=mobile

Saskatoon police issue high-risk sexual offender advisory
February 4, 2011


A high-risk sexual offender, Robert Wallace Street, is being released on Friday and will be residing in the Saskatoon area.

A public advisory has been issued by Saskatoon Police Service, advising the public that a high-risk sexual offender will be residing in the Saskatoon area upon his release from custody Friday.

Robert Wallace Street has a history of committing sexual offenses against young men under the age of 16 years. He is known to groom his victims and their families by befriending them to gain their trust and access to the victim.

Police say they want the public to be aware of Street’s presence in the Saskatoon area and his potential to re-offend.

Street was born on August 30, 1956 and is 5’8”, 170 lbs, with a shaved or balding head, glasses and a moustache.

There are a number of conditions Street must obey while on recognizance:

a) reside at an approved residence with a nightly curfew of 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. daily;

b) abstain from the purchase, possession or consumption of alcohol and other intoxicating substances and drugs, unless prescribed;

c) avoid attending public parks, swimming areas, school playgrounds or community centres where persons under the age of 16 are present;

d) not seek or obtain employment or become a volunteer in a capacity that involves being in a position of trust or authority toward a person under the age of 16 years;

e) not have any contact or communicate with, or be in the company of any person under the age of 16 years;

f) have no contact with prior victims or their families;

g) inform officials of travel plans, change of employment or change of residence.

Police ask they be contacted at 975-8300 if anyone is aware of any violations or 911 if it is urgent. Police also caution the information is intended to enable the public to take preventative measures and not embark on any form of vigilantism or unreasonable conduct towards Street.

Saskatoon Police Service issued the advisory under the Public Disclosure Act.

http://www.globalsaskatoon.com/Saskatoon+police+issue+high+risk+sexual+offender+advisory/4225422/story.html

VPD warns residents of high-risk child sex-offender staying at halfway house
February 4, 2011


Police are warning the public about convicted child sex offender Kenneth Wayne Cummings, a
46-year-old Caucasian who is six feet two inches tall and 225 lbs. He has greying brown hair,
brown eyes and he may have facial hair.

The VPD is warning residents of a sex-offender who is living at a Vancouver halfway house and poses a significant risk to both male and female children.

Police say Kenneth Wayne Cummings is a 46-year-old Caucasian, six feet two inches tall and 225 lbs. He has greying brown hair, brown eyes and he may have facial hair.

While at the halfway house, Cummings must abide by the following conditions of his parole:

• He is forbidden to contact with children under the age of 18;

• He is not to go to any place where there are children under the age of 18, including parks, playgrounds school grounds, swimming areas, beaches, daycares, recreation and community centres and libraries

• He is not to engage in any activities or employment that would bring him into any contact with, or place him in a position of trust over, children under the age of 18

• He is to abstain from illicit drug use.

Anyone witnessing Cummings breaching his conditions is asked to call police.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/life/warns+residents+high+risk+child+offender+staying+halfway+house/4226309/story.html#ixzz1D3iwn2ET

Suits against CFS, custodians allege abuse in foster care
February 8, 2011

TWO recently filed lawsuits target foster parents and Child and Family Services for alleged abuse involving youth in their care.

In one case, the father of two boys is seeking damages for physical and sexual abuse he alleges his sons suffered at a foster mother's home.

The statement of claim says the boys, now 16 and 17, went to live at a home outside the city with a foster mother in 2006 while they were in the care of Intertribal Child and Family Services. The claim alleges the boys were routinely abused by two nephews of the foster mother, who also lived with her.

"Almost on a daily basis, (the boys) were physically and sexually assaulted by (the nephews), including but not limited to blows to the head, blows to the body, fondling, digital anal penetration and being shot with a pellet gun," the lawsuit claims.

The statement of claim alleges "Intertribal had not performed proper background checks" on the foster mother and her family. It names her, her nephews, the CFS agency and the provincial government as defendants.

The boys were returned to their biological family in 2007 and their disclosure of alleged sexual abuse led the boys and their father to contact the Children's Advocate. An RCMP investigation led to criminal charges against the two nephews, who were both convicted.

"There was no system or practice or any adequate system or practice by the defendant Intertribal of oversight of the (placement), nor of supervision or monitoring of behaviour therein," said the statement of claim, which notes the the experience left the boys "emotionally shattered."

The claim said the boy's father had tried to warn Intertribal staff about the alleged abuse after his sons confided in him.

The boys will now require "medications, therapy, counselling" as well as other forms of treatment, the claim.

In a second, unrelated claim, a 20-year-old man is seeking damages from Southeast Child and Family Services and his former foster parents for abuse he says he suffered while living with the foster parents from 1996 to 1999.

"(The foster parents) failed to protect him from sexual battery by another child in the care of and under the supervision of the foster parents," said the statement of claim. It also said the foster parents "subjected (him) to physical and emotional abuse."

The man does not identify the foster parents by name in the lawsuit, but says he's suffered as a result of his placement. A spokesman for Child and Family Services said he could not comment on the lawsuits Monday.

"I am advised that lawyers for the agency and the department are gathering information and the facts that they will present when these matters get to court," the spokesman said in an email.

No statement of defence has been filed yet in either of the cases.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/suits-against-cfs-custodians-allege-abuse-in-foster-care-115545549.html

Foster father to stand trial in murder of infant

Following a preliminary hearing, Provincial Court Judge Hewitt-Michta, has ruled that sufficient evidence exists to commit Roderick Blacksmith to trial for second degree murder in relation to the November 12, 2008, murder of 13-month-old Cam Ouskan in Gillam.

Ouskan had been taken to Gillam Hospital on November 12, 2008, in life-threatening condition and was later transported to Thompson General Hospital where he died. An autopsy determined that Ouskan’s death was a homicide.

Blacksmith, now 32-years-old, has been arrested and charged with the second degree murder of Ouskan in January, 2009.

Blacksmith is scheduled to appear in Thompson Provincial Court on April 11, 2011, so that a trial date can be set.

http://www.mysteinbach.ca/newsblog/9842.html

Missing Teen - Ryan Wesley
February 13, 2011

Search Continues for Missing Teen

The search continues for a 17-year-old boy who walked out of the Royal Ottawa Hospital.

Ottawa Police say Ryan Wesley was last seen leaving the ROH campus about 1:45 Sunday afternoon.

An hour later he was seen at the Rideau Centre, and a short time later getting off an OC Transpo bus near Montreal Road and the Vanier Parkway.

Ryan is described as an Aboriginal male, 5 foot 9, slim build, with black hair and wearing a gray winter coat and pants.

http://www.cfra.com/?cat=1&nid=78041

********** U P D A T E **********

Ryan Wesley: FOUND

Ottawa police found Ryan Wesley who had fled from the Royal Hospital and say he is in good health.

http://www.tvagatineau.ca/articles/20110214061552/adolescent_retrouve.html

Man, 4-year-old son, found hanged in Quebec home

MONTREAL — A four-year-old boy and his 50-year-old father were found hanged in the garage of their home in the Montreal-area community of Ste. Julie, police said Wednesday.

The deaths have been tentatively classified as a "a murder followed by a suicide," said Sgt. Pierre Tremblay of Richelieu-St. Laurent police.

The bodies of Serge Vezina and his son Jeremy were found early Tuesday morning after police were called to the home, about 35 kilometres east of Montreal.

Officers broke in to discover what Tremblay called an "extremely difficult" scene in the garage.

Jeremy's mother, who had been separated from Vezina for about a year, became suspicious when their son was not at his daycare centre, Tremblay said.

"She called police after she saw her child's boots through the window of the front door, and the car of her ex parked," Tremblay said.

Vezina and his ex-wife shared custody of Jeremy, who was legally with his father at the time of his death, said Const. Serge Cote, another police spokesman.

Read more

Sexual Assault Alert, Four men wanted
February 14, 2010

Toronto Police Service news release

Sex Crimes Unit
416−808−7474

The Toronto Police Service is alerting the public to a sexual assault investigation.

It is reported that:

− on Sunday, February 6, 2011, at 12 p.m., a 15−year−old girl was forced into a car outside Kennedy subway station,

− the girl was taken to a motel on Kingston Road where she was sexually assaulted by four men.

The suspects are described as:

1) black, with a light complexion, 20−25, 5’8”, facial hair, short hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing baggy grey pants, white shoes with green/yellow lines and a baseball−style cap,

2) black, 5’8”, 20−25, muscular build, brown eyes, dark hair with facial hair. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, construction boots and a beige jacket,

3) black, 5'2", 20−25,

4) black, 20−25.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416−808−7474, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook .

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/pdfs/20510.pdf
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snipped...
A 15-year-old girl was forced into a car outside Kennedy subway station and taken to a hotel on KIngston Rd. where she was sexually assaulted by four men around noon on Feb. 6, Toronto Police said Monday.

Police did not release the name of the motel.

Physically the girl is fine, said Const. Wendy Drummond.

"Emotionally that is very sensitive and everyone deals with it differently," Drummond said.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/02/14/17267556.html

Safety alert issued after students approached by stranger
February 14, 2011 12:02 PM

RCMP have issued a safety alert and parents are being urged to talk to their children about strangers after incidents in Salmon Arm and Enderby.

The RCMP have received two reports of a man in a white van or truck stopping and speaking to children. Jan. 31 and Feb. 6.

In the Salmon Arm incident, students were offered free pizza by the stranger.

“Both were reported in the late afternoon to early evening,” said Gord Molendyk, police spokesperson.

“In both cases, the male driver spoke to the children and asked them to come to the vehicle.”

Instead of approaching the vehicle, the youth left the area and reported the incident to their parents, who contacted the schools and RCMP.

Police have issued warning to local schools as well as issuing the public notice.

The man is described as a Caucasian who is about 30-years-old and is unshaven with dark hair.

The vehicle is a a white mini-van type, possibly with a black strip on it.

“The RCMP are asking families to talk to their children about speaking to strangers, and never get into vehicles if asked to do so,” said Molendyk.

“We encourage children to walk in a group and not alone. The police are reminding everyone to remember these safety tips and to report any strange actions like this to the police.”

School District #83 schools like Bastion Elementary are making parents and students aware of the situation.

"At our schools, we will be reviewing what to do when approached by an unknown person with our younger students," says Alan Harrison, Bastion prinicpal, in a safety alert notice. "I urge all parents and guardians to review your child's to and fron school procedures and what to do in different situations to ensure their safety."

This includes walking in groups, walking directly away from any stranger, going to a known adult's house and reporting concerns to family and school.

Anyone with information about these incidents can call the Salmon Arm RCMP at 250-832-6044.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/116168184.html

Hockey coach accused of sex crimes gets bail
February 14, 2011

A longtime Hamilton minor hockey coach facing sex and child pornography charges was released on $10,000 bail Monday.

Richard McKinnon, 46, is charged with sexual assault, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, sexual exploitation and production of child pornography.

His arrest and charges stemmed from in investigation that began last Thursday when police were called to a Mountain home for a dispute. Through the investigation, police claim someone reported a historic sexual assault.

Police believe there may be more victims.

The alleged incidents span 2001 and 2006, while the accused was a coach for the Mount Hamilton Minor Hockey Association. Since 2007 he has been an assistant coach at the Hamilton City HUB peewee division.

The hockey association has banned him from coaching throughout the court process.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the victims of crime unit, Detective Scott Moore at 905-546-4614 or Detective Dave Oleniuk at 905-540-5543.

McKinnon’s next court date is set for March 17.

http://www.thespec.com/news/crime/article/485470--hockey-coach-accused-of-sex-crimes-gets-bail

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Alleged victim of coach now faces charge of sexual assault
Co-accused out on bail
March 26, 20


Hockey coach Rick McKinnon who has been charged with
numerous sexual assault offences involving youth, including child porn.

One of the five alleged victims of a 46-year-old hockey coach facing 22 sexual and violence-related charges is accused of committing sexual assault alongside her accused perpetrator.

The woman, charged with sexual assault, cannot be identified because she is also an alleged victim.

The charge of sexual assault can be laid when a person is the assaulter or is actively complicit.

Richard McKinnon, a former Hamilton Minor Hockey Hub peewee division assistant coach, is facing 22 sex, assault and child pornography charges from incidents that span 2001 to 2011.

The investigation began in February after police were called to his Mountain home for a disturbance. Information at the scene led to the victims of crime unit being called in to investigate.

Detective Scott Moore said there is little he can say now that the case is before the courts and is the subject of two publication bans.

But he said there may be more victims and he'd like to hear from anyone who knows anything.

It is also important to note, he said, that just because a victim comes forward to police, it does not mean they have to press charges.

A sexual assault victim's fear and reluctance to come forward is something that Lenore Lukasik-Foss, director of the Sexual Assault Centre (Hamilton and Area), deals with daily.

She spoke generally, not specifically, about the McKinnon case.

“It's the most under-reported violent crime in Canada,” she said.

Victims fear the questions that friends or family may ask, fear not being believed, fear threats and rumours, fear that nothing will happen, fear blame and fear reliving the trauma, she said.

Lukasik-Foss said she is not an expert in how a victim can become a perpetrator, but noted that many abusers groom their victims to think they are responsible or that there is nothing wrong with the behaviour.

The abuser often grooms victims to feel special, to feel only the abuser understands them.

“It's breaking boundaries, it's a process,” she said.

And when the abuser is in a position of authority or power, it only compounds the psychological elements that stop a victim from reporting or make a victim believe he or she is complicit in the behaviour, Lukasik-Foss said.

“You have to understand, the victim doesn't know there are other victims,” she said, adding that many feel there is something not right, but can't quite figure it out.

McKinnon is out on a $10,000 surety of bail.

His release conditions include abstaining from communicating with any alleged victims or their families, staying away from hockey arenas and not coaching any hockey teams, and he is prohibited from being in contact with any females under 18 and from having any computers or digital storage devices.

McKinnon has moved to Welland to be closer to his brother, who is his surety.

McKinnon's lawyer, Rory Cornale, was not available for comment.

His co-accused's lawyer also could not be reached.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the victims of crime unit, Detective Scott Moore, at 905-546-4614 or Detective Dave Oleniuk at 905-540-5543.

READ MORE

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Richard McKinnon, 46, faces 21 charges for crimes including sexual assault, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, sexual exploitation and production of child pornography.

McKinnon is reported to have moved to Welland to stay with his brother, who is acting as his surety, after he was released on $10,000 bail earlier this month.

His court case is subject to two publication bans.

Niagara Regional Police spokesman Const. Nilan Dave said he couldn't comment on McKinnon.

"We can't comment on people's whereabouts or anything like that," he said.

Safety Alert - London, Ontario

Serial flasher exposes himself to teen girls
February 14, 2011 9:25pm

Police and school officials are warning parents to review safety measures with children after a flasher lurking on London pathways targeted female students heading to and from their classes.

The man hasn’t tried to touch the students, but police also warn such incidents can escalate.

“He just calls out, gets their attention — then after, runs away,” London police Const. Dennis Rivest said.

Three times in the past three weeks, a man fitting the same description has exposed himself to female students from Sir Wilfrid Laurier secondary school on Millbank Dr. in south London:

Jan. 27 at 3:05 p.m., to two students walking on a pathway on Downing Cres.

Feb. 10 at 8:10 a.m., to a female student walking along a pathway at Downing Cres.

Feb. 10, between 2:30 and 3 p.m., to a student on a walking path on Millbank Dr.

Rivest said police wouldn’t usually put out a public warning until they received two or three reports of incidents in a row.

“After two or three, you say, ‘Wait a second, maybe this is the same person.’”

Police still can’t say for sure the suspect in all three is the same person, but believe that’s the case.

The suspect is described as a white male, about 6’ tall, with a slim build.

Teachers notified Laurier students about the flasher Monday, and the Thames Valley District school board was notifying their parents by automated voice messages, said board spokesperson Richard Hoffman.

Elementary school pupils at nearby schools were being sent home with a letter Monday, Hoffman added.

“Parents are encouraged to review their safety measures with their children,” he said.

Police said students should take some basic precautions, especially when taking pathways off streets.

“It’s always a good thing to walk with someone on these pathways,” Rivest said. “If you see suspicious activity, don’t go to it. Go away from it.”

Students should never worry about calling 911 when they see something suspicious, Rivest said.

Police would like anyone with information to contact them at 519-661-5670, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or www.londoncrimestoppers.com.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/02/14/17266416.html

No one should fear exposing sexual abuse: victim’s grandfather
February 14, 2011

PORT SAUNDERS — The grandfather of a little girl molested by Stanley Broomfield hopes others can learn some valuable lessons from the terrible ordeal he says his family will continue to struggle with for the rest of their lives.

Broomfield, 39, was found guilty of sexual interference by a jury in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in Corner Brook last week.

He was also convicted on two counts of assault and three counts of uttering threats, but was found not guilty of three other sexual interference charges involving other kids. All of the offences for which he was convicted were against children, ranging in age from 22 months to six years old, who were in the care of Broomfield’s wife while the couple was residing in Port Saunders in 2008.

The grandfather cannot be named because of a court-ordered publication ban prohibiting disclosure of the child victim’s identity. He told The Western Star all of the victims and their families have had a hard time coming to grips with what took place since the first hint something was wrong surfaced in the fall of 2008.

That’s when his granddaughter first told her mother about the “secret” she had been afraid to talk about because Broomfield had threatened to kill her mom if she ever did.

Watching the videotape of his granddaughter’s statement to the police for the first time when it was played in court during the trial, the grandfather said he had to leave the courtroom because it was so gut-wrenching.

“As a grandparent, I’m never going to get over it,” he said, on the verge of tears. “The look on her face, I could see the hurt in her eyes and I will never get rid of that look.”

The girl’s parents are also having a tough time moving on with their lives, mainly because they don’t know how their daughter will be affected as she gets older. They have moved out of the Port Saunders area, but do hope to return some day.

“We’ve been through that much, there was never a death in the family that felt so bad,” said the grandfather.

As horrific as it has been to endure, he is proud his granddaughter had the courage to finally come forward and put a stop to the abuse she had been subjected to. He can only hope more abused children can summon the fortitude to do the same.

“No one knows how long this was on her mind before she finally told,” he said.

READ MORE