CANADA Cases

Without a trace
March 23, 2011


Family photo of Michael Dunahee, who went missing from a Victoria playground on March 24, 1991 at age 4.

After 20 years, police officers and his family are still haunted by the disappearance of Michael Dunahee.

The four-year old vanished on March 24, 1991, from a Victoria playground while his mother was playing a flag football game and his father was watching from the sidelines.

The search for the boy remains one of the largest police investigations in Canadian history, involving thousands of officers over the years.

It has remained one of the city's darkest unsolved cases, but isn’t the only instance in Canada where a child has vanished without a trace.

Tania Murrell
For most long-time Edmontonians, Tania Marie Murrell will be permanently ingrained in their memory as a grinning little girl with braided pigtails and strands of flyaway hair, whose picture was featured in newspapers and on TV for weeks in 1983.

She vanished without a trace on Jan. 20 of that year, shortly after 11:10 a.m., when she walked out the school doors for the quick trip home for lunch.

A teacher watched as the three-foot-two, blond-haired youngster with hazel eyes walked out of sight. She was never seen again.

Tania's disappearance made national headlines, and was the subject of several television programs in the U.S.

One of the chief investigators at the time, Det. John McLeod, said it was the uniqueness of the case that had caught people's attention. "She went missing without a trace -- no clothing, no school books, nothing."

Courtney Struble
On July 9, 2004, 13-year-old Courtney Struble left a friend's house in Estevan, Sask., between midnight and 1 a.m. but never made it to her father's home where she was visiting.

Carol Deagnon, a case worker with Child Find Saskatchewan, said the organization received a tip at the beginning of 2008 from someone who believed they spotted Struble outside the province.

While the tip was forwarded to the Estevan Police Service, Deagnon said nothing came of it.

To this day, Deagnon said the circumstances that led to Struble's disappearance are still unknown.

Mariam Makhniashvili
Makhniashvili disappeared on Sept. 14, 2009, after walking with her 14-year-old brother to their high school, Forest Hill Collegiate Institute in Toronto, a short distance from her parents' home.

She had no money and no passport at the time.

Police canvassed 6,000 homes in the Toronto neighbourhood where she lived but turned up little, and also garnered few clues from several searches of nearby parks and ravines.

The 18-year-old was believed to have been seen in Okotoks, Alta., a small town about 50 kilometres south of Calgary, on Oct. 27 of that year, going door to door selling dream catchers.

RCMP investigated and determined it was not the teen. Her backpack was recovered in early October, but that, too, has led investigators nowhere.

http://www.globaltvbc.com/Without+trace/4492017/story.html

Barrie teen linked to dead baby in London hotel
March 24, 2011

Police in London are awaiting post-mortem results on a dead newborn found in a hotel room where it is believed a teen from Barrie gave birth during a school trip.

“At this point we really don’t know what we’re dealing with,” said Simon Fisher, spokesman for the Metropolitan London Police force. “We’re not sure if we’re dealing with a homicide. The post-mortem will determine the cause of death and where we go from there.”

The post-mortem examination was scheduled to take place Friday.

Barrie police tracked down the 15-year-old who they believe gave birth in a hotel on Lampton Rd. in the suburb of Hounslow near Heathrow Airport. Hotel staff discovered the full-term dead baby about 12:45 p.m. on March 19.

Fisher said the baby showed no obvious signs of trauma. “The baby was pronounced dead at the scene,” he said.

Fisher didn’t know where the dead baby was found in the hotel room or if it had been concealed.

Police in England quickly determined the room had been occupied by high school students on a class trip from Barrie but they had already left the hotel earlier and were on their way back to Canada.

Barrie police were contacted by Interpol the day after the baby’s body was found and asked to assist London investigators in locating the Canadian teenager.

After Barrie police found the 15-year-old, they took her to Royal Victoria Hospital where she was examined and released.

Police in England could seek extradition if the case turns out to be a homicide.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/960445--barrie-teen-linked-to-dead-baby-in-london-hotel

********** **********

Autopsy 'inconclusive' on Ontario-linked baby left in London hotel

snipped . . . . .

"Based on the initial tests done, no definitive cause of death could be established," Richard Jones, spokesman for the London Metropolitan Police, said Friday. "Further tests will be done to try and determine the precise cause of death."

Jones said it could be weeks before they receive the results from the additional tests.

The full-term baby boy was found with no signs of trauma in a hotel room that had been used by Canadian students on a class trip.

The Simcoe County District School Board could not comment specifically on the details of the overseas trip, but said chaperones did not know the girl was pregnant.

"We can tell you staff accompanying the trip in question were not made aware that anyone involved in the trip was pregnant or experiencing any medical distress," said spokeswoman Debbie Clarke.

Police in Barrie said earlier this week that the teen in question received medical attention and has since been released from hospital.

No charges have been laid at this time, but the investigation remains ongoing.

Barrie is about 80 kilometres north of Toronto.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/Autopsy+inconclusive+Ontario+linked+baby+left+London+hotel/4506347/story.html#ixzz1HfHycyG3

********** **********

Charges possible in case of teen's dead baby
March 27, 2011TORONTO - Police in England say charges may be laid this week against a
15-year-old Barrie, Ont., girl after a dead baby was found in a bag in a
hotel room used by high school students during a trip on the March
break.



Police said the teen could face a charge of causing or allowing the
death of a baby, or manslaughter or murder if the death is deemed a
homicide.



http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/03/27/17773621.html

Long-awaited inquiry called in Phoenix Sinclair's death
. . . . .

Justice Minister Andrew Swan has named former judge Ted Hughes to head an inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair.

The announcement comes after her parents exhausted all their appeals for their first-degree murder convictions in her death last November. The little girl -- whose death in 2005 made headlines across the country -- has become the face of a troubled child welfare system in the province.

Her mother, Samantha Kematch, and stepfather, Karl McKay, were found guilty of brutally torturing Sinclair by neglecting, repeatedly beating and confining her in a room in their home in Fisher River First Nation, north of Winnipeg.

[/url]Read more + Video

----------

Other CFS deaths may be considered in Phoenix Sinclair inquiry
March 25, 2011


Five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair was killed on the Fisher River Cree Nation in June 2005.

In March 2006, the body of Phoenix Sinclair was found wrapped in plastic and buried near a garbage dump on the Fisher River Cree Nation. The province ordered a public inquiry into the little girl's murder, but it was delayed for years – until Friday.

Manitoba Justice Minister Andrew Swan announced that the inquiry would proceed with former B.C. Deputy Attorney General Ted Hughes at the helm.

"I understand the seriousness, the gravity and the sadness in the circumstance into which this inquiry will be required to delve," Hughes said.

The inquiry will examine if the child welfare services provided or not provided to Sinclair and her family under the Child and Family Services Act were related to her death, what other circumstances were related to her death as well as why the death remained undiscovered for several months.

During all Sinclair's five years, she was in and out of CFS care. Her mother, Samantha Kematch, regained custody of her a year before her death. Kematch and Sinclair's step father Karl McKay were found guilty of first-degree murder in December 2008 and lost an appeal.

The court heard that they choked, punched and kicked Sinclair, and shot her with a BB gun. After her death, they continued collecting welfare payments, listing her as a dependent.

The inquiry was delayed until the legal proceedings were over in the murder case.

Her biological father Steve Sinclair says he still misses Phoenix and he wasn't aware of the abuse she was suffering until it was too late. He hopes the long wait to an inquiry might benefit other families.

"Hopefully something good comes out of it," he said.

The inquiry will include public hearings. Hughes said that he hasn't ruled out considering other cases where children have died in care as part of the inquiry.

In April, the commission will decide when public hearings will take place. A final report of findings and recommendations should be completed by March 30 next year.

http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110325/wpg_sinclair_110325/20110325/?hub=WinnipegHome

Related:

* Life sentences for Phoenix Sinclair murder
* Taped testimony of accused in Sinclair case
* Tapes released as jury deliberates Phoenix trial
* Court hears girl beaten 'just for the hell of it'
* Five-year-old choked, shot with pellet gun, court hears
* More graphic evidence at Sinclair trial

. . . . . . . . . .

********** **********

Sinclair inquiry commissioner to hear evidence in the fall
April 15, 2011


Ted Hughes will begin hearing witnesses
this fall at the inquiry into the 2005 death of Phoenix Sinclair.

The commissioner of the inquiry into the Phoenix Sinclair expects to begin hearing evidence in the fall.

Ted Hughes says the inquiry should wrap up before Christmas.

At a news conference this afternoon, Hughes named Winnipeg lawyer Sherri Walsh as the commission’s counsel.

Hughes said he expects the commission will open an office downtown by mid-June. A commission website should be up by Thursday.

Hughes said he expects the number of witnesses called at the inquiry to be in the "low dozens."

He will call a hearing June 28 to 29 to sort out who will be granted standing at the inquiry.

He said he has not decided whether to allow media cameras to tape the proceedings.

Phoenix was five years old when she was slain in 2005. She had been in the care of Child and Family Services.

Phoenix’s mother, Samantha Kematch, and stepfather, Karl McKay, were convicted of first-degree murder in 2008.

The province has given Hughes a March 30, 2012 deadline for his report.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Sinclair-inquiry-commissioner-to-hear-evidence-in-the-fall-119933644.html

----------

A former judge says he expects to launch the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the 2005 death of Phoenix Sinclair this fall.

Ted Hughes said he hopes to complete the gathering of evidence and hear final summations before Christmas.

He said Friday that the timeline may be "overly enthusiastic,” but added he's ready to get to work.

Hughes also announced the appointment of Winnipeg lawyer Sherri Walsh as the commission’s counsel.

The commission expects to open an office in downtown Winnipeg by mid-June. Its website — www.phoenixsinclairinquiry.ca — should be up and running by April 21.

Phoenix Sinclair was five when she was murdered by her mother, Samantha Kematch, and stepfather, Karl McKay, who were both convicted of first-degree murder in 2008.

The province has given Hughes a March 30 deadline for his report.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/breakingnews/inquiry-into-tragic-death-of-phoenix-sinclair-to-begin-this-fallformer-judge-119948004.html

Remorseless sexual predator gets 12-year sentence
March 30, 2011

MONTREAL - Daniel Lesiewicz, a remorseless, narcissistic sexual predator, wore a dark suit, pink shirt and purple tie for his sentence.

But Quebec Court Judge Suzanne Coupal wasn’t fooled by the suave exterior of a man who preyed on more than 200 girls by hacking into their computers, posing as someone they knew, then convincing them to undress in front of their webcams.

Coupal sent the 30-year-old to prison Wednesday for 12 years and declared him a long-term offender, meaning he’ll be closely supervised for up to 10 years once released from jail. With time served deducted, he has six years left in his sentence.

Lesiewicz’s name will also appear on Canada’s sexual offenders’ registry for 20 years.

The Dorval resident pleaded guilty last year to 95 counts of luring a child, distribution of child pornography, impersonation and extortion. Although he had more than 200 victims, police were able to identify and trace only 25.

Once Lesiewicz established a relationship with the girls and young women, all between the ages of 13 and 25, he took control of them by threatening to post the explicit videos on the Internet or send them to family and friends.

Many of his victims, mortified and depressed by their experience, dropped out of school. At least one tried to kill herself.

Lesiewicz used his computer know-how to access his victims’ contact lists and cellphones, then gained their trust by pretending to be someone the girls knew.

“He showed remarkable computer adeptness, and through harassment and extortion, he caught more victims in this spiral of terror, leaving almost no room for escape,” wrote Coupal.

In one case, he seized control of a girl’s webcam, videotaped her while she undressed in her room, then sent her the video. Some of the videos and photos are still on the Internet.

The judge, who viewed the videos Lesiewicz made, said the girls could be seen crying on them, terrified that their relatives and friends would have access to the pornographic material.

Read more

Arrest made in alleged sexual assault of a child

PLUM COULEE - A Plum Coulee man has been arrested amid allegations he repeatedly sexually assaulted his young daughter for more than a year.

Besides the four-year-old girl, police believe the man might also have been abusing other underage relatives, and continue to investigate.

The accused was arrested by the Altona Police Service last Friday after workers from a child and family services agency alerted police to the potential sex abuse.

The man, whom The Red River Valley Echo is not naming to protect the identity of his daughter, has been charged with one count of incest, four counts of sexual assault and four counts of sexual exploitation.

Court documents state the abuse allegedly stretches back as far as January 2010, and APS Chief Perry Batchelor said it might have continued up until two weeks ago.

Police are working closely with child and family services on the matter.

http://www.altonaecho.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3050099

Sex killer Russell Williams had child porn, but no charges laid
March 30, 2011



snipped . . . . .

To avoid having to go to trial, the prosecution and Mr. Williams’s defence agreed not to pursue accusations relating to the child porn in return for his guilty plea on other charges.

The material investigators found in Mr. Williams’s computer were pictures of adolescent girls in sexual situations; the photos had been downloaded from the Internet.

“This was not just one or two images, and it was the one thing he could not summon himself to admit to,” a source says in the book. “He would plead guilty to everything else, but not to that.”

The presence of the child porn is consistent with the fact that, in 13 of the 48 homes he burglarized, Mr. Williams targeted the bedrooms of female minors, taking photos, stealing hundreds of pieces of underwear and posing in them.

Nevertheless, “technically, he could not be classed as a pedophile despite the child porn found on his computer, because his sexual interests were much wider than that,” the book says.

Once a promising colonel who commanded CFB Trenton, Canada's largest air base, Mr. Williams is now serving concurrent life sentences, with no chance for parole for 25 years, after pleading guilty in the fall to two murders, two sexual assaults and 82 burglaries.

Two days after pleading guilty, Mr. Williams told a guard at the detention centre that he wouldn’t have entered a plea had he known the media interest the court proceeding generated.

“It was one more lie, and a very obvious one,” the book says.

“He knew very well that if his crimes had gone to trial, all the horrific evidence would have come out anyway, along with a great deal more, including disclosure of his kiddie-porn collection. As well, his already substantial legal fees would have swelled by tens of thousands of dollars – costs he told [Ontario Province Police investigator Jim] Smyth he was particularly anxious to avoid. The remark nonetheless shows how painful the media onslaught was, and how acute his sense of humiliation.”

Read more

The Mind of a Killer How a psychopath is made

More articles and videos related to Russell Williams at this link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/russell-williams/?archive=2010-10

Oshawa teacher faces child porn charges
April 01, 2011

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stephen Martin is seen in this undated handout photo. . . . . . .Police allege that Martin used this facebook profile to lure his victims.


An Oshawa elementary school teacher has been charged in connection with a child pornography investigation, Durham region police announced Friday.

Police say a man was posing online as a young girl and convinced young boys to expose themselves on webcams. The man also asked young males to send sexually explicit images to him, which he used to in his creation of child pornography.

The suspect had been working at Dr. C F Cannon Public School in Oshawa prior to his arrest. Authorities say there is no indication that the man approached children while working. He also taught at the following schools in the Durham region:

• Norman Powers Public School (2009/2010
• Sir William Stephenson Public School(2004/2009)
• William Dunbar Public School (2000/2004)
• Sir John A McDonald (1999/2000)
• Cadarackque Public School (1999)

Police said they seized several computers and computer-related equipment during a raid on Wednesday. Police accuse the suspect of using "Ashley Mtthews" as his Facebook alias, and several email accounts with the name Ashley M or Ashley Matthews.

The man also used the following email addresses over the past several months:

• Ashley.m3
• Ashley_m69, tori.the.tiger
• mmmyummycandy
• killercows2005
• jessica.m99
• ashley.mmm
• ashley.m4
• ash.needs.a.name
• amanda.loves.abercrombie
• alix.bieber
• a.s.h.l.e.y.m

Stephen Martin, 38, faces charges of luring, invitation to sexual touching, possession of child pornography and making child pornography.

He made a court appearance on the charges earlier this week and remains in custody.

Investigators are concerned there may be more victims. They are asking parents and caregivers of students who attend or previously attended the mentioned schools to discuss the topic with their children.

Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators of the Major Crime SAU/Child Exploitation Section of the Durham Regional Police at 1-888-579-1520: D/Cst. Brian Vickers (ext. 5349), D/Sgt. Kevin Morash (ext. 5342), Det. Randy Norton (ext. 5363) or Det. Michelle Hoard (ext. 5343).

Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca and tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110401/durham-police-child-porn-110401/20110401/?hub=TorontoNewHome

********** **********

Investigation of Oshawa teacher continues
April 6, 2011

An Oshawa elementary school teacher facing Internet luring and child porn charges remained in custody Wednesday as police continued to investigate his activities.

Durham police have received a number of calls since the highly publicized arrest last week of Stephen Martin, said Detective Constable Brian Vickers.

"We've had a very good response from the public so far," Det.-Const. Vickers said. "The investigation is continuing as a result of the response we've had."

No further charges have been laid against Mr. Martin, 38, since he was arrested at his Magnolia Avenue home last Wednesday on two counts of luring, two counts of invitation to sexual touching and single counts of possession of child pornography and making child porn.



Police allege the teacher, who worked most recently at Dr. C.F. Cannon Public School in Oshawa, posed as a young girl in Internet encounters during which boys were encouraged to show their genitals and share sexually explicit photos. The charges have not been proven in court.

Call police at 905-579-1520, extension 5363.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/174891

Perv abused kids at daycare
SEXUAL ASSAULT: The children were being potty trained when Jeffrey Joseph struck
April 01, 2011

Ten photographs buried deep in the memory of Jeffrey Joseph’s cellphone signalled when the day-care worker stepped over the line from child-porn voyeur to sexual predator.

Taken inside the bathroom of the Wellington Street Preschool, two little boys and a little girl who were being toilet-trained were turned into sexual objects by Joseph, who’d masked his sexual cravings from all who knew him.

The pictures didn’t show their faces, only their private parts. Only glimpses of their clothing gave clues to who they were.

Wednesday, the 24-year-old London man — who was a Boy Scout leader and a hockey coach, — pleaded guilty to six charges, including four involving the abuse of the children in April and May 2009.

“I can’t take it back,” he said from the prisoner’s box to Justice John Skowronski.

He apologized to the victims’ families: “I take responsibility for my actions . . . I want help. I don’t want to do this again.”

Assistant Crown attorney Karen Bellehumeur described how the pictures were discovered. In February 2010, an officer with London police downloaded two images of child pornography through a file-sharing program traced to Joseph’s address on Berkshire Dr.

The same LimeWire program user was traced to 139 other files downloaded between Feb. 21, 2009, to Dec. 14, 2009. Those downloads were traced to an address next door to Joseph.

Joseph admitted when he was arrested in March that he had been collecting child porn using his neighbour’s Internet account. He said he would perform a sex act on himself while looking at the photos.

Police searched Joseph’s home and found a book on a nightstand called Nap Time chronicling the sexual abuse of children and a child’s Beaver Scout hat.

Two cellphones were seized and the deleted photos of the children’s genitalia were recovered with date stamps on them. One of the photos with the girl showed a latex-gloved hand opening her private area toward the camera.

Police discovered Joseph had been working at the now-closed Wellington Street Preschool at the time.

There were 8,300 child pornography images found on the computer, with all but 246 deleted. The cellphone photos were found on the computer, along with an additional image. There was no evidence those photos were ever distributed.

Skowronski heard two victim-impact statements from the mother and grandmother of one of the boys. They described their deep fear and loss of trust and how the boy who was potty-trained at a young age has become “distant” and fearful of bathrooms.

“I felt and still feel like a failing mother, that I should have known this was not just a phase,” the mother said through sobs.

Harris-Bentley said her client worked at the Wellington St. daycare, then at Kidzone Daycare. He did well in school but was bullied. After high school, he took a police-foundations course, then switched to early childhood education. There are no reports of inappropriate behaviour in his volunteer capacities and he has no prior criminal record.

An assessment put Joseph’s risk to the community at moderate. He is a pedophile and agreeable to counselling.

She suggested a sentence of 3 1/2 years, reduced to two years with an enhanced credit for his pre-plea custody.

Skowronski will decide Monday.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/03/31/17830721.html

********** **********

Day-care pedophile sentenced to 6 years
April 04, 2011

Jeffrey Joseph knows he’s a sexual deviant and wants help.

The judge who sentenced Joseph to six years in prison Monday recognized that despite the former day-care worker’s self-appraisal, he had to be given a significant prison sentence for taking pornographic pictures of children he supervised.

The 26-year-old London man pleaded guilty last week to seven charges: one for sexual interference of a girl younger than age five; five involving making and possessing child pornography and one for stealing his neighbour’s Internet connection.

Most alarming were 10 photos found on Joseph’s cellphone showing the genitalia of children in his care when he was a day-care worker at the now-closed Wellington Street Preschool in 2009.

“I believe if you could turn back the clock, you would, but you can’t,” said Ontario Court Justice John Skowronski to the young man in the baggy grey t-shirt and wire-rimmed glasses.

The judge’s assessment was clear. “This young man is a pedophile. He has a long road ahead of him.”

Skowronski agreed to give Joseph an enhanced credit of 11/2 days for each day he has spent in pre-plea custody, recognizing Joseph’s rehabilitation efforts have been delayed a year while waiting at the local detention centre. He still has 4½ years to serve.

Joseph’s child porn stash was discovered by the London police cybercrime unit after 138 child porn images were downloaded from a file-sharing program to an Internet account on Berkshire Dr. Joseph was stealing the Web connection from his neighbour. There were 8,300 images on his computer — some adult porn, most child porn —and all but 246 images had been deleted.

READ MORE

Former CAS worker testifies at abuse trial
CHATHAM: A 29-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to physically abusing four children
April 01, 2011

CHATHAM - A former CAS worker and an elementary school principal testified Thursday in the second day of a child abuse trial in Chatham’s Ontario Court of Justice.

A 29-year-old Chatham man is charged with physically abusing four children. The bulk of the charges involve two girls, ages 11 and 13.

He pleaded not guilty last Friday to 40 charges including 19 counts of assault, 12 counts of assault with a weapon, five counts of uttering threats and one count of mischief.

The name of the accused is not being published to protect the identities of the children.

According to court documents, the alleged offences took place between August and October 2010. The alleged weapons include hot sauce, a leather belt, a garbage can, a broom, a screwdriver, wood trim and a litter box.

Former Chatham-Kent children’s service worker Margaret Wilson testified she received information Oct. 13, 2010 and went to see the family, whom she had been working with for more than a year.

She said when she got in touch with the children, she noticed the oldest girl, a Grade 8 student, had a black eye and her sister, Grade 6, had a bruise and cut on her nose.

She said later in the day, she saw the younger girl also had circular bruises on her upper arms.

Wilson told assistant Crown attorney Craig Sigurdson that she interviewed one of the girls before getting the Chatham-Kent Police Service involved.

She then participated in more interviews with the children Oct. 13 and Oct. 15. She didn’t tell the court what the girls said.

Read more

-----------

Girl’s description of abuse played in court in Chatham
Justice: Videos of police interviews take most of the day, detail beatings with household objects
April 01, 2011

CHATHAM — An 11-year-old girl who claims her mother’s boyfriend repeatedly beat her and her siblings, often using household objects, testified in court Friday.

The girl is one of the accusers in the child abuse trial of a 29-year-old Chatham man.

He has pleaded not guilty to 40 charges including 19 counts of assault, 12 counts of assault with a weapon, five counts of uttering threats and one count of mischief. His name isn’t being published to protect the identities of the children.

The girl, who is in Grade 6, took the stand and watched videotaped interviews she gave Chatham-Kent police and ­Chatham-Kent Children’s Service on Oct. 13 and Oct. 15, 2010.

She testified via video from another room in the courthouse.

Videos of her police interviews took most of the day, with neither assistant Crown attorney Craig Sigurdson nor defence lawyer Gudrun Mueller-Wilm having time to question her about her statements.

In both videos, the girl is questioned by Const. Gary Oriet, a member of the police service’s child abuse investigation team. Also in the room during the interviews was former CAS worker Margaret Wilson.

In the first video, the girl appears talkative and engaged in the conversation. She often holds her hand in front of her mouth and listens attentively when Oriet speaks to her.

She explains bruises on her and her 13-year-old sister.

She said her sister got a black eye when they were wrestling. She said bruises on her upper arms were also caused by wrestling. A bruise on her shin happened at school, she said.

“When I see marks like his on a little girl’s arms, it concerns me,” Oriet tells her in the video. “My job is to try and figure out what’s going on with you and how you’re getting these bruises.”

The girl said she doesn’t know how she got the bruises and told the officer neither her mother nor the accused was hurting her.

“Nobody’s hurting me,” she said near the end of the video.

She told the officer her mother’s boyfriend didn’t live with them and she didn’t really know him.

The girl asked the officer if he ever interviewed kids who were being hurt but said they weren’t. She also wondered if the reason they don’t tell him is because they are scared to get hurt again.

“Those are powerful questions that lead me to believe you are scared to tell,” Oriet tells the girl.

In the second video, on Oct. 15, the girl is much more animated and talkative, often stopping to take deep breaths before continuing.

She tells Oriet she lied in the last video because her mother told her not to tell the truth or she’d be taken away.

The girl describes in detail incidents in which the man hit her with objects including wood trim, a belt, a garbage can and a cat litter box.

She told the officer he often kicked and punched her. She said the man also hit or spanked her siblings: two sisters aged 13 and two, and a baby brother.

The girl said her sister got a black eye when the man punched her in the face, not from falling off the bed while wrestling.

The girl, who is in a foster placement with her grandparents, returns to the stand when the trial resumes April 15.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/04/01/17845841.html

********** **********

Testimony continues in abuse trial
April 15, 2011

A girl testifying in a child abuse trial on Friday was questioned about contradictory statements she gave to police about her mother's boyfriend.

The 11-year-old is one of the accusers in the case involving a 29-year-old Chatham man, who has pleaded not guilty to numerous charges, including 19 counts of assault, 12 counts of assault with a weapon, five counts of uttering threats and one count of mischief.

His name isn't being published to protect the identities of the children.

The girl, currently living with her grandparents on a foster placement, has accused the man of repeatedly beating her and her siblings. She also said he would hit her with objects such as a belt, broom, piece of wood and a cat litter box, and made her kneel on rocks.

During the last trial date, she watched videos of two interviews she had in October with Chatham-Kent police Const. Gary Oriet.

She had denied there was any abuse the first time, saying the bruises were from wrestling, but said they were because of the accused during the second interview.

On Friday, the girl, testifying by video from another room in the courthouse, said she was worried she would be taken away if she had told the truth.

"Mom didn't really want us to," she told assistant Crown attorney Craig Sigurdson.

She also said she was nervous at the time and didn't like being videotaped.

Sigurdson questioned her about the police interviews and showed her pictures of the bruises, asking her which specific incidents they were from.

The girl said many of the assaults occurred because she didn't do her chores properly.

She was also shown photos of the bruised hands and feet of her younger half-sister and said the accused would sometimes step on her if she didn't eat.

"Sometimes he'd grab her on the hand and throw her on the bed," she said.

Defence attorney Gudrun Mueller-Wilm cross-examined the girl, asking her why she had lied to police before.

She also questioned her about how often she saw the accused and on the layout of the houses she lived in.

Mueller-Wilm asked why the girl said the bruise on her nose was from a broom, and then later on, a piece of wood.

"At this point, you're not sure anymore," she said.

Mueller-Wilm asked if she played any sports that might have caused bruising, to which the girl said yes.

Sigurdson was successful in amending the time period several of the charges were alleged to have occurred. He stated it would still be consistent with the evidence.

"We're really just broadening the dates by a couple of months," he said.

Cross-examination will continue when the trial resumes on April 29.

http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3077564

Woman gets house arrest for toddler's drowning

NORTH BAY, Ont. — A mom will be under house arrest for eight months for talking on a cellphone and fetching ice cream while her 11-month-old drowned in the bathtub.

Jennifer Carmichael, 25, pleaded guilty Jan. 31 to child abandonment in a plea agreement that dropped the more serious charge of criminal negligence causing death, according to court documents.

"In our society, infants who are less than a year old do require constant supervision, and people in charge of such vulnerable human beings must be reminded that this is absolutely essential," said Superior Court justice Paul Rivard.

Carmichael lived in a home for a month with her son, Ivan, three other adults and a 14-month-old girl.

The mother put Ivan in the bath with the girl shortly before noon on Sept. 8, 2008, in hopes of exposing the boy to chicken pox so he would catch it and develop an immunity to it, said Crown attorney John Benson.

Both children were left unsupervised in the tub for about 10 minutes. She returned and found the boy face down in the water, and other adults in the house tried to perform CPR.

"This was a tragedy for her. It was entirely avoidable, of course, but it's a tragedy nonetheless," Benson said.

He said no other adult was charged with the responsibility of looking after the child.

Carmichael's lawyer Frank Falconi said she was under the impression another adult in the home was supervising the children.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/03/31/17822361.html

Weyburn woman, 33, pleads guilty to disposing body of her newborn baby
March 31, 2011


Angela M. Vermeulen appeared in court in Weyburn before Queen's Bench Justice Guy Chicoine,
at which time she entered the guilty plea to the charge of disposing of the dead body of a child with intent to conceal its birth.


An extensive search was conducted at the Weyburn’s landfill by a combined total of
about 60 emergency service workers and volunteers, but the baby’s body was never found.

REGINA — A 33-year-old woman pleaded guilty Thursday to disposing of the body of her newborn child in Weyburn last year.

Angela M. Vermeulen appeared in court in Weyburn before Queen's Bench Justice Guy Chicoine, at which time she entered the guilty plea to the charge of disposing of the dead body of a child with intent to conceal its birth.

Sentencing did not proceed Thursday. Instead, a pre-sentence report was ordered to look at a number of issues, including whether electronic monitoring might be available as part of a conditional sentence.

Interviewed later by telephone, Crown prosecutor Michael Morris would not comment on what type of sentence the Crown will be requesting — whether jail or community-based — but said there could be "some argument on sentencing" between the Crown and defence lawyer Jamie Struthers.

Sentencing submissions are expected to take place before Chicoine on May 27 — a little over a year after the incident was reported.

Details of the May 18 incident have not yet been read into the court record.

According to information that was previously released, an investigation was launched May 20 when police in Weyburn received a report that the body of a baby was seen in a garbage bag at a home in that city.

Police previously said the baby was born to Vermeulen in her home on May 18.

She allegedly placed the baby's body in a garbage bag outside the house once she realized the child was not alive.

People visiting the house told police they saw the body in the trash the next day, but police had said they believed the bag was moved to an industrial garbage bin that was later emptied and taken to the city dump. An extensive search was conducted at the city's landfill by an estimated 60 emergency service workers and volunteers, but the baby's body was not found.

Vermeulen had originally also been charged with offering an indignity to human remains, but that charge was stayed or withdrawn by the Crown in October when Vermeulen appeared in court for a preliminary hearing.

Vermeulen was granted bail shortly after her arrest in May, with conditions that she stay within a 40-kilometre radius of Weyburn and not use drugs or alcohol.

At the time of her release, she was also to report to a mental-health facility in Weyburn for a psychiatric assessment.

Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/health/Weyburn+woman+pleads+guilty+disposing+body+newborn+baby/4538674/story.html#ixzz1IPGF6Y8M

Sexual assault of a 12 year old girl ~ Toronto ON

Police request assistance with sexual assault investigation,
Composite sketch of suspect released
Monday, April 4, 2011

Sex Crimes Unit
416−808−7474
On Wednesday, March 23, 2011, the Toronto Police Service issued a news release regarding
a sexual assault investigation.

It was reported that:
− on Wednesday, March 23, 2011, at 8:30 a.m., two 12−year−old girls were walking to school
in the Brimley Road/401 area,
− they were approached by an armed man holding a small pocket knife,
− he then sexually assaulted one of the girls,
− both girls were able to flee the area and contact police.

A composite sketch of the suspect has been released.


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.

Murder retrial underway for Edmonton foster mom
April 01, 2011

EDMONTON - A child protection worker remembers a three-year-old boy crying for his father as she dropped him at a foster home in west Edmonton in the winter of a 2006.

Fifty-three days later, the boy was dead, having received severe head injury in the bathroom of the comfortable house.

How the toddler got those injuries — and whether they were caused by the boy’s then-32-year-old foster mother — is the key question of a trial that started at Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench on Monday.

Provincial legislation bars identifying the child because he was in foster care at the time of his death, and the woman is also not being named to shield the identity of the boy.

It is the second time the woman is facing trial in the boy’s death. She was previously convicted by a jury of manslaughter and sentenced to three-years in prison, but both the Crown and defence appealed the decision and a new trial was ordered.

In her opening statement on Monday, Crown prosecutor Allison Downey-Damato told court the boy arrived at the foster home in late 2006, having been given up by his stepmother after his father left the family.

Downey-Damato said the accused was a single mother with two children of her own, who, at the time of the boy’s death, had three foster children in total.

The Crown is alleging the foster mother subjected the boy to “neglect, malnourishment and extreme forms of discipline,” and that his death resulted from an escalating pattern of abuse and animosity toward the child.

She said the Crown’s theory is that the boy died from a brain injury caused by the foster mother, and that the injury could not have been self-inflicted.

“The great debate will be about the cause of the injuries,” Downey-Damato said.

In a call to 9-1-1 placed before the boy’s death on Jan. 26, 2007, the foster mother told the 9-1-1 operator she had a “little foster boy” who had been harming himself recently. She said the boy had been “getting aggressive again” when he collapsed on the floor of the bathroom.

“We can’t rouse him,” she told the operator. “His eyes are open, and he’s ... taking deep breathes occasionally, but we can’t get him to react to stimuli. I can feel he’s got a pulse, but I’m very worried.”

The woman described the boy as having “a vacant look in his eyes,” and said it doesn’t seem like the boy is having a seizure.

“I don’t know what this is, and I’m scared,” she said.

At one point, the foster mother holds the phone to the child and says the boy’s name, so the operator can hear him make a breathy, moaning sound.

The foster mother also tells the 9-1-1 operator that the boy has a bruise on his head, but she says it was caused a day earlier, when the boy was “throwing himself around on the floor” and against walls.

Evidence photos tendered in court on Monday show a clean and comfortable west Edmonton home, with toys and sports equipment and bunk beds in two bedrooms.

An officer who responded to the scene said there were no signs of a struggle or disarray inside the home.

He led the court through photos of a number of items seized at the scene, including soiled diapers, a clump of hair, and a pair of blue and grey Tigger pyjamas.

Photos of the child unconscious in hospital show bruises on his legs, and cuts and scrapes inside his mouth and lower lip, and on his body.

The trial is slated to last one month, and then resume with a final witness called to testify in August.

There are 59 Crown witnesses, though some will not have to testify because of admissions agreed upon by the Crown and defence.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Murder+retrial+underway+Edmonton+foster/4556241/story.html

********** *********

Foster mom wanted more money, murder trial told
April 5, 2011

An Edmonton foster mother who is accused of killing a three-year-old boy in her care was working with a support worker to obtain additional funding to help finance some of the boy’s particular needs, court heard Tuesday.

Beverly Harbison, a retired ­social worker, said she was working with the foster mother in 2006 and early 2007 to determine if she could ­receive more funding for support, such as covering transportation costs to an aboriginal-focused ­program that could help the boy with developmental problems.

The woman, who cannot be identified under provincial legislation ­because the boy was in foster care, is on trial for second-degree murder. The child, who also cannot be identified, died on Jan. 27, 2007.

The Crown alleges the foster mother subjected the boy to “neglect, malnourishment and extreme forms of discipline,” and that the boy died from a brain injury caused by the her. The Crown argues the injury could not have been self-inflicted.

In her visits to the west-Edmonton home, Harbison said the three-year-old boy appeared comfortable with the foster mother and would climb onto her lap.

Harbison said the woman also had three other foster children in her care at the time.

“It was a lot to assume for any foster parent, but she was very confident that she could do it,” Harbison told court.

But the relationship between the foster mother and the older foster children was turbulent, Harbison said.

Harbison received a phone call around 5 a.m. on Jan. 26, 2007, and learned the three-year-old boy was at the Stollery Children’s Hospital.

When Harbison arrived at the hospital, she said the foster mother ­appeared stressed and anxious.

“None of us were given any info, except that he (the child) was out of surgery,” Harbison said.

The foster mother said the child had been “screaming” and asked if there was any way she could ­appropriately restrain him during his tantrums, Harbison said.

Harbison’s testimony was part of a voir-dire, which is a trial within a trial.

Justice Donna Read must still rule on whether her testimony may be admissible as evidence.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Foster+wanted+more+money+murder+trial+told/4565247/story.html

Dad who killed three kids seeks supervised leave
April 05, 2011


Schoenborn killed his three children in April 2008 while he was in a psychotic state, a judge ruled in Feb 2010.



The B.C. man who was found not criminally responsible for murdering his three children wants to be allowed supervised visits away from the hospital where he has been under psychiatric care since his trial.

Allan Schoenborn was found guilty of the April 2008 crime but not criminally responsible because he was in a psychotic state.

Schoenborn, 42, told members of the B.C. Review Board Tuesday at an annual review of his detention that he's much improved and ready for escorted trips to the mall or for coffee.

Dr. Johann Brink, the clinical director at the Port Coquitlam, B.C., hospital where Schoenborn is being treated, agreed that he is healthier since his last hearing before the board a year ago.

Schoenborn still has unresolved anger issues, Brink said.

Flashes of that anger emerged as Crown counsel Lyle Hillaby pressed Schoenborn during questioning, saying he wasn't a forthcoming, self-disclosing patient.

"Yes I am," Schoenborn shouted.

Crown urges caution

Brink is recommending that Schoenborn be allowed escorted leave off the hospital premises.

Hillaby urged the board to be careful.

"He doesn't really accept that he has a psychiatric illness the way others accept that," Hillaby said outside the hearing. "He has been cagy at every stage about what his thoughts were, what his concerns are, what his fixations are."

Schoenborn recounted during his trial how he stabbed his 10-year-old daughter to death and smothered his two sons, ages five and eight, in their family trailer in Merritt, B.C.

He told the court he did it to protect them from the threat of sexual abuse, which he did not attempt to substantiate.

The Board has reserved its decision until later this week.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/04/05/bc-schoenborn-leave-hearing.html

********** **********

Child killer Schoenborn granted chance at escorted access to community
April 06, 2011

METRO VANCOUVER - A father who killed his three children in 2008 has been granted restricted, escorted access to the community, the B.C. Review Board concluded in a decision released today.

The decision comes a year after Allan Dwayne Schoenborn, now 42, was found by a judge not criminally responsible for killing his three children in Merritt.

Read more

********** **********



Port Coquitlam mayor opposes child-killer day leaves
Greg Moore says people in the community are outraged
April 12, 2011



Port Coquitlam's mayor doesn't want child killer Allen Schoenborn to be granted escorted day leaves. Greg Moore says people in the community are outraged that the man who killed his three kids in Merritt in 2008 will be able to apply for supervised leave.

"I received quite a few emails and phone calls. I've been hearing it at the grocery store and walking the streets. People are beside themselves. They don't understand and can't fathom how this could occur," explains Moore.

Schoenborn told the BC Review Board he wanted to be able to go to the mall for a coffee, a quote Moore says has people especially upset.

So Moore is sending a letter to BC Solicitor General Shirley Bond, asking her to appeal the decision.

Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible because of his mental condition. He is being kept at a mental institution in Port Coquitlam. The BC Review Board made its decision last week.

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/211435--port-coquitlam-mayor-opposes-child-killer-day-leaves


RELATED:

Convicted child killer Allan Schoenborn will stay in psychiatric care ~Review Board says he poses ' a serious threat of serious violence to the public' Apr 06, 2010

********** **********

Horror as mom prepares for release of husband who murdered their three children
April 13, 2011

snipped . . . . .

“She feels that if he escapes, the first thing he is going to do is kill her mother … because he knows where she lives,” said Galt.

“He [then] would basically find [Clarke] … and kill her.”

Politicians and citizens are outraged over the board’s decision to give Schoenborn a chance to be allowed out in public.

Clarke has said in her victim-impact statements she believes Schoenborn is evil and capable of violence.

After killing the three children, Schoenborn posed their bodies, knowing Clarke, who had moved with the children to Merritt to escape him, would be the first to find the dreadful scene.

When he was tracked down 10 days later in a wooded area outside Merritt, he told his captor Kim Robinson he was surprised that Clarke had not committed suicide.

“She doesn’t feel safe,” said Galt.

“She’s broken, she can’t do anything.”

Galt also said that she has been encouraging Clarke to get out more and she recently got a membership to the same Coquitlam pool where Schoenborn wants to visit.

His prosecutor Lyle Hillaby told The Province last week Schoenborn is “cagey and not to be trusted.

READ MORE, VIDEO

********** ***********

B.C. child killer Schoenborn's day passes revoked
April 21, 2011

The decision to give a British Columbia child killer escorted day passes was overturned on Thursday after Allan Schoenborn's lawyer told a review panel he no longer wanted them.

Schoenborn's lawyer Scott Hicks told the BC Review Board in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam that his client was withdrawing his request for escorted day passes, in part because when he applied he didn't know the mother of the three children her killed, his estranged spouse Darcie Clarke, had moved to nearby Coquitlam, B.C.

"The reason I'm not looking for escorted absences are I wish no further hardships towards Darcie," Schoenborn wrote in a statement to the panel read by his lawyer. "Her stability is paramount. Since the last hearing . . . I learned of her whereabouts and her poor condition through TV coverage. I am seeking a strict custody order for those reasons."

Hicks also said his client had been threatened and assaulted since news of the original decision broke and is now in a secure unit at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam.

The three-member panel accepted Schoenborn's request and ordered he remain in custody at the psychiatric hospital — with no escorted absences.

As with all prisoners held for psychiatric reasons, his case will be reviewed again in one year, at which time he could apply for day passes again.

In 2008, while visiting Clarke's home while she was out, Schoenborn stabbed to death his daughter Kaitlynne, 10, and smothered his sons Max, 8, and Cordon, 5.

He then hid out in the hills above Merritt, B.C., for days until he was found by a trapper and subsequently arrested.

Schoenborn was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. After a lengthy trial, a judge found last year that Schoenborn was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Thursday's re-hearing was ordered after a public outcry over the board's decision on April 6 to grant Schoenborn, 42, restricted and escorted access to the community.

Read more

Pair charged in child’s assault
April 08, 2011

A 23-year-old Longueuil man and his 22-year-old girlfriend have been charged with the assault of her two-year-old son.

The child was found lying by the entrance to the couple’s apartment by ambulance technicians responding to a 911 call, according to Longueuil police.

The mother, who cannot be named, told police bruises on her son’s head resulted from the his “hitting himself against the wall.” Other bruises, which doctors said had been previously inflicted, were found on his body.

Maxime Daigneault Martel and the child’s mother were arraigned this week on charges of assault causing bodily harm. The child is in hospital.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Pair+charged+child+assault/4579146/story.html

Montreal canal plunge may be deliberate: police
April 09, 2011


The woman and children were pulled from the water near a park on the water's edge. (Google Maps)

Montreal police say a woman pulled out of a canal north of Montreal on Friday may have gone in purposely, taking her two young children with her.

The boys — five years old and two months old — and the woman, believed to be her 30s, all survived the night but were still in critical condition Saturday, police say.

A passerby rescued the woman and two children from the frigid waters at about 5:30 p.m. local time. The woman and two-month-old both required CPR at the scene.

The passerby was also taken to hospital, but is in good condition.

Montreal Police Service Const. Raphael Bergeron told CBC News that investigators have met with several witnesses who say the woman took her children into a canal adjacent to Rivière des Prairies, north of Montreal.

"It seems to be that she went into the water by herself with the two children, so it could be a case of attempted murder...and attempted suicide for herself," Bergeron said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/04/09/montreal-river-jump-children.html

********** **********

Three people pulled out of Rivière des Prairies in critical condition

Detectives now say a woman who went into the frigid waters of Rivières des Prairies with two children Friday tried to kill them and then commit suicide.

The woman in her 30s and the children, age two months and five years, are still in critical condition at a hospital, said police spokesperson Raphael Bergeron.

After meeting with “various witnesses of the event, investigators of the major crimes division” have ruled out an accident and “the hypothesis we’re working on is of an murder attempt followed by a suicide attempt,” Bergeron said.

“All the information we’ve gathered would indicate that the woman slipped herself into the water, bringing her two children with her.

“It’s lucky that a good Samaritan came to their aid.”

The father only discovered the fate of his young family when he called police several hours later to report the trio missing, Montreal police Constable Olivier Lapointe said.

As for the father, Lapointe said, “we still haven’t had a chance to question him” over his wife’s state of mind leading up to the incident.

One witness said the mother, who is in her 30s, appeared to have been attached, while in the water, to her 5-year-old son with something “like a scarf.”

She also had her infant, another son, close to her side.

The trio had entered the water in the Bassin des Pecheurs, which bisects the Parc-Nature Île-de-la-Visitation, added the witness, who gave his first name as Mustafa.

Lapointe later confirmed the location.

“It was terrible,” said Mustafa, who appeared shaken and shrugged off an attempt to obtain his family name.

“We heard shouting. … It happened very fast.”

A bystander rescued the three just east of the Papineau-Leblanc Bridge, where Highway 19 crosses the Rivière des Prairies.

Mustafa described the rescuer as “a man maybe in his 20s.”

It was “too early,” Lapointe said, to draw any definitive conclusion over whether the water entry by the trio was deliberate or “some sort of accident.”

“Investigators have to do their work.”

That will include questioning the father whether the woman had shown any signs of being despondent.

The 5-year-old boy “I was told had a pulse” when he was pulled from the water, Lapointe said.

But the infant, a boy of “two or three months,” and the woman were “both in cardio-respiratory arrest,” Lapointe added, when police arrived and started resuscitation.

“We have documents” providing identities and dates of birth, Lapointe said. “Investigators had been trying to call the father and hadn’t been able to reach him when he called in the missing-persons report to us.”

Both Montreal and Laval police received a flurry of 911 calls “starting about 5 p.m.,” Lapointe said, reporting “bodies floating in the water.”

A large police perimeter was established along the riverfront at the park, and officers were deployed to look for any possible evidence, Lapointe said.

“We are looking for a stroller, a note, clothing, anything.”

The bystander who jumped in and pulled all three out of the water – shortly before police arrived – was hospitalized “in good condition,” Lapointe said, but with symptoms of hypothermia.

One witness also was sent to the hospital to be treated for nervous shock.

“We have contradictory witnesses,” Lapointe said. He said there were “many,” but declined to provide a figure, or how many statements were taken by investigators.

“It was a beautiful day and there were many people around,” Lapointe did say.

Investigators from the major crimes division were called to the scene.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Three+people+pulled+Rivi%c3%a8re+Prairies+critical+condition/4585200/story.html#ixzz1J85mJmka

Hearing set for Blackfalds woman charged with shaking baby
April 11, 2011



A three-day preliminary hearing started on Monday for a woman charged with aggravated assault on a baby.

Desiree Hansen, 28, of Blackfalds was charged in early 2010 after Lacombe emergency service personnel responded to a call.

The male infant was taken to Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre on Jan. 6, 2010.

A ban on publication of evidence heard at the preliminary was ordered by provincial court Judge John Holmes at the request of defence lawyer Gordon Yake.

The hearing is held to determine if there’s enough evidence to warrant the accused stand trial in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench.

The hearing was expected to wrap up this week but has been extended until May 2 to hear from a medical expert on shaken baby syndrome.

Shaken baby syndrome is a form of physical child abuse that occurs when an abuser violently shakes an infant or small child, creating a whiplash-type motion that causes acceleration-deceleration injuries.

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradvocate/news/local/Hearing_set_for_woman_charged_with_shaking_baby_119613004.html

Woman charged after allegedly biting child
April 11, 2011

COLD LAKE, Alta. - A mother is facing charges after she allegedly bit a chunk of skin out of her child's head.

Police responded to the call from a residence in the rural area near Cold Lake, about 300 km northeast of Edmonton, last Thursday night.

Police said they found a 10-year-old boy at the home bleeding and holding a cloth to his head.

The boy was missing a "quarter-sized chunk of skin" on his head and appeared as though he had been biten, police said.

The child’s 26-year-old mother was “highly intoxicated” when RCMP members arrived, police said.

Child and Family Services are involved in the case. No one else at the residence was hurt.

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her child, was charged with aggravated assault and released from custody on $1,000 no-cash bail.

She is scheduled to appear in Cold Lake Provincial Court on Wednesday.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/04/11/17954851.html

Napanee clown pleads guilty to child pornography charges


Randy Miller, AKA "Honker the Clown"

A Napanee man who worked as a clown pleaded guilty to child pornography charges on Thursday.

Randy Miller, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of child pornography, one count of making child pornography available, and one count of sexual assault involving a minor.

Miller, who also volunteered with Scouting groups, will be sentenced on June 2.

He was arrested last October as part of an international police sting called Project Sanctuary. Police found about 60,000 pornographic images of children on his computers.

http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/123961--napanee-clown-pleads-guilty-to-child-pornography-charges

Man sentenced to five years for sexual abuse of stepdaughter
Mother knew, but did nothing to stop husband
April 20, 2011

OTTAWA — A retired OC Transpo bus driver who molested his stepdaughter for nearly a decade, despite the fact the girl’s mother knew and watched some of the sexual abuse occur, was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday.

The mother allowed the sexual abuse to continue so long as her husband didn’t have sexual intercourse with her daughter, who was just six years old when the abuse began.

The mother — who the victim told police “encouraged” the abuse because it made her husband “happy” — was never criminally charged out of respect for the daughter’s wishes.

The 57-year-old man later told police he gave his stepdaughter gifts and money in exchange for the sexual favours in what he claimed was an attempt to show her “everything comes with a price.”

For her 15th birthday, the girl asked her mother if she could stop the sexual abuse.

“There is no doubt the milieu (the victim) was living in was horrible,” said Ontario Court Justice Lise Maisonneuve before sentencing the man, who can’t be named to protect the victim’s identity.

“A child should feel safe in his or her own home and should certainly expect that her mother, her own flesh and blood, would do anything to protect her,” said Maisonneuve, who described the now 16-year-old victim as being “completely alone and defenceless in her own home.”

Court heard as a young child the victim’s parents gave her a sexual “education” on how adults bodies could give them pleasure after she saw them coming out of the shower together.

At six, the girl would have to masturbate her stepfather. In one incident when she was eight, she was sexually touched after climbing into bed with her naked parents following a nightmare.

The abuse continued to escalate with the victim eventually disclosing the abuse in June 2010 to a friend and her mother. The victim was expecting to have to perform a sexual act on her stepfather that day because he had just bought her a digital camera.

In an interview with police, the mother admitted she was present in the house when the two went upstairs and knew what was going to occur. The mother also said that she saw her husband touch her daughter’s breasts four or five times, even though she did not want to see it.

The mother, who could offer no plausible explanation as to why she condoned the abuse, intends to stay with the man, court heard.

A psychiatrist who examined the man found that he identified with statements made by child molesters and claimed the girl enjoyed it when he abused her, Maisonneuve said.

Maisonneuve said the abuse had a profound impact on the girl, who wrote in a victim impact statement about how she felt worthless, contemplated suicide and started burning herself with matches “to try and feel some other kind of pain.”

“I don’t know what life is like without the abuse because as long as I can remember he has abused me,” the girl wrote.

The man, who was given credit for a year already spent in jail, will have four years of his sentence left to serve.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/sentenced+five+years+sexual+abuse+stepdaughter/4650721/story.html

karma wrote:Man sentenced to five years for sexual abuse of stepdaughter
Mother knew, but did nothing to stop husband
April 20, 2011

OTTAWA — A retired OC Transpo bus driver who molested his stepdaughter for nearly a decade, despite the fact the girl’s mother knew and watched some of the sexual abuse occur, was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday.

The mother allowed the sexual abuse to continue so long as her husband didn’t have sexual intercourse with her daughter, who was just six years old when the abuse began.

The mother — who the victim told police “encouraged” the abuse because it made her husband “happy” — was never criminally charged out of respect for the daughter’s wishes.

The 57-year-old man later told police he gave his stepdaughter gifts and money in exchange for the sexual favours in what he claimed was an attempt to show her “everything comes with a price.”

For her 15th birthday, the girl asked her mother if she could stop the sexual abuse.

“There is no doubt the milieu (the victim) was living in was horrible,” said Ontario Court Justice Lise Maisonneuve before sentencing the man, who can’t be named to protect the victim’s identity.

“A child should feel safe in his or her own home and should certainly expect that her mother, her own flesh and blood, would do anything to protect her,” said Maisonneuve, who described the now 16-year-old victim as being “completely alone and defenceless in her own home.”

Court heard as a young child the victim’s parents gave her a sexual “education” on how adults bodies could give them pleasure after she saw them coming out of the shower together.

At six, the girl would have to masturbate her stepfather. In one incident when she was eight, she was sexually touched after climbing into bed with her naked parents following a nightmare.

The abuse continued to escalate with the victim eventually disclosing the abuse in June 2010 to a friend and her mother. The victim was expecting to have to perform a sexual act on her stepfather that day because he had just bought her a digital camera.

In an interview with police, the mother admitted she was present in the house when the two went upstairs and knew what was going to occur. The mother also said that she saw her husband touch her daughter’s breasts four or five times, even though she did not want to see it.

The mother, who could offer no plausible explanation as to why she condoned the abuse, intends to stay with the man, court heard.

A psychiatrist who examined the man found that he identified with statements made by child molesters and claimed the girl enjoyed it when he abused her, Maisonneuve said.

Maisonneuve said the abuse had a profound impact on the girl, who wrote in a victim impact statement about how she felt worthless, contemplated suicide and started burning herself with matches “to try and feel some other kind of pain.”

“I don’t know what life is like without the abuse because as long as I can remember he has abused me,” the girl wrote.

The man, who was given credit for a year already spent in jail, will have four years of his sentence left to serve.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/sentenced+five+years+sexual+abuse+stepdaughter/4650721/story.html

This is unbelievable. What kind of court system does Canada have that they let a pedophile off with 5 years after ruining that poor life? She will be scarred the rest of her life. And her stupid POS mother needs to go to jail for at least 20 years. Why in the world isn't she being prosecuted for child neglect? She knew about it and instead of stopping it, encouraged it. What a bunch of sickos.

This is horrible.  that's 6 months for every year.  How many times during each year did he molest her?  The mother is as evil and sick minded as he is and they both should be in prison for life.

This is disgusting.  The Canadian authorities should hang their heads in shame.

Is there no justice anywhere?

This girl will end up realizing how evil her mother is and will hate her.  She's emotionally crippled for life and the POS only got FIVE YEARS.

Where is the father?

In many other cases, I noticed it's not uncommon for Canadian officials to turn a blind eye to pedophiles and perverts.