By John Mc Fadden
PETERBOROUGH-A Peterborough-area mother is both scared and furious that a man, convicted last year of sexually assaulting her teenage daughter in 2019, is out on bail while he attempts to appeal the verdict. In order to protect the identity of the young victim, we will not be publishing the name of either the victim or the man who was found guilty of sexual assault and sexual interference with a minor.
After a motion for an appeal was filed, the man was released on bail late last year despite his serious convictions.
While speaking with Kawartha 411, the mother made it perfectly clear, she cannot understand how and why a man convicted of two horrendous crimes against a youngster, can be granted bail after his conviction, whether he has appealed or not.
“I’m disgusted with the entire system. The entire process has been disgusting. He started by delaying this trial for what seemed like forever. Part of that had to do with COVID but he has really drawn this out which has been traumatic for my daughter and me.” she said. “It makes it worse. My family has been dragged through the mud over this with him painting us as liars and claiming we were destroying his life. Meanwhile, now he’s out continuing to spew his lies.”
She said the family lived in a small community at the time of the assault, – they’ve since moved about 30 minutes away. She added it all took place in the small town where just about everyone knows everyone. She said that some people in the town bought into what he was saying about them.
“Now he’s out and he continues to say we were lying and were making this up in order to destroy him. It completely changed my life and my kids’ lives. Friends of theirs stopped being friends with them. People that I thought were trustworthy friends and others who were acquaintances dropped me like a hot potato as well.” she said.
The mom said she was not in the courthouse for the bail hearing. She added she is disappointed that the Crown Attorney in the case is now leaving her and her daughter out of the loop in terms of the judicial process moving forward.
“They did initially keep in contact but then the cooperation stopped. I actually found out from people other than the Crown that he was getting out on bail and that’s not right,” she said. “I know he pleaded guilty to at least one breach of court conditions and I understand he may have been out on parole prior to this.”
The defendant served a few months in custody before he was released on bail. The mom said the whole process has made her daughter’s life a living hell.
“She’s 18 now but she is always looking over her shoulder. She does not want to hear any more about all of this. She makes sure she doesn’t overhear my conversations about it.”
The mother said she is convinced the man is a risk to re-offend while he is out on bail.
“We knew him before all this happened and we didn’t think he was capable of this. He was a fairly upstanding member of the community. But now that we know what he is capable of, then I’d say anything from him is possible. What’s to stop him?”
The mom added that lawmakers, politicians, need to a serious look at bail laws to make sure that people who are convicted of a serious crime aren’t easily granted bail just because they appealed their verdict.
“People are innocent until proven guilty and bail is an appropriate measure before trial sometimes, but not in this situation. Not for a man convicted of two serious offences against children – in this case – my daughter.”
Kim Dolan, Executive Director of the YWCA in Peterborough and Haliburton says she sympathizes with the victim and her mother.
“Sexual violence is a form of gender-based violence rooted in gender inequality and injustice.
The experience of sexual violence shatters the victims’ sense of safety and wholeness that changes them forever. Every year in Canada only five percent of the sexual assaults that are imposed on women and girls over the age of 15 are reported to police,” Dolan said as she quoted from canadianwomen.org. “The experience of sexual violence shatters the victims’ sense of safety and wholeness that changes them forever.”
Dolan asked people to think about what it must be like for this teenage girl, one of the five percent who did tell someone.
“She answered all of the questions from police and the court in intimate detail. Then, when she was finally able to exhale, to sleep, maybe even to forget once in a while – imagine the impact of having her experience of trauma erased. Imagine the impact of having to remember, in vivid detail, all over again,” Dolan said.
The man is scheduled to be back in court in April to discuss the next steps in the application for an appeal. We will be following this story closely.
Kawartha 411 has reached out to the man’s lawyer for his take on the situation but we had not heard back from him as of publishing time. The Crown Attorney is on leave of absence. We have been unsuccessful in our efforts to try to speak to the man convicted of the crimes.
