The Assumption of Shared Prejudice

One of the more frustrating challenges of being a male who supports, defends, and promotes feminism is the day-to-day problem of having to contend with other males who believe that you share their prejudiced perspectives about women. Because you are also a male, they believe that telling stories about women who have to take off their clothes for money to survive are entertaining and a way to bond, that calling women degrading names is acceptable, and other common acts of day-to-day misogyny can occur because it is believed to be a safe space to do so. These stories or acts can occur without prompting or come out after something one would not believe could prompt such a response. When they happen at the workplace it can contribute to a negative environment in which the women feel uncomfortable dealing with certain men, and the men--using the crude "bro's before ho's" mentality--band together in the belief that they must close ranks and support each other in the face of the overwhelming presence of women in the work place.
It is the responsibility of male feminists to do their part to overcome this challenge and not remain silent--we must break those closed ranks. When a male colleague gets off the phone after a frustrating conversation with a woman and calls her a "stupid bitch," we must confront that. When the guy sitting next to you starts to tell you a story about that time "his buddy" had a bachelor party or went to the local strip club, we must say that we are not interested and shut that discussion down. These acts by our colleagues are, as I said earlier, toxic to a work environment--indeed, they are sexual harrassment. In differentiating ourselves and demonstrating that we do not share the same prejudices about women as our colleagues, we can contribute to a more positive and healthy workplace and enhance our own relationships with the people around us.

Return

The lack of posts in the past 10 days is not due to any lack of material to post about; rather, like many feminists who spend a lot of time focusing on violence against women, I simply needed a bit of a time out to step back and get some time away from focusing on violence against women. It can often be overwhelming having to pore over the news stories to read about the latest gruesome rape and murder story, or the latest large child pornography bust, or any of the other news items that pop up pertaining to violence against women and children. It's hard work that emotionally wears you down and can cause you to question your confidence in humanity's ability to overcome patriarchy and all the nefarious aspects that are contained therein. It is neither natural nor inevitable that men rape, assault, kill, or turn women and children into pornography--but there are times when one wonders if the necessary changes to reduce the horrific rates at which these acts occur can be implemented. There is no thirst for justice on the part of the public, no pressure on government to change, no sense among many younger men that the actions of recent generations are wrong and that we need to go in a different direction. All of this combines into an occasionally-occurring sense of futility and despair at humanity's inability to want to improve collectively.
That's where refreshing one's batteries can be helpful. By scaling back the scope and scale of activism, even for a brief time, we can pull ourselves out of those negative feelings and come back with a new, or more determined approach, to create change. I knew that when I reached the point where I couldn't stop thinking about some of the truly awful things I've read recently, that it was affected my day-to-day ability to stay positive, I needed a respite. Now, however, I am back. Regular posting will resume later today or tomorrow.

Lastly, there is a book out there that seems very interesting after an initial glance, one that promises to comprehensively examine the attitudes and perceptions of rapists. Written by Joanna Bourke, it is simply called Rape, and it examines the history of the practice over the course of the past 150 years. If anyone has read it, can you recommend it?

Sword-Wielding Attacker Gets Lengthy Prison Term

This very nearly ended up being a first-degree murder case. As it is, this man will not see the light of day for a very long time for what he did to the woman he supposedly loved and their unborn child. It is a horrific story of what fear case inspire men to do to women.

Man gets 14 years for sword attack
Victim still suffering effects of assault, loss of unborn son
By SHERRI BORDEN COLLEY Staff Reporter Fri. Feb 15 - 5:48 AM
Charlene Knapp can no longer hold or play with her six-year-old daughter. She has gone through several surgeries and faces many more after suffering life-threatening injuries last July when her former boyfriend stabbed her 15 times.
On Thursday, Alan Bryan, the man Ms. Knapp once loved and was supposed to marry, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempted murder for stabbing her with a sword in their Dartmouth apartment on July 31.
"She could feel her intestines coming out as she tried to put them back in," Crown attorney Alonzo Wright told Judge Alanna Murphy in Dartmouth provincial court.
"She begged for Alan to call 911."
Mr. Wright asked the judge to sentence Mr. Bryan, 43, to 15 years to life. Defence lawyer Luke Craggs recommended five to six years.
Ms. Knapp, 28, was pregnant with Mr. Bryan’s baby boy when he attacked her and left her for dead in their Lakefront Road apartment. Ms. Knapp had earlier told Mr. Bryan she was leaving him.
"The pain was unbelievable, I felt like I was dying," Ms. Knapp read from her moving victim impact statement in court. "I remember praying to God for my daughter to be OK."
Ms. Knapp suffered a punctured spleen, lung and diaphragm and had several holes in her bowel.
She had to be revived twice before her initial emergency surgery at a Halifax hospital.
The couple had been together for about four months. Ms. Knapp lost the baby shortly after the attack.
"He was terrified of being a bad father . . . and one day he just snapped," Ms. Knapp told reporters after the sentencing. "So the only way he could get rid of the baby was to get rid of both of us."
Mr. Bryan’s diary detailed his plan to kill Ms. Knapp and their unborn child, Mr. Wright said.

Someone Murdered Karissa Boudreau

This story has been in the headlines for some time now here in Halifax. It was only yesterday, however, that the missing person was confirmed to be Karissa Boudreau, along with the announcement that the case is now a murder investigation. Details are still not fully divulged on the matter, but we now know that someone inflicted trauma before killing her. This is a very sad story, and it has taken a real emotional toll on the small town of Bridgewater and spread across the province. Let us all hope that the murderer is found and brought to justice.

Who would kill Karissa?
Trauma on body shows missing 12-year-old girl was a murder victim
By BEVERLEY WARE / South Shore Bureau Fri. Feb 15 - 5:38 AM
BRIDGEWATER — THE CASE OF A MISSING 12-year-old girl that gripped Bridgewater for more than two weeks took a shocking turn Thursday when it officially became a murder investigation.
Dental records confirmed Wednesday that a body found on the outskirts of town just before noon on Saturday was that of Karissa Boudreau. The body was found within walking distance of her home.
Trauma to her body showed she was murdered, police said at a news conference Thursday.
The murder is the first in the town since 1992.
"Obviously this is going to hit our community pretty hard," said Sgt. John Collyer of Bridgewater police. "I just want them to know that the full resources of the Bridgewater Police Service and the RCMP are involved in this investigation and we’re putting all of our efforts into trying to bring this to a successful resolution, and obviously we will do our utmost to ensure the safety of the community."
Police said no one has been arrested and they have no suspects. Investigators believe the killing is an isolated case but won’t say how they reached that conclusion.
"The Bridgewater Police Service and RCMP are appealing to the general public for their assistance and any information regarding this incident," said Const. Grant Webber of the RCMP.
"We’re hopeful someone saw something" and will contact the RCMP, Bridgewater police or Crime Stoppers.
Police know how and when Karissa died but aren’t releasing that information yet. Nor are they saying whether the Grade 6 student was sexually assaulted, or if she was killed where her body was found or it was dumped there. An autopsy was performed Wednesday.

Attempted Sexual Assault in Dartmouth

As always, I'm going to rail at the headline. In university professors always tell you not to use a passive tense, yet the media does an awful lot of it. "Man Assaults Women in Dawn Attack" would be more accurate: it makes the attacker visible and it has an active voice. It's amazing how many women are groped, but there seems to be a paucity of males groping, the headlines would have us believe. There's probably also a lot of people wondering why she was out alone at such an hour, when she should have been aware that there's drunken balaclava-wearing males roaming the streets.

Woman groped in dawn attack Wed. Feb 13 - 5:32 AM
A woman who was getting into her car to go to work early Tuesday was sexually assaulted by a masked man on Dartmouth’s Highfield Park Drive.
Halifax Regional Police said the attacker jumped the 25-year-old woman from behind at 6 a.m. and pushed her to the ground.
He then groped her and tried to remove her clothes, but the woman was able to get away from him and run into her building, police said. Her car was parked behind 15 Highfield Park Dr. at the time of the attack.
The suspect is white, 5-9 and has a medium build. He had a deep voice and seemed to have liquor on his breath. He had grey facial hair and was also wearing a balaclava, dark coveralls and black gloves.
The victim didn’t need medical treatment.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact them at 490-5016 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

No Justice

This is shocking to read. It is always incredible when a court finds that women, particularly children, have made up allegations of sexual abuse. The traumatic event of having to recall those horrors is not something many--if any--people would do simply to get someone they "dislike" out of their lives. There are many out there who like to point fingers and say that women make up stories of rape and sexual assault "all the time," and they are going to use this verdict as evidence of that. The reality is that false allegations of rape and sexual assault hover around the same level as other false allegations--somewhere around 1%-2% It is not a common occurrence.
What makes this verdict so galling is that the judge accepts that physical violence was a common event in the household, and that the father was so evil that "cruel" was an "understatement" to describe him. Yet because the sister-in-law didn't like him, he found suspicion when these women claimed sexual abuse. He also mentioned that the children didn't come forward at the time. Apparently he doesn't understand that these events are so traumatic and the level of fear is so great in these types of circumstances that many children do not come forward for many years, some never, about their experiences of abuse.
Truly, these 4 women have not received justice.

Father acquitted of sexual assault
By JENNIFER STEWART Court Reporter Wed. Feb 13 - 5:33 AM
A Halifax man accused of sexually assaulting his daughter, stepdaughters and sister-in-law was acquitted of all charges Tuesday.
The man, who cannot be named because it would identify the four complainants, was charged with eight counts of sexual assault and sexual exploitation.
He was alleged to have repeatedly touched and fondled the girls between 1984 and 2003, while at their homes in East Preston and Halifax.
All three girls, who were between 11 and 19 years old during the alleged assaults, testified in Nova Scotia Supreme Court that the defendant was very strict. They said he often punished them physically and took advantage of them when they were alone. The defendant denied all the allegations at trial.
On Tuesday, the judge said he ac-cepted the evidence of the women that the defendant ran a strict household where beatings were not uncommon.
"He ruled the roost with an iron fist," Justice Kevin Coady said. "To call (the defendant) cruel would be an understatement." But he wasn’t so sure about the allegations of sexual abuse.
"I am suspicious of (the defendant’s) guilt, but I am left with a reasonable doubt," he said. "Suspicion is just not enough."
Justice Coady said he was troubled that the eldest daughter didn’t proceed with charges when she first reported the alleged abuse in 1993, if for no other reason than to protect her younger siblings.
He said he was also wary of the fact that the sister-in-law admitted that she disliked the defendant and didn’t come forward until after the girls went to the police in 2005.

This is a follow-up to a story originally posted last month on the 16th. I will reiterate what I said then as well: the fact that this man is a rapist doesn't even merit headline billing because it's not as "sexy" of a headline when compared to his "foot fetish." The media go with the glitz as opposed to substance more often than not, but in a case such as this, why? It makes him sound as if he's just a silly boy being a boy with his "deviant" interest in women's feet; the reality is much more sinister, and it is incumbent upon the media to report accurately, even if it hurts people's sensitivities.

Risk assessment sought on man with foot fetish
Sentencing adjourned until March 7
By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter Wed. Feb 6 - 5:48 AM
A Halifax man who pretended to be a reflexology student to get women to allow him to rub their feet will undergo a risk assessment before being sentenced next month.
Michael James Fells, 25, was convicted at trial in Halifax provincial court Jan. 15 of sexually assaulting a woman by rubbing his genitals against her feet and of committing common assault against her aunt.
He also pleaded guilty to assaulting three other women and to single counts of fraud and breaching probation.
Judge Michael Sherar was to sentence Mr. Fells on Monday but the Crown asked that a risk assessment be done through the province’s sex offender program. Sentencing was adjourned until March 7.

Interesting defence this predator's legal team used: "inquisitiveness." This is actually not entirely surprising. Most porn consumers get bored of "vanilla" porn and seek out ever-more extreme imagery in order to get their excitement. Sometimes it ranges into extremely violent adult pornography, be it BDSM, "gonzo," or acts involving animals, and sometimes, like with this man, it ranges into the realm of child pornography. Porn makers consciously go for a "young" look with many of the women, infantilizing them via their dress, appearance, and other means. Clearly the search for ever-younger women carried this individual into child porn. It is readily apparent that this "bachelor" was a regular consumer of pornography who felt the curiousity to venture into looking at children in order to achieve his porn-induced orgasm. Will anybody connect the dots and realize that his venturing into child porn is part of a continuum of what happens with many pornography consumers? Probably not. For those that want to know more about this trail, read Dr. Diana Russell's study on pornography; additionally, the book Pornified, writted by Pamela Paul, discusses the trend among men to find more and more violent images in order to satisfy their pornographic demands. It is compelling and highly informative reading. Full story available by clicking the link.

Man jailed weekends for downloading child porn
By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter Wed. Feb 6 - 5:34 AM
A 28-year-old Halifax man will be spending the next few weekends in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday to possessing child pornography.
Ryan Russell Inglis, 28, of Lucknow Street downloaded a dozen pictures of partly clothed or nude girls onto his computer using Limewire file-sharing software last June, Halifax provincial court was told.
Defence lawyer Don Murray described the crime as "an offence of inquisitiveness" that was out of character for his client, a steadily employed bachelor with no previous criminal record who has been assessed by a psychologist as a low risk to reoffend.
Mr. Murray asked Judge Bill Digby to impose the minimum sentence under the Criminal Code, 14 days in jail, and that Mr. Inglis be allowed to serve the time intermittently.
Crown attorney Craig Botterill said the images were soft-core and involved girls who appeared to be between the ages of 11 and 15.

Man Threatens Woman with Shotgun

Woman alleges man used gun to threaten her
By KRISTEN LIPSCOMBE Staff Reporter Wed. Feb 6 - 5:47 AM
A 25-year-old man will answer to weapons charges in court today after allegedly threatening a woman with a shotgun in her Halifax home early Tuesday morning.
Halifax Regional Police said they responded to the complaint at about 3:30 p.m., more than 12 hours after the incident allegedly occurred. The woman told officers that a man she knows threatened her at about 3 a.m. after she asked him to leave her residence in the 5400 block of Victoria Road.

Yet Another Child Porn Arrest

This is now, what, the third or fourth separate incident involving child pornography that I have posted here in the last month. These are just the ones where people were dumb enough to be caught; it makes you wonder how many more child predators are out there in the Halifax area, consuming child pornography as part of their daily lives. This one is particularly audacious, not even doing it in the sanctity of his own home, but rather at an internet care right on Spring Garden Road. The place is right next to a McDonald's. Why wasn't his name published? I personally like the idea of making all this information public when it comes to child porn users: put their full name, their address, where they work, all of it, out there. Put it on the police website, put it in the paper, post it on his front lawn. These men are dangers to society and we as a public have a right to know when people who constitute a threat to children are around.

Man caught watching child porn
Sun. Feb 3 - 5:22 AM
Police say staff at an Internet cafe in downtown Halifax phoned them to complain that a 43-year-old man was accessing child pornography at the business on Saturday afternoon.
Halifax Regional Police said the call came in at about 2 p.m. from the business on the 5600 block of Spring Garden Road.
Officers arrested a 43-year-old man at the cafe. He is to appear in Halifax provincial court Monday morning on a charge of possession of child pornography.

UPDATE

The Daily News has a much more detailed story, which includes this piece of information:
Last Wednesday, The Daily News reported on data from a national survey by Toronto's police department showing that thousands of Nova Scotians are actively involved in trading child pornography. In 2007, there were 5,515 Internet Protocol addresses involved in the illegal activity. But there are only seven police officers in the province responsible for these crimes. "We are overwhelmed," Internet Child Exploitation Unit head Cpl. Dave Fox said Wednesday.

This province has a population of under a million people. Knowing that there's more than 5,000 people consuming child pornography should set off alarm bells.

Interesting Story on Child Porn

The story below demonstrates vividly the causal relationship between consumption of child pornography and sexual assault of children, bolstering the Supreme Court of Canada's assessment that the mere existence of child pornography constitutes a threat to children. Take note of a bolded highlight below and recall the number of major child porn busts not only in Nova Scotia, but across Canada and around the world. The causal linkage also applies to adult pornography, a fact conveniently overlooked by pro-pornography advocates.

Cop: Child porn users take next step
By DAVENE JEFFREY Staff Reporter Wed. Jan 30 - 5:27 AM
Anyone who enjoys child pornography is likely to become a contact sex offender, says RCMP Cpl. Dave Fox.
Although current studies show anywhere from 30 to 70 per cent of people who enjoy child pornography will likely go on to commit the sexual acts themselves, Cpl. Fox says experience has taught him the picture is a lot worse.
Cpl. Fox heads up the RCMP’s provincial Internet child exploitation unit, which was created as a temporary project in 2003.
He participated Monday in a day-long symposium at Dartmouth’s Holiday Inn that brought together government, non-government and industry representatives to look at ways to integrate their fight against online child abuse.
The officer said he formed his views the hard way.
"I know this because I’ve seen it."

. . .

Since 2005, the volume of pornographic images and films available over the Internet has increased 400 per cent, the symposium was told.
"We’re seeing a trend toward younger children" being victimized in the images, said Sgt. Rick Greenwood of the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre, adding that the abuses are also becoming more violent, he said.

--

Cause and effect.

Excessive Force?

There have been a number of incidents involving Tasers that strike the chord of being completely unnecessary. The story below is one of them. News stories have shown a few others, including one of an intoxicated woman being zapped three or four times, including once when she was already in the back of the police cruiser and a separate event in which a woman was Tasered in the back after walking away from the officer and then once again when she was on the ground. I remember these two incidents quite vividly, not only because of the excessive nature of the Taser's usage but also because women were involved. The other examples of "excessive force" by the police involving men seemingly were more necessary, as they featured aggressive men who would not submit to police requests otherwise; there were, of course, a couple of incidents that were not required and were unnecessary. The most famous example was the incident in which a man died in Vancouver last year after being Tasered at the airport. Perhaps it is time to lay out some guidelines as to when use of the device is necessary in order to limit future black marks against the law enforcement institution.

Police rapped for using Taser on girl in bedroom
Teen acquitted of assaulting cops
By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter Wed. Jan 30 - 5:05 AM
A Dartmouth teen who was wrestled onto her bed and shocked twice by police last February was found not guilty Tuesday of assaulting officers and resisting arrest.
"The spectacle of a 17-year-old girl being Tasered in her bedroom is a very disturbing and disconcerting one," Judge Anne Derrick said in Halifax youth court. "I find the police acted outside the scope of their authority in arresting (the girl) and that she was entitled to resist and committed no offence in doing so, and I acquit her of the charges before the court."
The girl testified during the first day of the trial in November that being Tasered felt like having a "burning, open cut."

Child Molester to Face Dangerous Offender Assessment

Hopefully he will indeed be deemed a dangerous offender so that he can never again come into contact with children.

Pedophile to get risk assessment
By STEVE BRUCE Staff Reporter Tue. Jan 29 - 5:50 AM
A Dartmouth man with seven convictions for molesting children has been ordered to undergo a dangerous-offender assessment.
Roger Edouard Mercier, 39, pleaded guilty last week to sexually assaulting a young boy between Sept. 1, 2006, and Jan. 23, 2007, and failing to comply with a police undertaking to stay away from anyone under 16.
In Halifax provincial court on Monday, Judge Castor Williams granted a Crown application to have Mr. Mercier remanded to the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth for 60 days so doctors can assess his level of risk to reoffend.
The result of the assessment will determine whether the Crown applies to have the pedophile declared a dangerous offender and imprisoned indefinitely.

Another Child Pornography Bust

Senior charged with child porn possession
Halifax police searched a Parkland Drive apartment in Clayton Park early Wednesday and charged a 67-year-old man for possession and distribution of child pornography.
Thomas Michael Kelly has been released from custody on conditions that restrict his computer use and contact with children. He’ll appear in court at a later date.
Halifax Regional Police and RCMP officers served the search warrant and made the arrest.

Man Convicted of Sexually Assaulting Child

Repeat offenders such as this: ought they to receive the label "dangerous offender"?

39-year-old man guilty of molesting boy
By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter Thu. Jan 24 - 5:43 AM
A convicted pedophile has admitted molesting a young boy over a five-month period.
Roger Edouard Mercier, 39, of Dartmouth pleaded guilty Tuesday in Halifax provincial court to charges of sexual assault and failing to comply with a police undertaking to stay away from anyone under the age of 16. The offences took place between Sept. 1, 2006, and Jan. 23, 2007.
Mr. Mercier, who is in custody at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, returns to court Monday. At that time, the Crown is expected to request that he be transferred to the neighbouring East Coast Forensic Hospital for an assessment of his risk to reoffend.
The results of that assessment will determine whether the Crown applies to have Mr. Mercier declared a dangerous offender and imprisoned indefinitely.
Mr. Mercier, a former school teacher in the Annapolis Valley, was convicted at trial last summer of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old Dartmouth girl in 2005. He was given double credit for the eight months and two days he had spent on remand and sentenced to time already served.

Man Threatens Woman

As usual, the story's headline obscures and makes invisible the subject and the object of the verb in question. Who is mysteriously pulling guns? At whom? The location is less relevant than the humans involved, yet no people get top billing. Odd.

Gun pulled at party
Halifax Regional Police are looking for a man who had a handgun when he threatened a woman at a party Saturday night. The incident happened at about 11:30 p.m. at a home on Emerald Crescent in Spryfield, police said.
The man with the handgun was gone before officers arrived.

The Importance of Being Honest

The news stories about Jennifer Horne, which this blog has attempted to document, have generated a bit of concern amongst people in Halifax. They express their concern over the explicitness of the reporting of what people did to her, saying that their sensibilities are offended at having to read such graphic recounting of a horrific and violent incident, particularly in the pages of the Daily News. I recall seeing at least one letter or submitted comment on the matter, and I'm sure that there are many others who feel the same way.
However, there is something very important about this type of concern that deserves discussion. Of course nobody with a conscience likes to read about a woman being sexually assaulted and murdered in gory detail. But in our desire to protect our feelings, are we obscuring reality by shunting the hard truth off to a corner and trying to impose upon the media to make it more reader-friendly? All of this begs the question: what should offend us more: reading about a sexual assault & gruesome murder, or knowing that a person or people actually committed a sexual assault & gruesome murder?
In my view, the latter is what should serve as our motivation to outrage. It was a serious act of male violence that inspired me to join the White Ribbon Campaign and get something established here in Halifax, something which I learned from reading in the paper. I was deeply affected by the horrific assault at the Dartmouth Ultramar, not by the words a scribe used in the next day's Chronicle-Herald to report the assault. We should be outraged when we read a story like that, or like ones about Jennifer Horne, or stories documenting the latest child pornography bust. We should demand that the people--usually men--involved be held accountable, and seek out ways to educate other men that if they commit that type of action, they will meet with full retribution under the law. We should be motivated to have a year-round campaign that seeks to reduce violence against women, children, and other men. It should not come from the top down, it should emerge from a groundswell of anger and resentment that this has gone on for far too long. We should not have to read daily stories of men raping women, of men cutting women's throats, of men killing women, of men exploiting children in child pornography. Yes, yes, I know, men kill other men and women commit violent crimes too. But let's not focus on the minority of violent crime perpetrators, let's be honest with ourselves and with each other: the majority of serious violence in Canada is committed by men. It is important to always remember that all people commit violence, but we are deluding ourselves and shuffling accountability when we try to put violence committed by men against women and children and violence committed by women against men on a par, either moral or statistical. When women commit significantly more than 8% of spousal abuse, I'll be more inclined to discuss women abusing their husbands; as it stands, 92% of reported incidents of spousal violence are committed by men. Let's be honest, and face the grim realities that exist before us, because until we do that violence is going to continue at the present alarming rate.

Threats in Cape Breton

This is seriously disturbing. Hopefully the men involved in this act are caught in very short order so that they cannot inflict any more fear and terror in the lives of children.

Girl, 10, says men in van threatened to kill her
By LAURA FRASER Cape Breton Bureau Sun. Jan 20 - 5:16 AM
SYDNEY MINES — Cape Breton Regional Police are searching for two men who allegedly threatened to kill a 10-year-old girl as she walked home from school Friday afternoon.
The two men drove beside the little girl along Mackay Street and flashed what appeared to be a gun, a police spokesman said Saturday.
The passenger then started screaming at the girl and threatened to shoot her. "The person yelling at her . . . (said) ‘Run home or you’re going to die,’ " a release from the police said.

Released Sex Offender Back in Jail

It's amazing to see that within days of being inadvertently released, he's allegedly involved in another assault. Because of that "administrative error," another person has had to endure the actions of this man.

Alleged sex offender back in jail
24-year-old wrongly released from C.B. prison late last week turns himself in to Eskasoni cops
By TERA CAMUS Cape Breton Bureau Fri. Jan 18 - 5:31 AM
SYDNEY — An accused sex offender who was accidentally freed from jail last week is back behind bars after turning himself in to Eskasoni RCMP on Wednesday night.
Douglas Edward Young, 24, was sent back to the Cape Breton Correctional Centre on Thursday after a brief hearing before Judge Peter Ross at which he asked to be set free again on conditions.
"You had a bail hearing on Sept. 21 and bail was denied," Judge Ross told the Eskasoni man. "I can’t change that and I have no inclination to change that. . . . That’s where you were ordered to go, and that’s where you will stay."
Mr. Young is also a suspect in an assault that occurred in Eskasoni on Tuesday night.

Updates

Two updates on stories involving violent assaults on women today.

When I first heard this story last summer, I was profoundly shaken. Though I regularly encounter gruesome stories of men's violence against women, this one left me in a daze for most of the day. It also motivated me to get involved with the White Ribbon Campaign, a group that I had known of for several years but had never joined. Today, the Chronicle-Herald provided the first update on the situation, as Michael Robichaud pleaded guilty in court.

Scarred for life
Michael Robicheau was worried he would attack again. Ten days after the parole board released him from prison, he did this. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty.
By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter Fri. Jan 18 - 5:14 AM

Michael Robicheau pleaded guilty Thursday to raping a Dartmouth gas station attendant. He had been released from prison to a halfway house just 10 days earlier.
A 45-year-old woman who was raped and nearly killed while working the overnight shift at a Dartmouth gas station has harsh words for the parole board that released her attacker.
A DARTMOUTH gas station clerk who was raped and whose throat was slit during an overnight shift last summer defiantly lowered her turtleneck and showed her scar to reporters Thursday.
"This is what he’s done to me," the 45-year-old woman said of Michael Derrick Robicheau, who moments earlier had pleaded guilty to five charges in Dartmouth provincial court.
Mr. Robicheau, who had been released from federal prison on statutory parole just 10 days before the Aug. 21 attack, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, sexual assault, robbery, unlawful confinement and possessing a weapon.
The Crown wants Mr. Robicheau, 32, declared a dangerous offender and sent to prison for an indefinite term, until he is no longer considered a risk to society.
Mr. Robicheau agreed to be remanded to the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth for a dangerous-offender assessment. He returns to court March 6.
The victim, whose name is banned from publication, said she hoped to have the satisfaction of making eye contact with Mr. Robicheau in court Thursday, "but he wouldn’t look at me."
"My life has changed a great deal since this has happened because he’s harmed me internally as well as externally," she said.
"I want to get back to the person that I was."

Psych assessment for teenager who allegedly attacked ex-girlfriend
By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter Fri. Jan 18 - 5:36 AM
A Dartmouth teen charged after his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her mother were attacked in their home last month is undergoing a psychiatric assessment.
The assessment at the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth was ordered last week for Jonathan Peter Rees, 18, of Windward Avenue, who is accused of attempting to murder Ashley Laing, 18.
He is also charged with two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of assaulting police and single counts of break and enter, violating a recognizance and breaching probation.
The assessment is to be completed by Jan. 24, when Mr. Rees returns to Dartmouth provincial court.
Ms. Laing, who is carrying Mr. Rees’s child, and Heather Moffatt, 46, were attacked Dec. 21. A man broke into their home on Topsail Boulevard in Dartmouth and beat the women with a blunt object before trying to take his own life by stabbing himself in the neck with a knife.
Both women suffered broken bones and cuts in the attack. An ultrasound showed the baby, due May 28, was unharmed.

Accused Rapist on the Loose

How does this sort of thing happen?

Rape suspect accidentally freed in C.B.
Accused in sex assault being sought after court’s "administrative error"
By TERA CAMUS Cape Breton Bureau Wed. Jan 16 - 5:35 AM
SYDNEY — An Eskasoni man who was denied bail last year on a sexual assault charge because the court feared he wouldn’t show up for his trial next month was accidentally let out of jail Friday.
An "administrative error" by justice officials returned Douglas Edward Young, 24, of Shore Road to the streets after his separate five-month sentence for refusing the breathalyzer expired. That was despite a judge’s order issued Sept. 21 to keep him behind bars until the sexual assault trial on Feb. 15.

Man Convicted of Sexual Assault, Assault

This is a wierd story, but it does demonstrate the lengths that some men will go to in order to assault women and provide themselves their twisted sexual gratification. What's equally strange is that the "fraudster" and his "foot fetish" got higher billing on the headline than the fact that he assaulted one woman and sexually assaulted her niece.

Fraudster had foot fetish
Fake reflexology student convicted of sexual assault, other offences
By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter Wed. Jan 16 - 5:46 AM
The stranger’s offer seemed too good to be true, and it was.
A young man who said his name was Tyrone volunteered to help a woman move into her apartment in Halifax last June 19 if she and her aunt would let him massage their feet as part of his reflexology studies.
"We had a lot of stuff to move, we were tired, and an extra set of hands would be lovely," the aunt testified Tuesday in Halifax provincial court at the trial of Michael James Fells, 25, of Halifax. Mr Fells was subsequently convicted of committing common assault against her and sexually assaulting her niece.

Major Child Porn Bust

This is another ghastly story involving child pornography, the very existence of which is a threat to the safety of all children, according to Canada's Supreme Court. Note that all nine Canadians arrested are men, and that one of them even stated that he would have liked to get his daughters involved in this exploitation. Truly despicable.

Porn sting nets nine Canadians
Group charged in connection with horrorific child porn site in Ukraine
By BRUCE CHEADLE The Canadian Press
Wed. Jan 16 - 6:13 AM

OTTAWA — A child pornography investigation that began in Australia 18 months ago has followed a circuitous path around the world into the homes of nine arrested Canadians.
Canadian and international police agencies announced the arrests Tuesday, and said another 50 ongoing investigations continue in this country.
The charges relate to a horrific child porn website based in Ukraine that provided customized videos of sexual abuse to paying customers worldwide.
All nine of the Canadians arrested so far were men and at least one, arrested two weeks ago in Peel Region, just outside Toronto, was a former Scout leader.
Police have no evidence of Canadian child victims to date, although one suspect still at large is alleged to have communicated a desire to get his daughters involved.

Justice

Two stories this morning, both involving men sexually exploiting women. One is a clear-cut case of sexual assault, the other is a case of prostitution by bartering with drugs--by a doctor. Excerpts posted, full stories accessible by clicking the story title. The latter story is particularly vile, and is also quite graphic in recapping what this doctor did to these women, so proceed with caution.

Jury finds Marshall guilty

Chapel Island chief convicted of sexual assault
By JENNIFER STEWART Court Reporter
Tue. Jan 15 - 5:26 AM

Wilbert Joseph Marshall has been found guilty of sexual asssault.
In the end, a jury took the word of a 22-year-old Mount Uniacke woman who said she was drugged and sexually assaulted over that of Wilbert Joseph Marshall.
After two hours of deliberation Monday, the seven men and five women found the Chapel Island First Nations chief guilty of one count of sexual assault between March 1 and April 25, 2006.
During the four-day trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Mr. Marshall, 39, maintained that the woman, who cannot be named, voluntarily came out drinking with him and that the resulting sex was consensual.
But the woman said she believed Mr. Marshall slipped something in her drink, which caused her to black out for several hours.

Doc swapped drugs for sexual favours

Man who sexually assaulted patients gets seven years

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. The Canadian Press

A Newfoundland physician who peddled highly addictive medication to several drug-dependent patients in exchange for sexual favours was sentenced yesterday to seven years in prison in a case rife with depravity. Sean Buckingham, convicted last month of one count of assault, five counts of sexual assault and six counts of trafficking painkillers such as OxyContin and Lorazepam, sat silently in the prisoner's box as Supreme Court Justice James Adams delivered his sentence.

"His actions were vile and deserving of the highest denunciation," Adams said."He has shattered the faith of his patients. ... He took advantage of their vulnerability to exploit them for his own sexual gratification."

The St. John's doctor callously abused his privileged position and preyed on the weaknesses of young women caught up in a tragic set of circumstances, all "for his own salacious pleasure," Adams said. "Their psychological turmoil must have been excruciating," he added. "This strikes at the heart of the public's confidence in the doctor-patient relationship."

Australian Article on Porn and the Internet

The following article comes to us from Australia. It opens with the story of the sentencing of a 20-year old man for a horrific rape committed after consuming massive amounts of violent pornography, once again reinforcing the causal connection argued by many feminists between pornography consumption and violence against women. It also discusses the popularity of pornography amongst Australia's youth--and I surmise that the rate here in Canada would not be too far off in either direction--finding that nearly 2 in 5 Australian males ages 16 and 17 consume pornography, accounting 95% of teen pornography use. It then concludes with a look at the mainstreaming of pornography, and how people are allowing porn to filter into their lives, affecting their outlooks and nudging them to perform acts that they would not otherwise know about or want to do. It is an excllent read, one which will hopefully generate a lot of discussion not only in Australia, but in all circles where it is read.

The Internet and the Rise of Porn
Maree Crabbe and David Corlett
January 3, 2008

ON THE Thursday before Christmas, a judge sentenced a Melbourne man convicted of raping a woman to 11 years' jail. The judge, Damian Murphy, said the perpetrator, Andrew Bowen, 20, had used the internet to access hardcore pornography and to learn how to avoid leaving evidence at a rape scene. Judge Murphy said Bowen had "sought to depict a (sexual) fantasy" seen in downloaded material from the internet.
Bowen stalked his victim before he broke into her house, tied her hands together and repeatedly raped her.
The case highlights the link between pornography and violent attitudes and behaviour towards women.
Pornography is not new, but the development of the internet has contributed to a marked shift towards more extreme and more violent sexual imagery. Materials that would not pass Australia's film and television classification system are freely available — to young and old — on the internet.
Images of rape, coercion and abuse are commonplace. Even when the acts portrayed are not so abusive, the images are degrading and humiliating. The vast majority of portrayals are of men doing things to women for men's indulgence.
These are more than just pictures on a screen. They are images that are ripe with meanings about men and women, what they like and about how they ought to treat each other. They are images that impact on the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of those viewing them.
Research suggests a clear link between exposure to or consumption of pornography and male sexual aggression against women. This connection is strongest when the imagery is violent. But it is also relevant to non-violent pornography, particularly for frequent users. Exposure to sexually violent material increases male viewers' tolerance of sexual violence and reduces their empathy for victims of violence, including rape.

More on Child Porn Bust

This is a follow-up to yesterday's post. It is good to see that the media are publishing names and addresses of child predators, so that they are publicly shamed and people in the area know who is around them and their children.

Suspect faces child-porn charges over 4 1/2-year span
Executive charged with accessing, possessing
By DAVENE JEFFREY Staff Reporter
Sat. Jan 12 - 5:25 AM
A Halifax executive faces child pornography charges following a police search at his Fall River home Wednesday.
Christian Edmund Schulz, vice-president of the Halifax-based, head-hunting firm Staffing Strategists International, is charged with accessing child pornography and possessing child pornography between April 16, 2003 and Jan 9, 2008.
On Wednesday morning, officers with the RCMP’s Internet child exploitation unit searched Mr. Schulz’s home at 133 Canterbury Lane in Fall River Village subdivision.
Officers were acting on a tip from authorities in New Jersey that credit card purchases of child pornography had been made from that residence.

Nova Scotia Child Porn Bust

Child pornography is one of the most heinous crimes committed by men. Its making, distribution, and consumption is such a vile practice that the Supreme Court of Canada has deemed that the very existence of child pornography constitutes a threat to the safety of children. Those who seek out images of children being raped and sexually exploited are among the most dangerous members of our society. Thus it is very disturbing to hear of this story in today's Chronicle-Herald.

Fall River man busted in child porn case
A 56-year-old Fall River man has been arrested as part of an international investigation into child pornography.
RCMP arrested the man at his home Wednesday morning and seized three desktop computers, a laptop and an external hard drive.
Charges have not been laid, so the man cannot be identified. He has been released on conditions and is to appear in Dartmouth provincial court on May 21.
Police received information from New Jersey authorities about credit-card child pornography purchases made from that house, Cpl. Dave Fox of the provincial RCMP’s Internet child exploitation unit said Thursday.
"As a result of the investigation in the United States, we were able to get search warrants to confirm this information," he said. "Operation Falcon is the project. It’s a historical child exploitation investigation from 2003. This is what gave us the grounds to go into the house in this one."
He said police received information about the case in 2004 but were unable to proceed more quickly because of other complaints they were investigating.

Jennifer Horne Femicide Details Emerge

There is shocking and disturbing new information about the death of Jennifer Horne. It appears that prior to her death, she was sexually tortured by her captives and then had her throat slit. In nearly every way this case fits the definition of the term femicide: Femicide includes mutilation murder, rape murder, battery that escalates into murder, the mmolation of witches in Western Europe and of brides and widows n India, and crimes of honor in some Latin and Middle Eastern countries, where women believed to have lost their virginity are killed by their male relatives. Calling misogynist killings femicide removes the obscuring veil of non gendered terms such as homicide and murder.

The story is in the Daily News, and can be read here. The excerpt below contains graphic descriptions of her discovery.

It was New Year's Eve and a police officer and paramedic had just burst into a Dartmouth apartment. They didn't know if they would find Jennifer Horne dead or alive. But the officer knew where to look, based on new information gleaned during the investigation of her disappearance. In the spare room, a bloodstained white tissue sat on a baby stroller. The police officer opened the closet door, removing blankets and towels. Inside were green garbage bags, one of which he pulled back.
Underneath was Horne's body, naked and wrapped in a carpet. Her wrists and ankles were bound with duct tape. The young woman had been raped and tortured, her throat slit, police documents obtained by The Daily News yesterday say. The details of how police discovered the 20-year-old are graphic and horrendous. The allegations surrounding her death are found in two warrants used to search apartment 91 at 8 Lawrence St. None of the allegations in the warrants have been proven in court.
Charged with first degree murder in Horne's death are the common-law couple who lived in the Lawrence Street apartment. Des-mond Maguire, 37, and Ashley Haley, 20, are currently in custody and are due back in court on Jan. 16. Haley is pregnant, and she and Maguire have a child together.

MUST-READ Article on Porn and Rape

For those not intimately familiar with the Internet's wide collection of truly amazing anti-porn and anti-violence against women feminists, there is one name that you should all know. Her name is Biting Beaver. Hers was the first feminist blog I read, one that I enjoyed for many months until one day she stopped writing. The reason? A number of men began threatening and harrassing her, making death threats and stalking her, after she went through a hellacious ordeal to obtain an emergency contraceptive--an ordeal made so hellacious because several doctors in her region refused to fill her prescription. You read that right. There are still many places in the United States in which a doctor/pharmacist has the right to refuse to fill out a prescription based on religious or self-imposed ethical beliefs. Not coincidentally, I've never heard of a pharmacist refusing to fill a Viagra prescription, or one for eyedrops. If anybody doubts the extent to which abortion is a major issue in American politics--and BB's was not even a genuine case of abortion--this story and many others like it should erase those doubts.
Yet BB's writing lives on. The following is an excerpt from an amazing essay written on the subject of pornography and its intimate connection to violence against women. The full essay can be read here. It is, as the title suggest, must read material.

It confuses me that someone can place so much value on a titillating picture. That a living, breathing human being who is part of the same race as I am, the race of humankind, can so completely ignore the screams of the innocent for something as mundane as an orgasm. It falls beyond my capability to understand, I ask my partner all the time, "How? How can they know the numbers, how can they know the abuses and continue to watch? Continue to go to their favorite website, or eagerly rip open that new copy of Penthouse knowing that THAT publication has used children. Has photographed the RAPE of children? How?" And my voice cracks and my eyes grow cloudy as my mind seeks to grasp the mechanism by which they rationalize it.
It also occurs to me that, in these people, these people who continue to watch Pornography even after knowing the statistics there is a more insidious implication there. Something that is grotesque in its honesty.
In believing that there are Acceptable Losses in the making of Pornography (and they do believe it, they prove it each and every time they look at it) they are also, by default, saying that rape is also acceptable. How? Why? It's simple. Nobody denies that there are honest to goodness sex slaves that are used to make pornography. They may dance and say that it's not in their porn, they may build walls and insist that THEY don't fuel a demand for pornography when they look at it, but they won't deny that it exists. Even they can't deny this fact. In accepting the idea of sex-slavery in pornography they have accepted the idea of rape in Pornography. When they acknowledge that a 15 year old child starred in 77 movies by well known Pornographers they are admitting that there is rape involved on some level in the making of mainstream porn. And Tracy Lords' porn WAS mainstream porn. A 15 year old child is unable to legally consent to sex, therefore, it's rape.

Threats Against Woman Result in Arrest, Discoveries

The following story appears in today's Chronicle-Herald. As it turns out, this woman may be lucky to be alive given that the police found a gun and drugs in the man's possession. Those are two items that never mix well. Going beyond just a threat, the man allegedly assaulted her as well. Full story here.

Halifax Regional Police turned up more than they expected during an investigation into a threat allegation against a Lower Sackville man Sunday.
Just before 6 a.m. Sunday, a Clayton Park woman called police to report that she had been threatened by her ex-boyfriend.
During an investigation into the alleged threat, Halifax Regional Police determined that the man both threatened and assaulted the woman.
That led officers to the man inside a Riverside Drive residence in Lower Sackville. Police then obtained a warrant to arrest the man in his home. They executed the warrant at about 5:45 p.m. Sunday.

11-Year Old Girl Repeatedly Subject of Bullying

Threats of death and mutilation, punching, and other physical violence. This is what 3 11-year old boys are doing to one of their classmates in a Halifax school. Worse yet, the school and the police are completely impotent to stop this male terrorism of a little girl. Perhaps even incompetent. Full story available at the Chronicle-Herald by clicking the link.

Mom upset her daughter in same class as her bullies
By JENNIFER MacMILLAN
Sat. Jan 5 - 4:47 AM
When her 11-year-old daughter came home from school last month shaking and crying, Jennifer Martin knew something was seriously wrong.
Ms. Martin said her daughter Jaimie had been bullied since September by three boys in her class at Caudle Park Elementary School in Lower Sackville.
But this time, one look at Jaimie’s tearful face was enough for her mom to know the situation had gone from bad to worse.
"Two of the boys had threatened to shoot her and throw her body out the school window and when it landed on the rocks below, they were going to feed it to animals so there would be no evidence," Ms. Martin said in an interview Friday.
"She’s only in Grade 5. This is ridiculous."
Ms. Martin said that encounter was the last straw. She said she had complained to the school repeatedly about the bullying, but the boys persisted in threatening, punching and pushing Jaimie.

These kids are 11 years old. They are the product of a society that hates women and turns a blind eye to a systemic-level problem. They get a free pass because of their age, and the girl continues to endure their bullying because the school won't take the appropriate actions to remove the boys from her class where they are the problem. A family should not have to relocate their child because they are being victimized by bullies, the bullies should be dealt with by removing them from the class so that they don't have access to tormenting the little girl.

Woman Murdered, Body Kept in Apartment

From today's Chronicle-Herald:

A 37-year-old Dartmouth man and his pregnant 20-year-old girlfriend were charged with first-degree murder Tuesday night in the killing of a Cole Harbour woman.
Desmond Maguire and Ashley Haley were arrested Monday, the day after Jennifer Susanne Horne, 20, was reported missing by her family after she didn’t show up for work at a nursing home. Police issued a missing-person notice Monday.
Mr. Maguire and Ms. Haley are to appear in Dartmouth provincial court this morning.
Ms. Horne was last seen leaving her mother’s Cole Harbour residence alone Saturday night. Police say she was going out for the evening and had returned home briefly to change clothes.

Rest of story here.

There's so little to be said in addition to the article. It is sad, yet another act of femicide committed by a man, apparently with help from another woman. There is a brief story about Jennifer Horne in the Daily News, which is posted below. So much goodwill and promise, stolen from her family, her friends, and the world. As her stepfather said, she did not deserve this.

Victim 'was a really sweet, easy-going, laid-back girl'
BETH JOHNSTON
Jennifer Horne was a quiet, shy girl who had a smile for everyone, even people who didn't deserve it, her friends said yesterday. "She fit in with every group of people, because she was just such a kind heart," former Dartmouth High classmate Jillian Blackman said. "You couldn't not like her. She was a really sweet, easy-going, laid-back girl who was always willing to help anyone."
"She always had a smile on her face. She was really pleasant to be around. She was always really nice to everyone - even, probably, people who didn't deserve it.
"None of us can figure out why this would happen to her." Horne graduated from Dartmouth High School in 2006, and had taken a year off school to work as a dietary aide at a Dartmouth nursing home. That's where she met the man suspected of murdering her.
Two Facebook groups were set up after she went missing Saturday night.She had left her mother's Cole Harbour home, and her family reported her missing when she didn't report for work the next day.
"Jennifer is sadly no longer with us. She was loved very deeply by her family and friends. She was a lovely girl with an amazing smile. We miss her so much," her brother, Iain MacNeil, wrote on the group Help us Find Jennifer Horne.
Horne's stepfather, Gordon Andrews, described her as a kind-hearted animal lover yesterday."She loved her kittens," he said."She was a wonderful girl that didn't deserve to have this happen to her."

Quote of the Day

On the difference between the sum of all fears:

Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood once asked a male friend why men feel threatened by women. He replied: "They are afraid women will laugh at them." She then asked a group of women why they felt threatened by men. They answered: "We're afraid of being killed."

From an essay, by the same authors, in Jill Radford and Diana E. H. Russell, Femicide: The Politics of Woman Killing. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992.

Mi'kmaq Activist Murdered by Grandson

It has been revealed that the woman who led the charge for justice for native people who were abused in residential schools across Canada was murdered by her own grandson. The full story, posted on the Chronicle-Herald website (there is no paper publication today), can be found here.

Police say Mi'kmaq activist Nora Madeline Bernard died last week of blunt force trauma to her face and stab wounds to her upper body, and have charged her grandson with first-degree murder.
James Douglas Gloade, 24, of Millbrook was crying as sheriff's deputies led him into a Truro provincial courtroom for arraignment Monday morning.
Mr. Gloade stared at the floor, occasionally rubbing his bloodshot eyes and face with his hands during the court appearance that lasted two minutes. He didn't speak or enter a plea and will remain in custody until his next court date Jan. 7.
The 72-year-old Ms. Bernard is best known for leading a successful fight for justice and compensation for Indian residential school survivors like herself from across Canada.
Police say her 32-year-old son found her body on the kitchen floor of her Willow Street home in Truro shortly before 3 a.m. last Thursday. He lived with his mother and had returned home after visiting friends.
Truro Police Chief David MacNeil said Ms. Bernard sustained severe trauma and was stabbed with what investigators believe was a knife to the front of her body, around the neck, but he said little else about her injuries.

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Every year in Canada, an average of 74 women are killed by their spouses. There are no figures readily available on the overall number of women murdered by men, but there is a grassroots effort being undertaken to catalogue the names of women who are killed. It is called The Femicide List.