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Canada pledges investigation into why rape victim was held in jail with attacker
Source: The Guardian
Canada pledges investigation into why rape victim was held in jail with attacker
• Woman, who later died in unrelated shooting, attacked by convicted offender
• Alberta’s justice minister says ‘facts of this case are disturbing and tragic’
Ashifa Kassam in Toronto
Tuesday 6 June 2017 18.04 BST
Canadian authorities have launched an investigation after it emerged that a sex assault complainant in Alberta was shackled and detained in the same jail as her attacker – and even transported to court with him in the same prison van – in order to ensure she would testify.
“The facts of this case are disturbing and tragic, and when you add in the treatment of the victim in the system, they are almost incomprehensible,” said Kathleen Ganley, Alberta’s justice minister. “What is clear is that both policies and people failed in this case.”
The case stems back to a 2014 attack in the city of Edmonton. The First Nations woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was homeless at the time and was sleeping in the stairwell of an apartment when she was woken by a man holding a knife at her throat.
The man – a convicted sexual offender – dragged her by the hair up the stairs to his apartment, she told the court. As she attempted to fight off the sexual assault, she said she was stabbed repeatedly. She managed to call for help, and first responders found her covered in knife wounds and bruises where the man had tried to choke her.
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• Woman, who later died in unrelated shooting, attacked by convicted offender
• Alberta’s justice minister says ‘facts of this case are disturbing and tragic’
Ashifa Kassam in Toronto
Tuesday 6 June 2017 18.04 BST
Canadian authorities have launched an investigation after it emerged that a sex assault complainant in Alberta was shackled and detained in the same jail as her attacker – and even transported to court with him in the same prison van – in order to ensure she would testify.
“The facts of this case are disturbing and tragic, and when you add in the treatment of the victim in the system, they are almost incomprehensible,” said Kathleen Ganley, Alberta’s justice minister. “What is clear is that both policies and people failed in this case.”
The case stems back to a 2014 attack in the city of Edmonton. The First Nations woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was homeless at the time and was sleeping in the stairwell of an apartment when she was woken by a man holding a knife at her throat.
The man – a convicted sexual offender – dragged her by the hair up the stairs to his apartment, she told the court. As she attempted to fight off the sexual assault, she said she was stabbed repeatedly. She managed to call for help, and first responders found her covered in knife wounds and bruises where the man had tried to choke her.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/06/alberta-sexual-assault-victim-jail-investigation
