thestar.com
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Mar. 16, 2005. 11:07 AM
Labrador man get 7 years for 'animalistic' abuse
FROM CANADIAN PRESS
HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, Nfld. — A man who tortured and sexually assaulted a teenage girl he held captive for three weeks in Labrador has been sentenced to seven years in prison, CBC reported today.
In sentencing the 22-year-old man, provincial court Judge William English described the attacks as animalistic in nature.
The court heard the man shot his girlfriend with a pellet gun, beat her daily and sexually assaulted her in a tent outside the newly built community of Natuashish in northern Labrador.
The girl was hurt so badly her mother could not recognize her.
The man, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, pleaded guilty last June to five charges, including aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, unlawful confinement and two counts of breach of probation.
English said the man, who suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, desperately needs help.
The judge said he took that into consideration, along with the fact he is, like many youth in the community, addicted to sniffing gasoline fumes.
The case renewed questions about the remote Innu community of Natuashish, where residents of Davis Inlet relocated just two years ago.
Davis Inlet gained international notoriety in 1993 when news broadcasts showed children sniffing gas in an unheated shack, screaming that they wanted to die. The footage shocked the rest of Canada and the world about conditions in the dilapidated shantytown where most of the nearly 700 residents lived without running water or electricity.
Even in a community where alcoholism, neglect and sexual abuse are rampant, the girl's ordeal shocked residents and police.
She was never reported missing.
Police weren't notified until the girl was discovered beaten and with broken bones at her family home.
Social workers had been involved with the girl and an internal investigation was ordered into her case. The provincial child advocate also began an investigation.
No reports have been issued.
The girl is now living in a foster home in Ontario, according to CBC.
English said the girl experienced shocking neglect, and that people knew she was spending time with a man who had a lengthy criminal record.
The judge said it is a shame there is no treatment program available to people diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome disorders, which afflict babies whose mothers drink alcohol during pregnancy.
Experts believe as many as 60 per cent of the children in Natuashish may be affected to some degree by fetal alcohol disorders.
Lloyd Strickland, the senior Crown attorney for Labrador, told CBC that fetal alcohol disorders are playing an enormous part in criminal justice in Labrador.
"We've dealt with a number of cases of extreme violence where the issue and diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome were raised," he said.
"I'm not an expert in the field, but if it does indeed lead people to engage in acts of extreme violence, the costs are enormous." |
