Good morning, I’m Jeannie Quinn. I’m a survivor of 19 years of various types
of domestic abuse. I experienced child molestation, rape and sexual assault.
I’m speaking to you today about how charges are laid and about the leniency
of sentences served by judges on perpetrators of domestic and sexual
violence against women. I’ve attended every type of Court except the
Supreme Court of Canada and feel the justice system is both difficult and
disappointing. We need to see changes in sentencing to fit the crime, in
particular, for perpetrators who sexually and physically abuse their partners.
From my own experiences with the police and Court systems, I wish to
describe three incidents, the first in May of 1989, the second in Dec. of
1989 and the third in June of 1992.
Prior to leaving in May of 1989, my ex–husband had threatened to get a gun
and shoot me, tried to hit me with a chair and also punched me. My first
experience with the Justice system was in Nov. 1989 after I Ieft. I felt I needed
a peace bond but on talking with the District Attorney, he suggested I go to the
Justice of the Peace who laid charges. I went to Provincial Court on the
designated date in Nov. only to find out he had not yet been served. Police
Officers hadn’t served the warrant because it was not a high priority case.
Through the assistance of the Victim Witness Assistance Program, the O.P.P.
finally took on the case. It went to Court in June of 1990, more than a year
later. He was fined $500, put on probation for three years and had a
restraining order. A very small sentence for what he did.
The next incident involved him smashing down my door in Dec. of 1989.
When he finally got to me and my daughter, he punched me until the O.P.P.
arrived. As well, he tried to hang my head on a hook and uttered threats. He
was charged and convicted of assault, uttering threats and committing
mischief. The Provincial Division Court judge sentenced him to 3 months in jail
and probation for three years. For those of you who may not know it, they
serve one-third of their sentence then go to a half-way house. His lawyer
arranged to have the case heard in February of 1990 so that he would not
have a previous record. The previous case from May of 1989 had not yet
come to trial so he had no prior convictions. I was disappointed and angry at
the justice system because the sentence was minimal.
In June 1992, just 10 days after his probation ended, I arrived home to see him
there. I didn’t pull in the driveway. He had already warped the door of my
daughter’s car, confined her to his car and he was in the process of breaking
my dining room window with his bare fists when I arrived. My daughter ran
out, got into my car and we took off. We could see his car behind us, speeding
up, getting closer and closer. I said to my daughter “he’s going to ram us but
we’ll be okay”. Next thing we knew, the car was hit and we were flying across
a busy highway. We made it across the highway, through a ditch, a fence, part
of a field and hit a tree. We were okay so we got out. I could see him coming
after us so I sent her one way and I went towards the fence to try and get
help. As I was climbing the fence, my ex caught up to me, pulled me off, threw
me on the ground and started punching me in the head. He noticed someone
coming so ran to his car and sped off. He went to the States for a week and
was then seen in Kingston. After a several hour standoff, he finally gave
himself up. He was charged with assault, negligent driving and mischief. I
thought the police would charge him with much more than that. They told
me that charges are laid in a manner to support a conviction. At General
Division Court (the Federal level), he was sentenced to 4 months in addition to
the 35 days he spent in custody and probation. The judge indicated during the
trial that Victim Impact Statements don’t bear much weight with him. The
judge also felt that he didn’t want him to lose his job which would happen if
he didn’t report to work the next day so he put him in a half-way house right
away. The Crown Attorney decided to appeal the decision. In the fall I went
to Toronto to the Appeal Court. I was alone and had no time with the
attorney representing me. He presented the case. There were three judges.
They finally came to a decision. The two older judges wanted to support the
original sentence and the younger one thought it should be 2 years. To this
day I feel that he should have been charged with at least attempted
manslaughter since he rammed us into a heavily trafficked road. The sentence
definitely did not fit the crime in this case. He served only 35 days and then
was on probation.
One need only look at the Jian Ghomeshi case to see how sentencing is not
fair. He sexually assaulted several women who were not believed by the
judge. Another woman brought charges against him and this trial resulted in
him giving her an apology and signing a peace bond. This is not fair
judgement for what that woman went through and will probably go through
for some time in terms of health problems.
Another example was Jordan Holmes of Kingston, who was convicted of
assault with a weapon, failing to attend court and violating a condition of
release. He was given a 60-day intermittent sentence to serve on weekends
and probation for one year. It was a very light sentence for that kind of crime.
Trinity Bailey-Boya, was convicted of assault and criminal harassment. He was
given a 15-month conditional sentence to serve in the community and
probation for 12 months.
Laura Szabadka was convicted of assault. Her sentence was suspended and
she was placed on probation for 15 months.
Brock Turner sexually assaulted a young woman and doesn’t have to do jail
time because the victim can’t remember anything as she was unconscious at
the time. As well he has a chance to go on as a swimmer in the Olympics so
his career would be jeopardized. What kind of justice is that?
To show the ludicrousness of sentences, Jeff Perry was convicted of stealing
$5.18 worth of butter and whipped cream. He was given enhanced credit on
six days of pretrial custody and sentenced to a further 21 days in jail.
Which is worse: being beaten, your life threatened, your body violated, or
theft of butter and whipped cream? You can replace “things” but you can’t
replace the violation of your body when you’re beaten or your body is
desecrated. It takes years of counselling and health care to get over these
types of offences. Proper sentencing as well as early education, could reduce
the number of these cases that we are seeing in the news all the time. Most
women don’t come forward because of the way they’re treated in Court and
the insubstantial sentencing.
All but the last example, show that assaults and sexual violence are not being
dealt with appropriately.
In Conclusion, charges by Police need to be more effectively laid to ensure
that the maximum sentence occurs. Their reports need more detail because
the Judge bases part of his decision on the report. We need Judges who are
willing to apply the maximum sentence to perpetrators of partner abuse or
sexual violence. It’s definitely time that the laws change and deal with abuse
and sexual violence cases differently than they do currently. Just because we
know the person, does not mean we should be treated unfairly by the Justice
system. In that effort, I’m here today. I’m Chair of Kingston Anti-Violence
Advisory Council and Kingston Chapter of Womenatthecentre. We work
towards filling the gaps and loopholes in services and finding solutions to fix
them. We are hoping, in some way, that speaking out, doing Court Watches
and advocacy, that we can bring about much needed change. I hope you will
pass on this information and do some advocacy so sentencing is more justly
applied and laws changed to see partner abuse and sexual violence sentences
being applied appropriately. I hope I’ve been an inspiration and that you will
go forward, energized, encouraged and willing to help bring about these much
needed changes by advocating, writing or talking to your MPP or any other
government official or adding your voice to all of us survivors, screaming for
change.