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Civil suit alleges 2 Victoria real estate agents drugged and
sexually assaulted their client
Erica Johnson · CBC News · Posted: Oct 03, 2021 8:00 PM ET | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details
It's a secret she says she held close for almost three years — what happened the night she says she was sexually assaulted by two Victoria real estate agents she'd hired to sell her house.
"I tried my very best to just kind of put everything away and move forward," she told Go Public. The woman — who CBC News is not naming because she's an alleged victim of sexual assault — is in her 30s.
Sitting in the Vancouver office of her lawyer, she says the assault took a toll on her mental health and she wants accountability — so she's filing a civil claim to get it.
She alleges that in August 2018 her real estate agents, Bowman Rutledge and Andy Rogers, lured her to the Victoria office of the luxury real estate agency Engel & Völkers Vancouver Island, where the assault happened. The company is also named in the lawsuit.
She decided to sue, she says, after first reaching out to Victoria police.
Bowman Rutledge, left, and Andy Rogers, seen here in a marketing photo from 2016, were a real estate team at the time of the alleged assault. (Facebook)
"The experience was awful," she said. "It was … traumatic and not handled with care or compassion at all."
She said officers she spoke with showed a lack of experience and did not seem to understand the trauma she'd been through.
A Victoria police spokesperson said he couldn't speak to the specifics of her case, but did say "patrol officers are all trained in responding to sexualized violence" and that "survivors … have the right to tell their story, when, where and to whom they choose."
The lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia last week.
Victims of sexual assault appear to increasingly be pursuing justice through avenues other than criminal proceedings — such as civil claims and social media — says Kat Owens, project director at the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund.
Experts have estimated that only about five per cent of women report sexual assaults to the police and, of those cases, only about 11 per cent lead to convictions.
That means 2.2% of sexual assaulters are convicted. Is it any wonder why women don't go to the police? There are third-world countries with better results than these. Our far-left, feminist government doesn't seem to be helping this situation at all. For sure they are not helping the child sex abuse atrocity, they have done nothing in six years to protect children.
Barriers like the fear of being blamed or not believed, fear of retaliation, and concerns over retraumatization are among the reasons for this.
Owens says survivors still want accountability.
"They're not getting it through the criminal justice system and so, through that frustration, they're seeking alternatives," she said.
What's in the lawsuit
The civil statement of claim says the plaintiff agreed to meet Rutledge for a drink at a local bar to celebrate the sale of her house. When she arrived outside the bar, says the claim, Rogers was also there.
It alleges that before going for a drink, two men said they had to stop off at their real estate office to do some paperwork. Once there, says the claim, they "offered the plaintiff a glass of wine which they had drugged."
The lawsuit goes into graphic detail about how Rogers performed sexual acts on her, while Rutledge masturbated near her face.
Go Public contacted the men about the civil suit, but neither responded.
Neither of the accused men has been criminally charged and the allegations have not been tested in court.
The owner of Engel & Volkers Vancouver Island, Scott Piercy, said in a statement, "We remain a dedicated, professional and ethical team of licenced advisers and these allegations do not represent who we are. Any form of sexual misconduct is wholly unacceptable and will not be tolerated within our industry or our community."
There is more to this story on CBC News.
Canada's sexual misconduct mess involving its top generals just got worse.
Move to assign general who supported sex offender to role
reviewing sexual misconduct 'tone deaf': survivors
Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe gave positive character reference to a convicted sex offender
Ashley Burke, Nick Boisvert ·
CBC News ·
Posted: Oct 04, 2021 8:45 PM ET | Last Updated: 9 hours ago
Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe wrote a positive character reference to a judge ahead of a sentencing hearing for a soldier found guilty of sexually assaulting the wife of a fellow soldier. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)
Survivors of sexual assault and former soldiers say the Canadian Armed Forces needs to explain why it has assigned a senior leader who once wrote a positive reference letter for a sex offender to a role helping the military respond to sexual misconduct reviews.
Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe has been tasked with reviewing recommendations from an ongoing external review into military sexual misconduct by former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour.
In 2017, Dawe submitted positive character references to a judge ahead of the sentencing of Maj. Jonathan Hamilton, who earlier that year was found guilty of sexually assaulting a retired military officer and physically assaulting her husband.
"The main feeling behind it is just one of confusion and surprise and shock," said Annalise Schamuhn who was sexually assaulted by Hamilton.
"The people who are genuinely hurting, who have lost a lot of faith in the system, they can look at this and just see how potentially tone-deaf it comes across."
The military is in the midst of a sexual misconduct crisis, with several senior leaders on leave with pay amid allegations. Canada's former top military commander, retired general Jonathan Vance, is charged with one count of obstruction of justice in relation to an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct that he denies. His successor, Admiral Art McDonald, was placed on leave amid an investigation into sexual misconduct claims that he denies and which didn't lead to criminal charges.
Megan MacKenzie, a professor at Simon Fraser University who studies military culture, said Dawe's appointment has sowed fresh doubt over the forces' ability to clean up misconduct within its ranks.
"I don't even know if I have the right words to express how disgusted and disappointed I am," said MacKenzie. "I have very low expectations at this point, quite frankly — but even for my low expectations, it's so disappointing," MacKenzie said.
"There is no rationale for putting someone in this position other than doubling down and showing the defence force is going to protect their own, they're going to protect their senior leaders."
The federal government announced in April that Arbour would lead an external review into sexual assault and misconduct within the military. It is one of three external reviews into the military that Dawe is reviewing, according to the defence department.
'Reviewing, compiling and collating' recommendations
The Department of National Defence (DND) did not issue a media release or make any announcement about Dawe's appointment. News of Dawe's position reviewing the recommendations was first reported by the Ottawa Citizen.
I wonder who appointed Dawe for this mission? Probably someone who didn't like him.
CBC News has also confirmed that he has returned to work and been tasked with "reviewing, collating and compiling recommendations from each of the military's external reviews.
"This work will enable decision-making and help ensure these recommendations are implemented in a timely, deliberate manner," wrote DND spokeperson Daniel Le Bouthillier in a statement.
Dawe had been on paid leave since May, after CBC News reported on the Schamuhns' case. Division and anger had mounted in the ranks after the acting chief of defence staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, allowed Dawe to continue working. Eyre later apologized for his handling of the case and placed Dawe on leave.
A spokesperson for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said he didn't make the decision, the acting chief of defence staff did.
Did Sajjan order the A/CDS to make the decision? That would be in his character, I suspect.
"The Acting Chief of Defence Staff has decided that Maj.-Gen. Dawe return to work, reporting directly to the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, [Lt.-Gen.] Frances Allen," wrote Sajjan's press secretary Daniel Minden who added that the government remains committed to a complete institutional change.
I can tell you where it should start!
Risks 'corroding' recent work
Dawe himself has not yet responded to a request for comment from CBC News.
Kevin Schamuhn, the husband of Annalise Schamuhn and a retired major, said the military needs to offer a complete explanation of the decision to choose Dawe for the role. Schamuhn served in Dawe's chain of command when he wrote the letter.
"I think that absent an explanation, the military's at risk of losing even more credibility on this issue," he said.
Kevin Schamuhn said he has been encouraged by some recent efforts to address sexual misconduct in the military, which Dawe's appointment could undermine.
"This decision that we found out about today, it risks causing a lot of damage and corroding a lot of the work that has been done in recent months," he said.
Support group says survivors have lost trust in Dawe
Leah West, who also experienced sexual assault during her 10-year military career, said she too was surprised by his new role.
"I think to just put him in this position without any kind of explanation or any kind of statement from him, without why he feels that he's overcome those blind spots or is now the right person for this job, is somewhat tone-deaf," said West, who is now an assistant professor of international affairs at Carleton University.
Leah West, who served for 10 years in the Canadian military, said Eyre should explain his decision
to put Dawe in this new role. (Submitted by Leah West)
West said she knows Dawe from the past and believes he is someone who could have taken the last several months and reflected on his actions and how they hurt victims of sexual assault. She suspects he's taken those lessons aboard but said without an explanation the move doesn't send confidence to sexual assault survivors that the military is listening.
Dawe apologized in April to the members under his command for failing Annalise Schamuhn and Kevin Schamuhn who was under his chain of command at the time of the incident.
A peer support group for those who've experienced military sexual trauma — called It's Not Just 700 — said Dawe's new role "further erodes trust."
"As a community, we have no choice but to wonder how [Maj.-Gen.] Dawe can possibly make unbiased report recommendations," wrote the group's co-chair Sam Samplonious.
"The plethora of messages we have received, and tweets posted indicate that he does not have the trust of those still serving, and he certainly does not have the trust of those that have been traumatized from military sexual misconduct."
UPDATE Oct 6th, 2021
General Dawe was removed from this assignment after the outcry. The question is, can they find a general in the Canadian military with clean hands?
Trudeau announced today that the military 'just doesn't get it'! He who, as I said above, has done nothing to improve the horrendous child sex abuse epidemic in Canada, and the 'rape culture' in universities and the military, and he who had a paedophile for a roommate in West Vancouver - he gets it???!!
Two teenage hockey players arrested over accusations of sexual
assault and imagery of a teenage girl at a team party at a hotel
5 Oct, 2021 22:35
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0
Two teenage hockey players have been formally charged in Canada over a sexual assault they allegedly carried out, with one of the youngsters accused of sharing images from the reported incident during a team party at a hotel.
Nicolas Daigle and teammate Massimo Siciliano, who have since turned 19, allegedly attacked a teenage girl in Lac-Beauport in June, with their reported accuser said to have filed a report the following day accompanied by her parents.
Daigle faces a further two charges of sharing images of his alleged victim.
The pair play for the Victoriaville Tigres in Quebec's Major Junior Hockey League, with an investigation by TVA Nouvelles revealing they had been arrested as their team celebrated a President's Cup win.
The reported incident occurred at the Entourage-sur-le-Lac hotel, where a commemorative party is said to have been taking place.
Reacting to news of the charges, the Tigres revealed that they had been informed of the incident a day before the arrests, with no measures or suspensions yet announced.
"The organization is currently in close contact with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), in order to learn the details of the charges and the status of the players in the circuit," the club said in a statement.
"The Victoriaville Tigers take these accusations very seriously and will continue to cooperate with the authorities in this matter."
The QMJHL has indicated that it is taking the accusations seriously and will require 48 hours to assess the case before deciding the two players' fates. There was outrage among some when the pair took part in the Tigres' early pre-season games.
Roxanne Ocampo Picard, from a local group supporting victims of assault, claimed that the decision to allow the duo to train was "symptomatic" of a "culture". "That is to say, it trivializes or tolerates [alleged] sexual assault," she told TVA Nouvelles.
Other critics have accused the sport of failing to respond appropriately when sexual assault allegations are made.
Lac-Beauport, Qc
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