Man of the Year facing dozens of child sex offences
granted bail
Forbes man Lawrence Wilfred Norris has been charged with dozens of historic sexual offences dating back more than 40 years.
Police allege the crimes were committed by the 63-year-old in the Central West.
The alleged assaults involved four female complainants, three of whom say they were under the age of 16 at the time.
Police launched an investigation into reports of historical child sexual abuse in the region in October 2022 and Mr Norris was arrested at a home in Forbes on Wednesday morning.
He has been charged with dozens of offences including sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16, and aggravated sexual assault.
Numerous charges relate to one of the alleged victims.
Better known as "Laurie" by the Forbes community, Mr Norris was named the Forbes Citizen of the Year at the town's Australia Day ceremony in 2022.
He was also the vice-president of the town's show society and spent years teaching horsemanship at the local pony club.
Paedophiles are frequently quite gregarious and very popular.
Mr Norris has been granted bail and will appear in Forbes Local Court next week.
Bail was granted by police with conditions including that the man not contact the alleged victims or prosecution witnesses and that he not be in public without an unknown individual.
Why would they let him out on bail? Does that make sense to anyone? Certainly not me.
City of Saint John ‘vicariously liable’ for police officer’s sexual abuse of children
HALIFAX - Hundreds of sexual abuse survivors in New Brunswick could be eligible for compensation following a decision delivered Thursday by the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed a bid by the City of Saint John to overturn a lower court ruling that found the city vicariously liable for the sexual abuse of children by a member of the Saint John Police Force. The Supreme Court of Canada building is seen in Ottawa, on Thursday, June 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin TangHALIFAX - Hundreds of sexual abuse survivors in New Brunswick could be eligible for compensation following a decision delivered Thursday by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Canada’s highest court dismissed a bid by the City of Saint John to overturn a ruling that found the city bears some responsibility for the sexual abuse of children by a member of its police force who served between 1953 and 1975.
As is its practice, the court did not give reasons to justify its decision not to hear the case.
“It is a final decision that the city is now on the hook and is responsible for compensating every single … child that (the police officer) abused while he was a cop in Saint John,” Halifax lawyer John McKiggan said in an interview.
“This has been going on for 11 years because the city has denied their responsibility every step of the way.”
A spokesperson for the city issued a brief statement Thursday, saying officials had just heard about the decision and were “getting advice on next steps.”
Later that year, Saint John resident Robert Hayes, who is now 65, filed a class-action lawsuit alleging he had been sexually assaulted when he was a boy by Estabrooks, who died in 2005. In his statement of claim, Hayes accused the city, the police force and the police commission of failing to act to prevent the abuse in order to protect their reputations.
A key question in the case was whether the city could be held vicariously liable, meaning it was responsible for the actions of someone under its authority.
In March 2023, New Brunswick’s Court of King’s Bench decided the city was not vicariously liable for harm caused by the police officer, but that decision was overturned by the province’s Court of Appeal in September 2023. That’s when the city filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
McKiggan, who represents Hayes, said case law prior to the offences in question held that municipalities were not vicariously liable for the actions of officers while carrying out their duties.
McKiggan said the provincial Court of Appeal was aware none of the abuse happened while Estabrooks was actually doing his job, but the three-judge panel decided the city was partly responsible for his actions because it had granted him the authority of a police officer.
“They put him in a position of authority over these children, and he used that authority … to sexually abuse children,” McKiggan said in an interview Thursday.
He said his client was thrilled with the decision.
“He was over the moon today,” the lawyer said. “He’s never wavered in his determination to follow this through to the very end.”
McKiggan said the city has the option of negotiating a compensation package or insisting that each survivor appear in court for an individual damages assessment, which could take years to complete.
Allegations against Estabrooks first surfaced in 1975 when he was a 22-year veteran of the Saint John Police Force, and he resigned that year when confronted with sexual abuse allegations from two teenage boys.
Court heard Estabrooks confessed to his superiors about the assaults, but instead of laying criminal charges, the city transferred him to a job with the public works department, where he continued to sexually abuse children. The lower court found the city vicariously liable for Estabrooks’s actions as a public works employee.
“He had confessed to abusing these kids, so they knew he was an abuser,” McKiggan said.
In 1999, Estabrooks was convicted of indecently assaulting four young people between 1957 and 1982 and he was sentenced to six years in prison.
Man charged with dozens of sex crimes against
more than 30 kids aged between 1 and 17
A 47-year-old man has been charged with dozens of child sex offences involving more than 30 victims.
Richard Dyke, who was first arrested in November 2023 in connection with sexual crimes against three boys aged under 12, has been charged with 60 more offences involving 29 more victims.
Police in Saskatchewan said a home daycare was operated out of Dyke’s residence.
“Some of the victims” came into contact with the Assiniboia man through that daycare, the RCMP confirmed today.
As I have warned dozens of times on this blog, please do not put your children in a daycare where men or teenage boys are likely to be present. Men have no business with other people's children and more often than not, have an ulterior motive for being there. It's just not worth the risk.
The offences took place between 2005 and 2023 in various communities, including Tisdale, Estevan, Assiniboia, Coronach, Gravelbourg and Swift Current.
All the victims were aged between 18 months and 17 years, police said. Most were boys.
Police said Dyke was also an instructor with the Royal Canadian Air Cadets in “several communities” across southern Saskatchewan.
Dyke “primarily interacted with youth” on the program he taught, but police said no victims have been identified in connection with the Cadets.
“The nature of these types of crimes is devastating for both the victims and their families,” said C/Supt. Ted Munro in a news release.
“We will meticulously investigate these crimes and use a victim-led approach, as these young victims navigate this extremely difficult situation. Our ultimate goal is to bring justice for these children, their families, and communities affected by this.”
Police said they’d analyzed more than 1.5 million pieces of evidence they’re classing as “child sexual abuse material” seized from electronic devices in November.
The new charges brought against Dyke include:
14 counts of sexual assault
14 counts of sexual interference
9 counts of voyeurism
23 counts of making child pornography
Those charges are in addition to 13 others that were laid in November.
Dyke has been in custody since his arrest in November.
Saskatchewan’s education minister, Jeremy Cockrill, said in November that the home daycare at Dyke’s residence was put on hold when police laid the first set of charges.
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