Ottawa Woman Racked with Guilt, Anger After Police Returned Boy to Abusive Parents

'He wasn't lying. He was telling the truth and he was asking for help, and the help wasn't there'

By Laurie Fagan, CBC News 

    The woman, who lives about a block from the boy's Ottawa home, can't be named in order to
    protect his identity. (Laurie Fagan/CBC)

Five years after a gaunt, fearful, nine-year-old boy showed up on her doorstep, an Ottawa woman says she still struggles with feelings of guilt that she could have done more to protect him from his abusive parents, and anger with police for sending him back to them to endure months of gruesome torture and neglect.

The woman, a former neighbour who can't be identified to protect the boy's identity, testified at the trial of his father — a suspended RCMP officer — and his stepmother.

"It makes me sickened to my stomach that this could have been prevented, and I include myself in this," the woman told CBC News.

On Nov. 21, the 45-year-old Mountie was found guilty of aggravated assault, sexual assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessities of life. The boy's 38-year-old stepmother was found guilty of assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessities of life.

"I will be haunted by this, and I am culpable as well. I didn't follow up and I trusted the police, I trusted the system, but he still had to endure all those horrors."

Signs of abuse, neglect

Gut-wrenching evidence presented at the couple's trial showed the boy, who's now 14, was beaten, sexually assaulted with a BBQ lighter, shackled and starved. 

'His eyes — you could see the fear and sadness in his eyes, and as a mother it was terrifying to see that. You never want to see that in a child's face.'

The boy, who lived near the woman, showed up at her home on a cold day in November 2011 wearing just a T-shirt and jeans. Her daughter, who was a classmate of the boy's, answered the door and came sobbing to her mother in the kitchen, "Mommy we have to adopt him because his parents aren't nice to him," the woman recalled.

The woman, a mother of three, brought the boy inside and gave him two pieces of cake and a glass of milk. As he ate he explained that his father made him do hundreds of pushups as punishment for lying or not finishing his homework, and if he didn't complete them he didn't eat.

The boy lifted his shirt so the woman could see his stomach.    

"I could see his ribcage. I could see his sunken stomach, and all the red on his stomach and forearms looked like carpet burns," said the woman. "There was also red ligature marks on his wrists."      

She questioned the boy about the marks, but he wouldn't tell her how he got them.

"His eyes — you could see the fear and sadness in his eyes, and as a mother it was terrifying to see that. You never want to see that in a child's face," said the woman, tears welling in her eyes.

Police returned boy to abusive home

She and her husband decided to call 911, and when police arrived they told them the boy's parents had also called to report him missing.

The woman said the boy sat in her lap and held her hand tightly as he told the two police officers about the mistreatment he suffered at home. She recalled how tiny and frail he felt.

    CBC Ottawa's Laurie Fagan interviews the woman, who can't be identified, in her home.
    (Jean Delisle/CBC)

She said she was shocked when the female officer barked at the boy, "Do you know if you are lying your father could go to jail?"

"You want maternal, you want kind, and the child hadn't eaten in two days, and you're defending the father?" the woman recalled thinking. "I said to her, 'He's not on trial here! He's the victim!'"

In her testimony during the couple's trial, the woman recalled the boy telling the officer, "I don't want my dad to go to jail."

The officers thanked the woman and said they were taking the boy home, about a block away.

She said she'll never forget the image of the boy walking with the police officers to their cruiser, pleading, "I don't want to go! I don't want to go!"

"I was heartbroken. I told the boy, 'Trust the police. They will take care of you.'"

Within an hour the male police officer returned and told her everything was fine, and said there was lots of food on the boy's family's kitchen table. The officer told her the boy and his father had a "little argument," but said the boy was in a "healthy, happy home."

Visit from stepmother

The next day the boy's stepmother showed up at the woman's house and told her the boy was bipolar and hadn't been taking his medication. The woman described the stepmother's behaviour as "odd" and lacking empathy for the boy.

    The boy's father, a suspended RCMP officer, and stepmother were found guilty of a number
    of crimes on Nov. 21, 2016. (Courtroom sketches by Sarah Wallace)

A few days later, still feeling uneasy, the woman went to see the principal at her daughter's school to share her suspicions about the boy's mistreatment, but a short time later the boy switched schools.

In February 2013, 15 months after the boy's visit to the woman's home, she was in her car when she heard a radio newscast that described police finding a nude boy wandering down an Ottawa street.

"They said the street name and all of a sudden my heart sank and I said, no, it cannot be, and to my horror it was. I was shaking and crying. I said to myself, 'You should have made some calls.' What do you do? What do you do?"

The woman immediately called police and told them what had happened more than a year earlier when the boy came to her door.

'He was telling the truth'

"There were signs that no one followed up on. If there was followup, the horrors that he had to endure, he wouldn't have had to endure."

"He wasn't lying. He was telling the truth and he was asking for help, and the help wasn't there."

The woman said she was pleased with the verdicts in the boy's parents' trial, but she believes police haven't been held accountable for their role. She said she'd like to speak with the two officers who returned the boy to his home.

"I would love to have that conversation with them and say, 'I know what I should have done. Do you accept the responsibility of what you should have done?'"

Ottawa police did not provide anyone for an interview, but in an emailed statement Monday, Supt. Don Sweet told CBC News the 2013 investigation that led to the charges against the boy's parents "considered all information — including the 2011 event when police responded to a call for service related to a missing persons file. It is the opinion of the OPS that the information, as presented in 2011, was investigated appropriately."

Police should be required to inform social services who should be required to investigate any accusation of child abuse. This was a big-time failure by Ottawa police; the boy's pain and suffering over the last year or so is their fault.

Ottawa Mountie On Trial for Abusing Son Was Sexually Abused as Child

By Laurie Fagan, CBC News 

An Ottawa Mountie (left) and the victim's stepmother (right) were charged in February 2013 with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessaties of life in what investigators called "the worst case of abuse" they'd seen. (Courtroom sketches by Sarah Wallace)

An Ottawa Mountie on trial for the severe abuse of his son testified today that he was himself sexually assaulted as a boy growing up in Lebanon. 

Both the man, now 44, and the victim's stepmother were charged in February 2013 with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessaties of life in what investigators called "the worst case of abuse" they'd seen.

The woman is also charged with assaulting the child with a weapon, while the man is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and assault with a firearm.

Both have plead not guilty. Neither accused can be named in order to protect the identity of the victim, who was 11 when the charges were laid.

The trial resumed today after being adjourned last fall.

Abused by neighbour, teacher

The man told the court that when he was eight, a boy living next door to him in Beruit assaulted him repeatedly over a one-year period.  

The man claimed he was later assaulted by another man, and again by a trusted teacher at the school where the accused worked with his father. 

"I was ashamed and embarrassed," the Mountie told the court.

The man, who is suspended without pay from the RCMP, recalled exact details of the sexual assaults, but remained composed during his testimony.

He said the abuse happened against a backdrop of civil war in Lebanon, with bombs exploding continually around the home he shared with his parents and five siblings.

"This becomes your reality," the man told the court. "Is the next [bomb] coming down on your head? That's how I lived."

"My life is no longer the same," he said. "I grew up asking why am I being targeted ... I lived with the guilt, shame and anger inside of me for the whole time."

So, you decided to make your son a target and fill him with guilt, shame and anger! Good goin'.

Nightmares continued

The man told the court he experienced nightmares about both the bombings and the sexual assaults for years, even after he came to Canada.

His lawyer, Robert Carew, asked him if the assaults played a role in his relationship with his son, now 14.

In addition to the sexual assaults he said he endured in Lebanon, the man told the court he witnessed another boy about his age performing indecent acts on children in his neighbourhood.

The man likened his own son to the boy he said he witnessed abusing other children. He said his son was "indecent in his touching" of other children, and said the boy had been caught peeking under stalls in a girls' washroom.

Good grief!

Asked by defence counsel asked if he thought his son was exhibiting sexual predatory behavior, the man replied: "Morally, he was dead to me."

The man also testified that while preparing for his entrance exams for the RCMP — a process that included a psychological test — an officer cautioned him against mentioning his ongoing nightmares related to his childhood in Lebanon.

Last fall the court saw a video of the man's son, naked and restrained in the basement of the family home. 

Testimony resumes Tuesday. This portion of the trial is scheduled for two weeks.

Disturbing Video of a Child Being Assaulted - Possibly by His Dad

This is a very disturbing video of the physical abuse of a small child by what appears to be his dad or step-dad. It's hard to believe there are people like this out there, but, unfortunately, there are way too many of them.

Some people think they have a right to assault their own children; they don't! This man needs to be found and arrested and not allowed near children again.

Apparently the incident took place on March 20, 2015, according to the video itself. I have no idea where the video was taken. If you know anything about this then please report it to your nearest police station and/or child welfare office.

Watch the video here if you think you can stand it.

I don't know if it is more disturbing that the man is not out-of-control, but appears to be completely in control. If he were out-of-control he would have anger management issues, but this appears as though he has no concern for the feelings of the child whatsoever. 

Rape Suspect Beaten and Lynched by Vigilante Mob in India

The brutal gang rape of a student in 2012 in Delhi
triggered street protests across India [AFP]

A rape suspect was forced out of a jail and lynched by a mob in northeastern India, local reports said, with anger raging over the high rate of sexual violence in the country.

The man, who stood accused of raping a woman multiple times and was arrested on February 24, was dragged out of the prison in Nagaland state before being beaten to death and strung up, according to media reports.

Syed Farid Khan, 35, was arrested for allegedly raping a Naga woman repeatedly on February 23. Khan belonged to Assam and worked as a dealer of used cars. He was suspected to be a Bangladeshi national.

"A mass protest rally against the rape was held at Dimapur (Nagaland's main commercial town) this morning after which students and angry people forced into the district jail and managed to pull out the accused," the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Another report said that the crowd started marching towards the jail from a location almost seven kilometres (four miles) away.

The Hindustan Times newspaper said the crowd "tore down two gates and took custody" of the suspect, before dragging him to the town's landmark clock tower.

Stripped naked
The suspect was then stripped naked, beaten and his body was strung up to the tower, the newspaper said.

"The situation is very tense," town police superintendent Meren Jamir told the Hindustan Times. "We are trying our very best to restore order."

India is already in midst of a raging controversy over a government order to ban the broadcast of a documentary about the December 2012 gang-rape of a young student.

The incident, which sparked outrage both within India and around the world, highlighted the frightening level of violence against women in the world's second most populous country.

The Indian government has also asked video-sharing website YouTube to block access to the documentary, claiming that its broadcast violated certain key agreements with the filmmaker.

Ruins in Dimapur