It took me a long time to do this blog. Mainly because until recently, I had no proof that I wasn't guilty of the crime that I was accused of. How does one accused of rape prove himself innocent? Especially given our system which is geared to believe female accusers. Even when there is circumstantial evidence proving the female in question is an established false accuser of physical assault, rape, and child molestation. In fact, my accuser has made two previous accusations of child molestation, including once against her grandfather. This is a system set up to automatically demonize men for being men. Men are less credible simply by virtue of being men. Our society, along with our justice system, silently adopts the viewpoint that men are all simply rapists in waiting.
Case in point, when the results of the DNA tests came out completely exonerating me of this crime, (refer to "), I thought to myself;
"Okay, they are going to see this for what it is." -WRONG! I asked my lawyer;
"See, I told you what these results would say! When can I get out of here?" My then attorney explained to me;
"Well, it's a funny thing, DNA. They are just going to say that just because there is no DNA evidence, it doesn't mean it didn't happen."
-?! This is what he actually told me! He then went on to say;
"It were almost better if she were dead, because then you would be cleared". I was in shock! This made absolutely no sense to me. Understandably, I was furious.
"Surely this cannot be ignored?!" I asked. He replied simply;
"Well, it will only help you at trial because it raises the question of the lack of DNA where one would reasonably assume that if such an event took place, DNA should be there." What a genius! Unbelievable! It's as if DNA evidence can only HURT your case. It will either prove you guilty, or create a real head scratcher.
Under Canadian law, they will not risk further victimizing my accuser by suggesting or even asking her if she is not telling the truth. Irregardless of the fact that if indeed she is lying, I am the de-facto victim in this ordeal, and she is the perpetrator. The mathematical likelihood of that DNA evidence being wrong is staggering! Borderline inconceivable! Even if I were the most evil and intelligent man in history and somehow was able to tamper with the DNA evidence on myself, how can they account for the lack of DNA evidence from the samples taken from her body? They asked her if she showered or cleaned up and she said "no". Ten minutes after the supposed sexual assault took place, she was whisked away to the hospital where they put together a full rape kit, which I have been led to believe is very intrusive and thorough. I have heard of DNA (even decades old) exonerating people of crimes. DNA has been extracted from the bones of long extinct animals to further our knowledge of how they looked and even how they lived. It has even been used to identify nameless soldiers from their remains. Yet in this instance, we can't determine conclusively if an assault has taken place or not?!
"Just because there is no DNA, doesn't mean it didn't happen?"-Ah, yes it does! Just, unfathomable.
Under Canada's justice web site, you'll find a report titled, "The prevention of miscarriages of justice".
http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/prosecution-service/pdf/Report_on_the_Prevention_of_Miscarriages_of_Justice_2005.pdf
Refer to chapter 4, titled "Tunnel vision". On page 35 of this chapter, it says;
"Tunnel vision has been defined as 'the single minded and overly narrow focus on an investigation or prosecutorial theory so as to unreasonably color the evaluation of information received and ones conduct in response to the information'. Tunnel vision, and its perverse by-product, 'noble cause corruption' are the antithesis of the proper roles of police and crown attorney. Yet tunnel vision has been identified as the leading cause of wrongful convictions in Canada and elsewhere." The aforementioned government report also says;
"It cannot be over emphasized that the purpose of a criminal prosecution is not to obtain a conviction, it is to lay before a jury what the crown considers to be credible evidence relevant to what is alleged to be a crime. Counsel have a duty to see that all available legal proof of the facts is represented: it should be done firmly and pressed to its legitimate strength but it also must be done fairly" It goes on to say."
"But the prosecutor should not be a zealot". Within the context of tunnel vision, the crown must strive to independently assess the police investigation and the evidence against the accused."
"Tunnel vision must be guarded against vigilantly, as it is a trap that can capture the best police officer or prosecutor".
"Tunnel vision is insidious. it can affect an officer or, indeed, anyone involved in the administration of justice with sometimes tragic results. It results in the officer becoming so focused upon an individual or incident that no other person or incident registers in the officers thoughts.....anyone, police officer, counsel or judge can become infected by this virus"
"After the charge has been laid, the crown has independent control over the charge and has the sole authority to proceed with the prosecution or withdraw the charge. Early consultation between prosecutors and police should be encouraged. It is important that police training emphasise this separate function of the crown, so that in appropriate cases, the crown attorney may feel unhindered in deciding not to proceed any further with a charge. It is easy to envision situations where fear of criticism or unfavourable comparisons with other crown prosecutors could hamper the crown attorney from discharging his or her duties. This emphasis upon the separate function of crown and police, also encourages crowns to be open to theories that may differ from those initially put forward by the investigator. Crown counsel must always act as a challenge (40) function to police officers and must bring critical eyes to bear on the evidence presented to them.They must always be prepared to consider alternate theories and explanations for such things as post arrest conduct. While prosecutors and police officers must work together closely and cooperatively, the different responsibilities and the different standards they must apply should not be impaired."
That is how our criminal justice system is supposed to conduct itself. Now let's look at how it actually works.
I've had 4 separate crown prosecutors on my case. In my assessment, each one of them, along with many police officers in between, had tunnel vision. This is the only explanation as to why the police and crown prosecutors went after me with such zeal, in spite of the mounting evidence of my obvious innocence. The only two things they were not in control of was the jury and my accuser. Had my accuser not admitted to multiple perjuries, and confessed in front of a jury to making up the rape accusation, I believe I would have been wrongfully convicted. All interactions with me and with regards to my case point me to this conclusion. I will now attempt to convince you of the same. Please consider the following points of evidence.
1) My accuser is an established, habitual liar. She has made a total of 9 false allegations before this one. And two additional ones since! In every single case, she has either admitted to lying, or been proven to be lying through evidence. My accuser has made a false domestic violence accusation against myself before. She alleged;
"He beat me with a belt and punched me in the head before school". Except, just like this time, there wasn't a mark on her. I'm a 255 lbs man with a 21 inch arm. I also have a martial arts background. If I hit her, she would probably die. They took her from school and she admitted to lying before they even contacted us to go down to get her.
2) My story remained consistent throughout this ordeal. I knew there would have to be DNA evidence on both of us in order to prove the things my accuser was alleging. I repeatedly begged in court for the processing of the DNA evidence as I knew the results would prove I was innocent. Would a guilty man take such a gamble? My accuser's story however, changed roughly 4 times. It was always similar, but different enough as to be too drastic a difference to ignore. Or so I thought. Moreover, her answers to questions surrounding critically important details were increasingly answered with;
"I can't remember", and
"I don't know".
3) Among other things my accuser also alleged that I "beat her, choked her, and ground my fist into into her head". Except there wasn't a single bruise on her. Not even a single red mark and certainly nothing even worthy for police to photograph. Yet she always maintained her extremely violent account of events.
4) My accuser's own mother wrote a letter on my behalf stating that her child is a liar and has done this sort of thing many times. This letter is currently sealed into court evidence and was instrumental in the decision to grant me bail after I rotted away for over 9 months in jail. Her mother wrote this letter just one month after sending my accuser away with her friends for the summer, just one month after I was arrested. (Her mother couldn't handle her anymore). While I was in Edmonton Remand, my accuser's mother conversed with my attorney, and he reiterated to me that she was asking;
"Why isn't he out on bail? He doesn't deserve to be in there, my child is a liar." She also paid my first months rent, my damage deposit, bought me all new clothes, bedding, smokes, and my favorite snacks and sent me money through my attorney. What does that tell you? Who would know their child better than their own mother?
5) My accuser also claims in her statement that upon returning home just prior to the alleged rape, she immediately changed her clothes because "it was raining so hard outside that she was soaked through and through". However, according to environment Canada's weather records, it did not rain that day or either day before or after the day of the alleged rape. In fact, for the entire month of May 2011, it only rained a total of 4.5mm. Data from 3 separate polling stations around the town was introduced into evidence.
6) My accuser has testified that she changed into a black pair of jeans that I had supposedly unbuckled, unzipped, and unbuttoned in order to get them off her. She claimed I did all this to her as I held her in a choke hold of some kind. The first problem with her allegation is that my fingerprints were not found on the pants. In addition, the pair of pants my accuser was wearing weren't jeans like she said, they were actually pajama pants as stated in the 'evidence seizure list'. Pajama pants don't usually have buckles, zippers and buttons on them, the ones seized definitely did not.. Unfortunately, these pants were among the evidence destroyed by the police before the trial date. Wonder why. But I can tell you that they were a pair of 'Guitar hero ' regular pajamas. You ,Yourself can see the evidence seizure list on this blog site.
7) My accuser has been taking mental health medication since the age of 12 or earlier, and we were still trying to get her properly diagnosed.
8) In her original statement, my accuser's mother states that her daughter told her;
"Please don't let them take DNA". Why would she hesitate to obtain evidence that would substantiate her claims for comparison?. I allowed the police to collect my fingernail clippings for DNA testing. I submitted them knowing they would be entered into the national DNA data bank. Why? Because I had absolutely nothing to hide.
9) My family, friends, and children raised around me wrote in letters on my behalf as character witnesses. I have never been accused of, or investigated for any sexual offense prior to this one. Police have been to my door twice to arrest my accuser's mother for spousal abuse (my accuser is the one who reported it). They have also been to my door multiple times for my accuser's antics. But never once for me.
10) On May 21, 2011, mere hours before the alleged rape took place, I attended an emergency appointment with my chiropractor. My accuser went with me to help me balance. I have a full medial file which states that among other things, "my mobility was reduced roughly 80% and range of motion was also reduced by 80%. I couldn't possibly have lifted more than 20 pounds, let alone stand or even lay down for prolonged periods of time without extreme pain due to a herniated disk". I was in a full back harness and would be off work for 2 months. This is also documented in my WCB medical file. The police themselves took off my back brace, helped me into the police truck, and made a special mention in their field note book stating that;
"...he is a large man with a back injury and is in excruciating pain". Yet according to my accuser's accounts of that night, I somehow managed to beat her, overpower her, and even lift her and carry her onto her bed.
I could continue making points, but for the sake of the reader I will stop here. At this point I feel I've provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate what I alluded to earlier. That this is a system that is geared towards believing female accusors. Clearly, the police and the crown were pursuing prosecution against me in spite of evidence which showed beyond reasonable doubt that this was indeed a false accusation. Yet I spent over 2 years of my life in jail, and became financially depleted fighting to regain my freedom. I am still fighting to this day.
Call it tunnel vision or noble cause corruption, they went after me like religious zealots. In May 2012, I was arrested. By October the breast swab DNA results came back clearing me. Still they denied me bail. The judge had to order the police to process the fingernails, otherwise they likely never would have done so. They then stalled by saying they had reports that I said I was going to kill my step kid if i ever got out. These charges were dropped a few months later when they were unable to substantiate these claims and it became clear these were just stall tactics.
I was called violent, bi-polar, and an alcoholic. Yet according to 6 separate mental health evaluations which were filed by my court appointed shrink;
"The subject isn't bi-polar or suffers any major mental health issues. Hidden or otherwise."
In another report, he states;
"...to continue to keep him under house arrest and unable to work might inadvertently cause mental health issues."
The crown has been made aware of these reports, yet I am still forced to be under house arrest to this day. I've been bounced around like a piece of missing luggage. I've been told I couldn't live with my new girlfriend because I wasn't stable. They claim I need to be supervised, but under their watchful eye I was forced to live in 3 different homes inside of four months. Once I was forced to move because the police on the south side of Edmonton "didn't want a child molester" on the south side. This is how it was explained to me by the commander of the south side precinct. I was told to stay away and not be caught around there. Twice, they charged me with two false counts of breaching this requirement. If that isn't instability, I don't know what is.
South side police officers would talk to my roommates in plain clothes, ask about me, toss my room, and destroy stuff while I was away. I found boot marks all over my sheets. On one occasion, two female officers arrived at my bedroom door one night at 2 or 3 in the morning, and with me standing there in my freaking underwear, they kept yelling that I produce my drivers license, provide the name of my bail supervisor, her number, tell them what I did throughout the day...
(After this I began wearing shorts to bed). It was like this or worse during the entire 2 1/2 year wait for my trial. I don't care who you are, eventually this starts to takes a toll on you. Especially mentally. In December 2012, just days before Christmas, my roommate told me;
"You came out of your room crying, looking like you were asleep. You went for your bag in the kitchen, pulled out a bottle of Valium and chewed them (my month supply apparently)." They had to call an ambulance because I fell over (I've personally seen where my head went through the drywall). I was rushed to hospital that night. I awoke naked in a hospital bed. I had intervenes in my arm and one in my right hand. I was hooked up to all kinds of wires all over my body. I ripped out everything and got up. A nurse asked me;
"Where do you think you're going?!". I said;
"I don't give a fuck, I'm out of here." She said;
"You know, you expired 3 times last night, you're still not out of danger." I demanded my clothes and they gave them to me, along with what was left of my Valium. I called a friend to come get me. I feel bad because I puked charcoal all over his dash board. He drove me to the court house so I could sign my papers for my Christmas pass, so that I could be with my new girlfriend. Over the holidays I didn't get better, so I sought out some mental health help. I spend 30 days in a mental help facility. While I was there, the government charged me with 2 breaches. One for not being at my approved residence, and one for using drugs (Valium). My lawyer and doctor eventually were able to clear it up, by proving that the drugs I was taking were prescribed, and it isn't illegal to attempt suicide in Canada. So they changed the charge to be that I didn't return to my approved residence after my Christmas pass expired. When it was verified that I did, they changed it again, claiming that I didn't return myself to jail after being released from the mental ward. Then it was verified by my girlfriend, several guards, my attorney, and two government workers that I did actually report to jail. They kept these charges around for 8 months. They pushed my trial back a month before finally dropping them. In the mean time, they would tempt me with plea deals of time served if I would just plead guilty. They want you to do that, because it affects your credibility. I had an upcoming trial and that is what they wanted. They had a need to get this prosecution no matter the evidence. Does this sound like Tunnel Vision to you?
The impact this has had on every aspect of my life is incalculable. All of this because of a false accusation. I wouldn't wish this on my most bitter enemies. Even now, despite all this, I'm not seeking revenge or compensation of any kind. All I'm fighting for at this point is the opportunity to try to pick up the pieces of my life, and move on.
-Tortured
