Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 01, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A3 895 CENTURY ST. | 204- 783- 9600 Mon, Tues 9am - 5pm, Wed 9am - 8pm, Thurs, Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm SOBELLA TM OMNIHD COLORADO Canyon SHD170 HONESTY . INTEGRITY . EXCELLENCE . RESPECT * Plus applicable taxes. Some conditions apply. Tune up AIR CONDITIONING 204- 774- 1474 IT'S TIME TO CALL 635 Ferry Road www. ontimegroup. ca Only $ 99. 95* A+ ACCREDITED BBB MEMBER 1717 WAVERLEY 1- 877- 432- 8670 mymidtownford. com $ 32 , 887 or $ 198 / BiWeekly Price & Payment plus Freight, Fees & Taxes, OAC. 3.7 V6 ( 305 HP), 6 spd auto, heated leather seats, power seats ( 2), reverse sensing, rear video camera, power cloth roof, Ruby Red metallic. Mid- Town Ford Collision & Glass Professional Repairs All Makes Purchase or Lease 60/ 84 Month Purchase Finance @ 5.99% APR with 10% Down SUMMER FUN! 2014 MUSTANG CONVERTIBLE TOP NEWS WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013 winnipegfreepress. com A 3 A SIX- YEAR- OLD Winnipeg girl was molested more than 100 times after what justice officials say was a failure of her mother and the justice system to protect her from a highrisk pedophile. Facts of the case emerged Wednesday at a sentencing hearing. Crown and defence lawyers both expressed shock at what occurred, saying there appears to be no similar case in Canada. " She was powerless to prevent it," said provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson, who said the facts are " horrific." A 51- year- old man - who can't be named to protect the identity of the victim - pleaded guilty to sexual interference and was sentenced to eight years in prison under a joint recommendation. The maximum sentence is 10 years. The man was convicted in 2004 of sexually assaulting his 14- year- old biological daughter on one occasion. He was sentenced to 3 � years in prison. He claimed he targeted the teen to get revenge on his wife, who he believed had cheated on him and " wasn't providing for him sexually." While the man was behind bars, his wife began a relationship with a male friend, got pregnant and gave birth to a daughter in 2005. The man was released from prison in 2007 after serving the full sentence. Prison officials warned he was a ticking time bomb who was likely to reoffend, especially against kids in his home. " The risks had not been addressed," Crown attorney Kyle Parker said. The man moved back in with his wife and her newborn daughter after regaining his freedom. The woman welcomed him back. Since his sentence had expired, there were no parole conditions banning him from contact with children. Child and Family Services officials had no provisions or supervision in place to ensure the man wasn't reoffending. " I see this as a failure by the system," defence lawyer John Corona told court. Police have the ability to obtain court orders against high- risk, untreated sex offenders once they have served every second of their sentence. The application, under Section 810 of the Criminal Code, can place restrictive conditions such as not being alone with children. However, no such order was obtained in this case. In 2011, the man began molesting her daughter, who was six years old. The abuse happened at least twice a week for an entire year, usually while the mother was away. The incidents included attempted intercourse and fondling, often in the master bedroom. The girl told her mother in June 2012. The mother refused to go to police and continued to stand by her husband, despite knowing he'd previously abused their teenage daughter. One week later, the girl had to go to the doctor for issues related to the abuse she endured. While there, she disclosed what the man had done to her in graphic detail. Police were called and the man was arrested. " Daddy said don't tell," the girl told investigators. During his interview last summer, the man told police a similar tale: He had molested the girl because he was angry with his wife for cheating on him. " He blames her for what happened. He did this as a form of retribution, to get back at her," said Parker. " At this point in the interview, the police officer had to leave the room to physically restrain himself from the outrage." The man's wife continues to stand by him and was in court Wednesday. She recently lost custody of the children. " She is, for whatever reason... I can't provide the background or justify it, but she is supportive of him," Parker told the judge. " It's rather horrifying to hear his justification for committing these acts," Carlson said Wednesday. The man has colon cancer and other health problems, which means he may die in prison. If he does live past the expiration of his sentence, he will be on the sex- abuse registry permanently and under a court order not to have contact with children under 16. www. mikeoncrime. com By Mike McIntyre THE time comes when it's not about the money anymore or the inconvenience or frustration. After about 25- plus calls to city hall and your councillor, it's about the principle. Welcome to the world of Olivia Harris. More than 10 months ago, when new garbage pickup service by Emterra was unveiled, her garage was damaged during a pickup. A neighbour reported that either the container or claw from the truck banged into the Harris home on Cottonwood Road in Windsor Park, chipping off a chunk of stucco, ripping off phone wires and tearing off part of the fascia. Harris believed if the city or its contractor were responsible for the damage - " Six- hundred bucks is 600 bucks," she reasoned - they could fix it. " When someone destroys your property you should be held accountable," she said. " It's been 10 months already. They said they were going to address it, but they haven't." Harris said she called 311 in regards to the issue " at least 25 times." " I stopped counting because it frustrates me," she added. " Their ( 311 operators') hands are tied, too. They can only advance you to a supervisor and that gets you nowhere." Harris was promised four months ago by a supervisor at Emterra that a company representative would come out to assess the damage. No one did. " If I go out and damage someone else's property, I would be accountable for it," she said. " Why shouldn't the city? I know they'll think the longer they leave it, we'll forget. Well, I'm not going to forget." On Tuesday, after Harris told a 311 operator she planned to take her complaint about Emterra to the media, a supervisor from the wastecollection company showed up at her door a few hours later to assess the damage and take pictures. In June, an employee from Emterra had made a similar visit, but there was no followup. Harris said the supervisor told her the company had no record of her complaints. Harris wondered how that might be possible given 311 operators she called more than two dozen times not only recorded her calls, but practically knew her on a first- name basis. However, Emterra supervisor David Tarko, who made the assessment, insisted there were only five 311 calls from the Harris residence on file. One was for a broken wheel on the garbage container ( which was fixed immediately), and others for days when the garbage wasn't picked up. There was no record of damage to the house and no list of 25 or more calls, he said. " Maybe it just slipped through the cracks," he said, agreeing with Harris that all 311 calls are recorded and made available to Emterra. Tarko said Harris's complaint is a " top priority" and the damage will be fixed within days. " We have to look after it right away," he said. " She's all looked after now." A city spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that " we absolutely agree that the customer contacted 311 regularly to keep us informed on the lack of progress" on the issue. " We are still in the first year of a new system that was rolled out to over 190,000 homes," the spokeswoman added in an email. " Even though we strive for excellent customer service, this situation affirms that we need to take some steps to improve our monitoring process to ensure that customer concerns are addressed in a timely fashion. " We apologize for the inconvenience this delay has caused the customer and very much appreciate that she kept us informed." Regardless, Harris believes her threat to publicize her complaint spurred the supervisor's visit and promise for action. " It's not a coincidence," she said. " But it shouldn't come to that to get them to do their job. As far as I'm concerned it's not dealt with until it's fixed. " They've made so many promises. They came out ( in March) to look at it and didn't do anything." randy. turner@ freepress. mb. ca JOIN THE CONVERSATION Have you had to call 311? What was that experience like? Go to winnipegfreepress. com and add your comments to the conversation Abused girl ' failed' by system Mom let pedophile move in ' He blames her for what happened. He did this as a form of retribution, to get back at her. At this point in the interview, the police officer had to leave the room to physically restrain himself from the outrage' - Crown attorney Kyle Parker 25 calls to 311: no action Vow to call media: action Homeowner miffed damage to garage ignored By Randy Turner JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Olivia Harris says Emterra only responded to her complaints because she threatened to go to the media. Psychology works for: P ANIC D ISORDER Manitoba Psychological Society Visit us at www. mps. ca A_ 05_ Aug- 01- 13_ FP_ 01. indd A3 7/ 31/ 13 10: 25: 46 PM ;