EXCLUSIVE： Toronto Man Released 3 Times on Bail After Multiple Sexual Assault Charges
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Summary
A rapist has been let out on bail three times for the same crimes. These crimes were obstruction of justice, sexual assault, breaking bail conditions, and illegal confinement. Although they were not committed on the same night, they were all related to instances that happened that happened then. We have Erin Kendall, a survivor of this rapist, and she tells her story.
Transcript
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Hello, Western Standard viewers. Today we're talking about a case in Toronto where a rapist
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has been let on bail three times for the same crimes. These crimes were obstruction of justice,
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sexual assault, breaking bail, and illegal confinement. Although they were not committed
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on the same night, they were all related to instances that happened then. We're having
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Erin Kendall on, a survivor of this rapist, and she's going to tell her story.
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Hi. Hi, Erin. So just to start off, tell us about sort of what happened that night and
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what this person did and how they've been let out on bail so many times.
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Yeah. So obviously I'm not going to get into details about the rape because that's not the
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necessary or the point of this story, but we were at a party. It was on, it was to do with the Toronto
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boat scene. And that night he was supposed to drive me home afterwards. And he did not let me get out
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of the car, forced me to have sex with him. He raped me. And, but the story is more so about, you know,
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what's been kind of going on in the legal end of things and particularly around bail. So I went,
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I came forward to police. They took all the evidence, they arrested him. He was released, as far as I'm
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where he was released on conditions. So he didn't even have a bail hearing. Um, and then not long after I
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started getting messages from some people, um, and basically saying they wanted to help me, you know,
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they heard what happened or they wanted to support me. I, I, I mean, I have the messages, but basically just,
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it was a whole thing of manipulation. I, I met one of them. Um, and when I got out of my apartment,
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she searched me for recording devices and proceeded to, uh, offer me money to drop the case.
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And I, you know, got my way out of that situation. I, thankfully my survival instincts kicked in. So
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I played along. Um, yeah, it was, you know, when you're literally in a conversation of with someone
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trying to say, Oh, they're saying, how much is your voice worth? And it's like, you have to bargain
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with this person. So they think you're taking them seriously. Like, um, anyway, so I reported
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it to police that night. Um, he was arrested as well as one other person, um, and charged with
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obstruction of justice and breaking bail conditions on his end. Um, and then in, I believe it was
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September, um, another victim came forward, um, about being sexually assaulted the same night. Um,
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just before me, um, we were all at that party together and he was arrested again. And again,
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he got bail. So he's gotten bail three times for the same case. Um, it is all one big case and we are
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going to a jury trial. Um, yeah. And his, yeah, his charges, he has two counts and these are all
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whatever you want to call it, felony indictable charges. Um, two counts of sexual assault, two
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counts of breaking bail conditions, two counts of obstruction of justice, and one count of legal
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Um, and in sort of the briefings that you've got in the communications that you've got,
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have they referenced any specific laws that have been allowing him to get on, on bail
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Nope. I've been, you know, I've been frustrated with the whole situation. Um, and I've just sort
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of been told, uh, basically nothing, there's nothing they can do. Like the, I have a support
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worker. I have a, I have a VWOP worker. Um, yeah, there's nothing they can do. It's literally
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not up to them, but you know, this is kind of what's a continual theme in Canada.
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And from the perspective of a survivor, how do you feel the federal government and what has been called
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as weak bail laws has impacted you in this scenario?
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You know, I truly have an understanding so deep of why people don't come forward when they've been
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sexually assaulted. Um, it's a horrible experience post, like the rape alone was horrible. I still
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deal with nightmares. I still deal with severe PTSD from it. Um, and then the process of getting
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justice for that has been also quite horrible. Um, you know, instead of, instead of someone who
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is now been arrested three times for the same case being put away so that I can sleep at night and be
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safe, I'm told have people track you. I'm told don't go anywhere alone. I'm told to take self-defense
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classes. I'm told to carry my safe, like I have a little safety key chain that has like an alarm.
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I'm told, I'm told to do all these things. When I'm, I'm the victim of this case, it's very confusing.
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Um, and it really is no wonder why so many people don't come forward. Um, you know, and even in the,
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the process of the prosecution, you know, you'll go months, years without hearing anything. Um,
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um, and you know, it wasn't, it wasn't that long ago. It was a couple of months ago. Police showed
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up at my door, um, basically to tell me, you know, your, your safety's at risk. Has he tried
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to contact you? Has he tried to threaten you? Um, and yeah, it, that was basically all I was left with.
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So then I had to advocate for myself. Thankfully, I spoke with the staff sergeant of my area.
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Um, he was amazing. He was, he, he stayed on my phone with me for hours, walking me through
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everything, trying to help me to feel safer. He actually had police patrol my house and work.
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I even had to send a picture of this guy and his name to my work, um, on advice of the police,
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so that if he did show up at my work to try and threaten me, they knew who he was and what to do.
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I had to take down my social media. Like these are things that I've had to do to keep myself safe.
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Um, while he's walking the streets, possibly doing this to another person. As we know,
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this is a pattern, um, as there are already two victims.
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And we saw about two weeks ago, uh, the combine, the combined efforts of the Liberals NDP and Block
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voted down the three strikes and you're out conservative bill. This case would have been
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all three strikes in one night. How does that make you feel?
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Um, yeah, it's like, I really don't understand what is happening to this country. Like I genuinely
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don't, I grew up here. I grew up with this being a great country. I grew up, you know, loving,
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living in Canada. We were known for being nice. We were known for being very diverse. We were known.
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Now we're the laughing stock. Um, and I don't think that citizens are considered when people
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are making decisions. Um, you know, I, like I, I'm genuinely a little bit speechless here because
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it's, if someone has committed a crime and has been arrested three times, then I just, there's no logic
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there. Why would you not want people who have been arrested three times to keep getting bail?
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So what they can keep going a fourth, fifth, sixth time it's, it almost feels like they want criminals
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Thank you so much, Erin. Is there anything else you'd like to share that you're comfortable talking about?
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I, I just wanted to, you know, if anybody is struggling with this and they're, they're dealing
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with this process of, you know, you've come forward or, or you've been in a situation where you were
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assaulted and you're thinking about coming forward. Yes, this whole thing is horrible,
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but it, it's a hundred percent worth it to me because if I drop this case now, you know,
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I've been told that most of these delays are due to the defense, um, around going to trial.
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And I've actually been told that that can be an intimidating factor of defense so that they
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keep dragging it out and dragging it out so that you get sick and tired of it and drop the case.
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And I don't let them win like that. I have, you know, it's, they've already tried to offer me money.
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Um, they've already tried to, to scare me. They've already tried to make this go on as long as they
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possibly can. Um, I don't know how this is all allowed, but somehow it is. Don't let them win.
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Thank you so much for your time, Aaron. And thank you for speaking out, uh, for the Western Standard.