Same Witch Hunt, New Witches

A new sexual abuse scandal has just surfaced in Saskatchewan. The scandal – as it came to pass in the Martensville and Klassen cases – is the overzealousness of the police and Social Services, and the ruination of another innocent family.
Saskatoon Star Phoenix

Social Services and the RCMP turned up at the family’s farmhouse without warning; took four of the children into care; conducted videotaped interviews with the kids that show leading questions were asked; asked one brother, aged 15, if he had witnessed or committed sexual assault without advising him of his legal rights; then charged two other brothers and the father with sexual assault based solely on those interviews, with no corroborating evidence.
Information presented at one of the subsequent trials shows that the decision to lay charges was made within hours of the police becoming involved: before the interviews had been completed and before anyone had even looked for other evidence.
The parents were not allowed to say goodbye to their children. Three of them were made permanent wards of the province and have been moved from one foster home to another ever since.
The charge against the father was stayed after 15 months, although only after the Crown prosecutor offered him a deal to plead guilty.
One brother was found not guilty and refuses now to live in Saskatchewan because of his experience. The second brother was found guilty, but had his conviction overturned on March 11 by Mr. Justice Gerald Allbright of the Court of Queen’s Bench.
The final injustice is that the family has been threatened with legal action if they take steps to publicize their situation.

This is a favoured tactic of prosecutors in Canada. Laws that were designed to protect “young offenders” and sexual assault victims from having their names publicized are being increasingly abused to hide misdeeds and mistakes of prosecutors and police. The courts place a publication ban on all evidence, charges are stayed, and only those directly involved are aware of the injustice and the damage caused.

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