The young victim of a teen trafficking ring run by girls told an Ottawa court in a victim impact statement how she feels as though her life was taken away by the ringleader of the group. Another victim wrote that she has considered taking her own life because of what happened to her. Today, the Crown started presenting its case to get the ringleader sentenced as an adult.
The Crown is after three more years in jail for the "mastermind" behind this evil enterprise. Adult time for an adult crime that has left the victims and their families shattered. The youngest of the victims, who was 13 years old when these crimes occurred, was too overcome with emotion to read her own victim impact statement so the Crown read it for her. She spoke about having to leave the city after what happened to her, her nightmares, her diagnosis of PTSD, her numbing fear.
“I feel as though my life was taken away,” she wrote.
Taken, after what she thought was a sleepover at a friend's house. It turned into a night of terror, where she was drugged, forced to have oral sex and threatened with being tossed over a balcony.
"I've built walls around myself so that no one can see my sadness and fear," she wrote "I am no longer the person I was."
Another victim, there were seven in all, has thoughts of suicide.
"It's not fair that I get a life sentence of trauma," she wrote in her victim impact statement, "while they get to start over."
Three teenage girls were convicted in the case that made international headlines when the girls were arrested in June of 2012. Two were 15 years old at the time, the other 16. Two have pleaded guilty to multiple crimes. One has served time as a young offender. The other is awaiting sentencing in November under the Youth Justice system. The Crown contends this case today, though, is key, believing the accused is the ringleader. She has steadfastly maintained her innocence. With credit for time served, she has spent the equivalent of about 3 and a half years in jail. But Crown prosecutors are pushing for an additional three years in prison for this young woman who they say ran an enterprise aimed at exploiting teenage girls for money.
Even though the accused was only 15 when she was arrested in June of 2012, the Crown contends she was already "fiercely independent" hanging out at the casino in Hull, organizing a comprehensive list of johns , extorting victims through violence.
“She sought money and a fast way to earn it,” Crown Prosecutor Fara Rupert told court.
A probation officer testified today that the accused’s prime worker had described the young woman as "void of emotion and a manipulator. " In addition to the three years, the Crown wants a DNA order, a weapons ban and a sex offender registration order for life.
