After the court case: Aunt of victim in horrific Hamilton child sexual assault case speaks out
Sometimes at the dinner table the kids will say, Oh remember when we used to live in Hamilton."
Their aunt winces, she says, because she cannot forget.
Hamilton is where all the bad things happened. Where her family was torn apart by crimes so horrific she's sometimes not sure how they survived. But she has to keep going for the boy and girl sitting across from her, who are now in her care.
None of them can be named by court-ordered publication bans, all to protect the identity of the now 12-year-old girl.
Beginning when she was six, the girl was repeatedly, horrifically sexually assaulted by her mom's boyfriend inside her Hamilton home. He recorded the abuse - which spanned about a year - and advertised for others to join him on Craigslist. The abuse only stopped in 2016 when she told her dad what was going on. He contacted the Catholic Children's Aid Society who alerted Hamilton police.
The case, dubbed Project Links during the police investigation, horrified Hamilton. Ontario Court Justice George Gage called it an exceedingly dark chapter in the life of this community." In all, five people were convicted in a court process that spanned two-and-a-half years.
At each court appearance, the girl's aunt was there listening to the graphic evidence about the assaults on her niece.
During the sentencing hearings, court was shown a victim impact statement from the young victim. A drawing of two stick people: one with long blond hair, a sad face, surrounded by tear drops; the other is a figure scrawled in black.
By the time the last perpetrator was sentenced, the first person convicted was already out on parole.
The aunt knew her brother, the father of her niece and now 14-year-old nephew, was not capable of attending court. So that burden fell squarely on her.
The children's mother, who was in the home when the abuse happened, is no longer in their lives. They lived with their dad for years, but it proved not to be a stable environment either. The children have been with their aunt for eight months.
And still it's not over. There are parole board hearings. The horrors of what they have experienced left them with life sentences, even as the offenders walk free.
This is a story that highlights the ripple effects of trauma. Advocates say it also shows gaps in the rights of victims and their families navigating a criminal justice system.
I am almost dead from it," the aunt says. It's been (almost) five years now ... it's been exhausting after the fact, now three out of five of them are out."
She only had 16 counselling sessions covered by victim's services, all in the first year the case was in court. Now the only way she gets therapy is because a friend is paying for her. Her niece's therapy is covered by OHIP.
She believes the sentences imposed were too short and feels the voice of victims is lost, in particular, in the parole system. She knows there is no sentence long enough to fix what these men and woman broke. But she wants to see stricter mandatory minimum sentences for sex crimes involving children. And she wants victims to have more rights.
Last spring, as the world shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the aunt found herself locked out of two parole hearings. The government has since made changes to allow remote access, but only after complaints.
The perpetrators
The main perpetrator, the boyfriend of the children's mother, cannot be identified to protect the victim's identity.
In February 2018, he was sentenced to 13 years, after pleading guilty to sexual interference, and making and possessing child pornography. With credit for time served in pretrial custody, that sentence was shaved down to an additional 10 years and 205 days.
Court heard the then-37-year-old had a difficult childhood, including a stepfather who sexually abused him for 20 years.
The following year, the aunt was horrified to get a call telling her he was being transferred from prison to an Indigenous healing lodge in Quebec. She wasn't consulted or asked to give input. Instead, she was simply informed the offender was being transferred from Warkworth Institution - a medium-security prison - to Waseskun Healing Center, near Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez, Que.
The aunt complained and contacted media. Just hours later, she got a call that he had been moved back to prison, where he remains.
The first offender convicted in the case completed his sentence a year ago.
John Gallagher was sentenced to three years and seven months for possession of child pornography and making child pornography. He admitted to responding to the Craigslist ads and making plans to come to the girl's Hamilton house, but he never actually made the trip. His sentence expired Dec. 15, 2019.
Waterloo man Rui DaSilva was sentenced in August 2017 to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual interference and making child pornography. After credit for pretrial custody, he had six years and four months remaining. DaSilva has been eligible for full parole since Oct. 1, 2019, but hasn't applied. He is eligible for statutory release in November 2021 and his sentence expires Dec. 20, 2023.
Sonya Lucas, who was brought to the girl's Hamilton home by DaSilva, was sentenced in June 2017 for sexual interference, and making and possessing child pornography. She was released to a halfway house in Dundas on March 25. The aunt was not allowed to listen in to Lucas' parole hearing.
The other hearing was for another man who cannot be named, because he was the best friend of the stepdad. He was convicted of sexual interference and making child pornography. He was sentenced in October 2018 to seven years, but after credit for pretrial custody, he had a remaining three years and four months left.
He was granted full parole this November.
Victims' rights violated
The aunt says her rights were violated by not being able to participate in the parole board hearings for Lucas and the unnamed man in March and April. Her victim impact statements were included, but she wanted to read them. Instead, she got a recording after the fact.
Aline Vlasceanu, executive director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, helped the aunt complain about access, including escalating the complaint to Canada's federal ombudsman for victims of crime.
By the end of April, the Parole Board of Canada changed its policy. Victims were able to participate by teleconference. In November, they launched a pilot project in Ontario and Quebec to allow for video conferencing.
The board said it is aiming to expand its video pilot across Canada by the end of the year.
We advocated for a month, it should have been a bigger priority," Vlasceanu said, adding that her centre had five or six clients impacted.
For the aunt it was horrible, because by bad luck she had two parole hearings during that time.
Vlasceanu has been helping the aunt for the last few years. When she first reached out for help, Vlasceanu said she couldn't believe all that the aunt had endured alone.
One of the biggest problems she sees is that victims are not informed of their rights. For instance, victims have to register to get updates on inmates in custody. But they have to know to register.
Victims also have rights to compensation, but aren't always informed what they need to do. Compensation is handled provincially and in Ontario recent changes have generally reduced the amount of compensation available, she said.
In the aunt's case, Vlasceanu said she helped her apply for compensation, but she was initially turned down because she wasn't a real victim." Vlasceanu successfully appealed, arguing it was the aunt who represented the family throughout the court and parole process. That claim is still being processed.
Heidi Illingworth, the federal ombudsman for victims of crime, said her office immediately objected when the parole board gave notice it was cancelling victims' access to hearings at the beginning of the pandemic. Now she's pushing to make telephone and video access permanent - not just temporarily during the pandemic - to give victims more ways to participate in hearings.
The ombudsman for victims of crime promotes access to programs and services and takes complaints from victims and survivors about federal agencies. They receive about 500 a year. But her recommendations are not binding.
People think we're an advocate for victims, but we're a neutral body," she said. We see whether a person was treated fairly. If not, we can make recommendations to improve ... but we don't have any powers to compel any agency."
Enforceable rights for victims
Illingworth is also calling for a parliamentary review of Canada's Victim's Bill of Rights, which was due for a five-year statutory review this year.
Victims need to have enforceable rights, she said. For instance, if a Crown decides not to pursue charges, victims should be able to seek an administrative review. The bill of rights says victims have the right to access information, but victims have to know to ask for it.
We want to see automatic notification of information," she said.
The justice system does not expect an accused person to know their rights, so why aren't victims treated the same?
As Canadians, we know there is a lack of trust in the justice system - only a third of the public report crimes to police," Illingworth said, adding that there is often more mistrust in marginalized and racialized communities.
A fresh start
For the aunt, so much of this would have been helpful. Instead, she found herself alone, navigating a justice system that has left her shattered.
Now she's alone again, save for the help of her friends, raising two kids.
The children's mother was initially charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life. But that charge was dropped because it did not appear she knew what was happening under her own roof.
At their dad's place, things also got progressively worse. It was not a safe or stable environment for the kids and they were eventually removed from his home too.
Since April, the kids have been living with their aunt. It's a temporary supervision order, but the aunt would be open to adopting them if her brother isn't able to care for them.
The kids have new clothes, new friends and a new school. It's been a fresh start.
They've never spoken about what happened. The aunt has never told her niece how she went to all the court hearings.
But she knows that is probably a conversation they will have when the kids are older.
Somebody has to stand up for what happened, if I never went to court, I'm sure they wouldn't have got (the sentences) they got," she said.
A lot of pushing and fighting ... I did it for the kids. I wanted to see justice."
Nicole O'Reilly is a Hamilton-based reporter covering crime and justice for The Spectator. Reach her via email: noreilly@thespec.com