Rape joke

>> Sensitizing cops to sexual assault cases
still lagging, victim says

by NOEMI LOPINTO

Around 5 a.m. on November 5, 2001, “Natasha,” a 22-year-old Russian émigré student, woke to find a strange man lying on top of her. He smelled of alcohol and he was attempting to pull her underwear off. “I couldn’t understand who this was,” says Natasha. “I struggled with him for about five minutes, but I was slow, sleepy.” Natasha’s roommate, who sleeps in the same room, woke up screaming and began beating the man over the head. Both girls recognized their neighbour, a man who lived just a wall away. The assailant cursed at them in French, and then walked through the living room to their eighth-floor balcony, jumping from theirs to his.

The women dialed 911 and approximately seven minutes later two officers from Station 20 arrived. “The cops were really playful with us,” says Natasha. “I was shaking, telling them to go get this guy next door before he runs away, and they said how we Russian girls are so cute, how we drink a lot of vodka. I never faced such a situation before. I felt he didn’t take it seriously, like I am not the only person in the world who was almost raped that night.” After a 15-minute interview the officers went next door and arrested the man.

Five hours later Natasha’s assailant was knocking on her front door. “I look in my peephole and I see this fucking guy,” says Natasha. “I am completely shocked. I didn’t want to open the door but he was ringing for five minutes.” The man held a form. He wanted her to drop the charges. “He says he is sorry, he was drunk,” says Natasha. “But I told him I was sorry for both of us, and I closed the door.”

When an investigator from the sexual assault squad telephoned her later, Natasha says she screamed at him. “The investigator told me they let him go because they couldn’t reach me,” says Natasha. “I said, ‘He is living next door!’ The investigator asked if I would consider moving out. But I haven’t done anything wrong!”

The case has yet to come to court. This past month Natasha received a letter from the provincial Attorney-General’s office, dated January 11, 2002, informing her that charges had been filed against the accused for breaking and entering and committing sexual assault. Enclosed was a “Victim Impact statement,” a questionnaire asking for a description of the impact the assault had on her life.

Respect required

The commander of the police sexual assault squad, Pierre Leduc, says the law enforcement approach to sexual assault is as respectful as possible. “You have to respect the victim,” says Leduc, “what she feels and what she is going through. However we cannot keep someone in custody if there is no evidence. We can hold them for a while, but without evidence they must be released.” Natasha’s assailant was released upon condition that he have absolutely no contact with her, and must stay 300 feet away from her at all times. “If she had called the police when he knocked on her door,” says Leduc, “he would have been arrested right away.”

As of June 2001, investigators who want to work for the sexual assault squad must face psychological evaluation, do a three-week training course and must have at least two years experience in the force. “The government realized there was a need,” says Leduc. “It was important to have a special squad to treat this kind of crime. We consulted community centres, women’s shelters, youth protection, attorneys and the social services. This is a very special area of the law.” There are 200 patrolmen in the squad who treat approximately 1,600 cases a year of sexual assault in Montreal alone, both adults and children. Leduc says delays vary from case to case, as do fines and jail terms. “Jurisprudence has a lot of influence in cases like this.”

Natasha remains unimpressed with the legal system. “I felt scared to come home, scared to leave. I failed two assignments at school, I felt like I could never look at a man again. I don’t know how to behave, what to do when I see him in the elevator. I see him almost every day. In Russia I could easily have hired thugs to break his legs a long time ago.” :