Rage Owns The World

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/260450

Enjoying the line in the darker waters the way the water separates as she gracefully drifts away, illuminated and ghostly in the sea air and under starlight. The hull wet with blue and moving with gentle friction through luminous lantern lit waves. A gentle breeze of laughter fills the sails and she picks up speed. The gentle surge of midnight ocean against her radiating seashell song soon becomes the steady drum of life. That's me now but where did it begin? 

This dark story tells about a child growing up in the most intense abuse one could imagine, beginning from birth.

 Set in Great Britain in the 1980’s, this is a story about a childhood spent in abuse by a criminal underworld for the first decade of life. The life that ensues becomes a struggle with Reactive Attachment Disorder and physical injury but the will to live overcomes the monsters that would end it.

It's a zombie apocalypse underway in crime

A naked man leans over his nude victim tearing chunks of flesh from his face with his teeth which he readily consumes. An officer approaches and orders the crazed man to get off the victim, the man looks up at the officer blood dripping from his face and growls like a wild animal then continues to devour the victim. This is not a horror film, it's a macabre attack in Miami that some people are understandably calling the start of a zombie apocalypse. Grab your, uh, popcorn. 

More abbreviated justice in society via the abuse excuse

Jeremy Steinke

Accused of a ghastly murder? Evidence stacked against you? Is your defense council struggling to find any redeeming qualities that humanize you? Don’t panic, there is another get-out-of-jail card to play. No, you can't call the Human Rights Act because courts have yet to recognize the human right to commit homicide. But you can try another fashionable legal device: the plea that you were abused as a child and therefore cannot be held responsible for your actions as an adult.

We might call it the abuse excuse, or perhaps - given that parents are usually blamed for the abuse - the Mother of All Mitigating Circumstances. It is a confession, not of your own sins, but the sins of somebody else from your past. You are not really seeking forgiveness, since you do not accept that anything is your fault. Instead, you demand recognition that you, too, are a victim, a ‘survivor’ in need not of punishment but of support.

And it is not just high-profile, low-life murder cases. The abuse excuse has become a staple argument, almost a fashion statement, for any public figure in need of sympathy. Why did rock musician Pete Townshend access pay-per-view child pornography websites? Because: ‘I believe that I was sexually abused between the ages of five and six and a half ... I cannot remember clearly what happened.’ Why was President Bill Clinton such a philanderer? Because, explained his wife, he was ‘scarred’ by psychological abuse at the age of four.

No doubt many of these people are telling the truth. But why should it now be so readily accepted that childhood abuse can automatically explain what happens in later life? Whereas, once it might have been thought that people would leave these childish horrors behind as they grow and learn coping mechanisms to lead a good and moral life, now the belief seems to be that there can be no escape from traumas suffered as a toddler or teenager and the pains of childhood should be inflicted on others.

What makes the abuse excuse attractive to the accused is the displacement of responsibility. Since you cannot change what was done to you in the past, how can you reasonably be blamed for whatever your childhood drives you to now? What makes the excuse resonate more widely, however, is our diminished view of the human condition. As a society, we seem to have lost faith in the capacity of individuals to overcome adversity and try to shape their destinies. A culture in which it is assumed that we are victims of forces beyond our control, where we are all experiencing diminished responsibility for our lives, provides fertile ground for the abuse excuse. No matter what happens these degrading appeals seem set to continue.

It is a syndrome that more and more attorneys are using when they explain the aberrant behaviour of the accused, telling the court why the crime was committed and indeed why the accused is expecting to get away with it. The abuse excuse gets abused itself, as seen when Jeremy Steinke tried to explain why he committed the Richardson family murders in Medicine Hat, except he wasn't the one being abused. He said it was his then-12 year old girlfriend and accomplice being abused, that she became the youngest mass murderer in Canadian history because of the treatment she received in the household. Thankfully the court rejected Steinke's defense, and rightly so, basically rebutting the abuse excuse as described by legal scholar Alan Dershowitz, a "legal invitation to vigilantism."

The abuse excuse gives us the reason an accused cannot tell right from wrong - responsibility for actions go out the door. The abuse excuse was the reason parole was a free pass for Darnell Pratt who killed in the act of stealing $12 worth of gas to fuel a stolen vehicle, scurrilously ending the life of young gas station attendant Grant DePatie by dragging him for 7 km in the undercarriage of the stolen vehicle. He continues to claim that a childhood spent in the revolving door of foster care created the Pratt that society must deal with today, problems he doesn't necessarily see in himself. His defense appeared to be holding sway as he ran amok in the parole system to be set completely free in July 2012.

The abuse excuse gives us all reason to commit a crime once we clearly make our accusations against our abusers, but since we have all been abused in someway over the course of our lives, the abuse excuse may be doing a major job abbreviating justice in present day society.

Alberta peace officer’s grisly death in the line of duty

Blue Heelers have a distinctive sounding bark

A bold and inviting sign, amongst the grass and sporadic trees, reads "Tangled Spur Ranch." Below it a small green model tractor, its red flag lowered downwards.This ranch is close to the community of Priddis just outside of Calgary, Canada. For Southern Alberta bylaw officer and former Mountie, Rod Lazenby, 62, it was just another day at work on Friday, August, 10th, 2012. He could not have suspected that today someone lay in wait for him,that he was part of a dispute that would lead to his death.

Trevor Kloschinsky 46, had ongoing disagreements with his neighbours ."I said you can leave now and don’t come back," said one neighbour, "He was erratic and foul mouthed, you couldn’t guess if he would do one thing or another." For a few months there had been a number of complaints made about the dogs at the acreage, Kloschinsky is said to believe these complaints were made by a neighbour who wanted to sell his own property.

Kloschinsky had somewhat of an obsession for breeding dogs, he had 30 Australian Cattle dogs (estimated) commonly nicknamed "Blue Heelers" at his rented ranch. He was often visited in response to calls about noise disturbances and had numerous animal and property-related complaints lodged against him. "They didn’t bark unless you went near them," said the Ranch owner Bruce Adams, who had himself been visited and probably cited by Lazenby.

Blue Heelers have a distinct and intense high-pitched bark but usually only bark when alarmed or as a sign of boredom to draw attention. They are a medium-sized dog. Wayne Ryder, a previous landlord of Kloschinsky, court-evicted him from a ranch west of Turner Valley because his dogs barked at all hours and he received numerous complaints from the neighbours."They are always barking and never go outside," said Chuck Caswell who lived close by.

"Theres no reason to have so many dogs,unless your a hoarder," said a dog breeder in Priddis.
  
Kloschinsky was a loner and a volatile man, RCMP were aware of this, unfortunately their concerns regarding this were not passed on to Foothills peace officers. Rod Lazenby who responded to a noise complaint, arrived at the Ranch unarmed. Peace Officers are not permitted to use guns. Hidden amongst the trees, Kloschinsky allegedly ambushed Lazenby on arrival. Lazenby was then handcuffed and severely beaten.

Lazenby had worked for the RCMP for over 35 years as an undercover officer and homicide detective, he had retired in 1996 then taken a job as a Peace Officer to be closer to his daughter. "He did some very unique and dangerous work," said Mike Butcher, former RCMP colleague and best friend. He was a quiet respecful man who showed understanding to people of all walks of life. Lazenby was a regular community volunteer, he was once the mascot for the Ototok Oilers hockey team.

Lazenby had spent his life dedicated to locking up dangerous criminals and was highly trained. According to the City Of Calgary, Peace Officers are also "trained in conflict resolution and mediation to better assist with neighborhood issues." Nonetheless Lazenby was ill equipped for the events that took place that day.

After allegedly beating Lazenby within an inch of his life, Kloschinsky then drove his victim to a South Calgary police station in a SUV claiming to have captured a person who wanted to "steal his dogs." Sources suggest some of Kloschinky’s dogs had been seized in the past. Lazenby was described as being in severe "medical distress" and was rushed to Rocky View General Hospital, Calgary but died on the way to the hospital from his injuries. He left behind a devastated wife and daughter, he also had a grandson he was devoted to.

 The RCMP charged Kloschinsky with first degree murder, on August 15, 2012, he made his first court appearance briefly to answer questions about his mental fitness. Kloschinsky, a large built man, heavily bearded with glasses may have seemed menacing as he faced the court had it not been for the handcuffs and shackles. He was however polite to the judge and thanked him before leaving the stand. A mental fitness assessment cannot be conducted until Kloschinsky has secured a legal representative. Crown Prosecutor Jim Sawa told reporters, "We are concerned that Mr Kloschinsky have legal representative. . . until we see the police material I cannot disclose anymore."

The Calgary Humane society offered its condolences, emailing the CBC, "Its a stark realisation at the capacity of risk these officers take to protect the welfare of animals everyday" Kloschinsky’s dogs are still at the property and "still barking " according to a neighbour. They are being cared for by the SPCA who are ensuring they have plenty of food and water but it is not yet known what will happen to them in the future and if they will need rehoming in light of Kloschinsky’s arrest.

Lazenby was a level 2 Peace Officer as such he was not even equipped with pepper spray or a baton. Alberta Solictor General stated that considering changing the equipment given to Peace officers is something the department will be doing after this investigation.

The mystifying elements of murder

One of the situations in crime investigation involves the interview process, and the news and social media services have allowed the public to become a fly on the wall in these proceedings. 

The police have a problem, a missing person, and they have a strong scent of foul play, sometimes a whack in the nose with the stench of death. The police have to go through the process of interviewing a person of interest, or a suspect, or an alleged murderer.

When the trial of Mark Twitchell in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was being prosecuted in the Criminal Court of the Queen's Bench in the Provincial Court of Alberta, the police interviews prior to his arrest made the rounds, and the public saw his behaviour after the murder and before he was charged with the first degree murder of Johnny Atlinger. It is a fact that this was a murder conducted with amazing alacrity and aplomb by a relatively unstoppable (until 'after the fact') moron, in the City of Edmonton, on Oct. 10, 2008. It was carried out in a rented garage on the south-side of Edmonton by a self-confessed Star Wars movie buff.  By all appearances the so-called movie set-slash-garage was rented for murder, and murder was done under cover of atrocious film-making (atrocious in the Ed Wood sense), and a whole lot of specious plotting.

The mystifying element to the bloody atrocity was the faux double life led by the perpetrator. He is a cartoon character in real-life, setting up shows, himself as the central caricature, a role immediately present when the cops start doing the interviews, as these appear in the video-tapes. He's a performer of atrocious deeds, and is the director, the stage hand, doorman to the performance, or would most certainly do so if he thought it was contributing to the outcome of the  'something or other' that he's unempathetically doin', which was attempting one murder and doing another.

The trial is a case that began with the disappearance of Johnny Atlinger on Oct. 10, 2008. Johnny Atlinger didn't just disappear at that date because he was killed without mercy, and that's the thing that makes this trial so interesting. Police interviews of Mark Twitchell before he was arrested and charged with murder contain about six hours of video interview that comes across as conversational dialogue between a couple of guys in a room, except Mark is on curtain call.

The detectives were adept in breaking down character even when they are caricatures. This character was never in focus in Mark Twitchell's mind because of the interviewing technique and the set-up of interviews. They have a physically exhausted prime suspect who they are treating as a person of interest but they are dragging it out; the interviews are 4 hours, then 6 hours within the same 24-hour period.

Embed of Twitchell Viedeo Pt 1

Twitchell is tired, and the detectives are leading him gently through interrogation, and Twitchell is compliant throughout the interrogations, which he is probably treating as casting calls. It is Twitchell's opportunity to lead the cops into various digressions, but not once do they show any regard for his dissembling narratives. Nor can any reasoning viewer discern an actual character in Mark Twitchell, but that is largely due to the police interrogators and their ability to keep pulling the real person back from the dissembling two dimension Twitchell pining for a role.

This trial has given Canadians an insight into the police interview techniques by allowing the evidence to be presented on video as two Edmonton Police Service homicide detectives engaged the murderer Mark Twitchell in an intensive questioning process, to which he submits without a lawyer, and does so for a lengthy examination before he breaks down and probably realizes he's a fucking idiot for not asking for a lawyer a lot sooner. At the end of these long interviews he finally asks for a lawyer.

The reader requires some background on the first degree murder charges involved here. Johnny Atlinger was lured into a garage by a woman named 'Sheena', whereas Atlinger was a person who spent a lot of time on PlentyofFish so he must have been meeting with some success. So is Mark Twitchell one such user, historically, for dates that included a date that led to a miserable marriage, and within the time-frame of the murder, for victims. Mark Twitchell's wife Jess was found on Plenty of Fish. So is the girlfriend of Mark Twitchell, Traci, and she's also a Facebook user, as are they all. Aren't we all?

The interviews of Oct 20, 2008, took place before the police gathered the evidence that pointed to Mark Twitchell, including DNA evidence found on butchery tools in his possession in the rental property he frequented for the purpose of making films. "You're there on the 10th. Is that the day you're trying to clean up all the corn syrup and stuff?" (Gag scene.)

"And on the tenth when are ya there?"

"Some time between three and five and five-thirty," says Twitchell.

That's the crime scene the detective is trying to zero in on, the Friday afternoon or early evening when Johnny Atlinger's disappearance is practically immediately discerned.
 

The two detectives spent those hours under close scrutiny of their own cameras with a primary suspect in a perplexing disappearance. It's not a stretch to suggest that the disappearance was more perplexing than it might normally be simply because the disappeared was a person of interest in his own right, as a sexual predator.

Toronto's dark find on a day in the park

It is Wednesday August 15th, 2012, and approaching midday. Rich vibrant green spruce trees, some tinted with white rise from the grass, stopping at a grey uneven road. There is an aroma of pureness in the air at Hewick Meadows Park, West Toronto. A group of hikers are enjoying a stroll near the Mississauga`s Credit River in the park. On the rivers edge amongst leaves and dead fallen branches they make a grisly discovery. Half submerged in the murky water is a severed human foot.

"There’s definitely something amiss," said Inspector Randy Cowan of Peel Regional Police.

The decomposition of the severed foot suggested it had remained undiscovered in the park for several weeks. The presence of yellow nail varnish on the toes of the victim pointed towards the foot belonging to a female. On March 27th 2004 a hiker discovered the body of 9 year Cecilia Zhang in the same park. Four months later a visa student Min Chen 21 originating from Shanghai, China was charged with her murder. Police confirmed that the size of the severed foot out ruled the victim being a child. But who is she ?

The Police began the arduous task of scouring the park and river for evidence and more remains. Police search dogs and members of Peel Regional police search team,waded through the murky river as a helicopter scanned the area. On Thursday 16th August 2012 a second find was made, police stated they had found the remains of a decapitated human head. It is hard to believe a place of such natural beauty where deers roam and people gather to enjoy the summertime would be the site of something so horrible. Mid afternoon on Friday 17th August 2012 Police made a third discovery a pair of human hands, one hand was located close to where the foot had been found on Wednesday downstream along the Credit River ,the other hand, even further downstream and quite a distance from the other body parts.

"The likelihood of it being the same person is common sense wise, pretty high !" said Sargent Pete Brandwood of Peel Regional Police

Dismemberment is a horrible business, it takes apart society's trust in their own safety limb by limb. Imagery of deep gashes ,blood gushing to the floor, painful screams and maniacal laughter, Canada is no stranger to being drenched in blood. On 31st December 2011 in Edmonton, the dismembered body of Misty Lynn Ward 27 was found in a bathtub, her blood coating the floor and the walls. The tenant of the apartment where she was discovered ,Joshua James Houle was later charged with second degree murder. She is one of many to suffer such a gruesome end.

In Montreal on July 26th 2012 the father of Jun Lin ,hugged a box containing his sons remains at his funeral and wept his eyes worn by grief and exhaustion. Jun Lins death hit global headlines when his headless torso was discovered in a suitcase his other body parts mailed to Government offices and schools. Luka Rocco Magnotto is charged with committing an indignity to a human body and also faces a charge of first degree murder. Could this case be connected ?

"There is no evidence at all to indicate that there is any connection to that incident" said Constable George Tudos.

On Saturday 18th August 2012, at West Highland Creek , 37 miles from where the body parts were found , a golfer Cameron James was searching for golf balls when he came across a "pungent smell". On further investigation he discovered it to be a decomposing human calf. The next day a Toronto Star reporter almost tripped over a garbage bag floating in the creek whilst reporting Cameron James' gruesome find - it contained more human remains. In total one arm, two calves and a thigh were found over that weekend. Was this a second victim ?

"We have a female victim, unfortunately we've been able to find portions of her body in two jurisdictions," said Sargent Pete Brandwood, speaking to the CBC on Monday August 20, 2012.

Forensic teams continued to examine the remains, closer study would hopefully provide investigators with more answers such as the weight, height and DNA of the victim. Meanwhile police sifted through piles of missing person reports in the hope of finding her identity .

On Tuesday August 14th, a day before the first body part was found, Guang Hua Liu, 41, mother of three, was reported missing by her boyfriend, Ken, she was described in the report as being 5"1, roughly 108 lbs in weight with tattooed eyebrows and long straight brown hair. Liu was last been seen the previous Friday at 6.30 pm after being dropped off at the Spa she owned, the Forget Me Not Holistic Spa on Englinton Avenue East which she had owned since May. On Tuesday August 21st Police released information that it was missing Guang Hua Liu who's body had been dismembered and disposed of in the river. The unfortunate woman finally had an identity now the questions remain - Who did this ? and why?

Chillingly evil domestic violent crime occurrence in the UK

Imagine never setting your eyes on your children again, never seeing the sun set and rise, smelling the sea air as it crashes against the rocks but not seeing it. For Tina Nash, 32, from a small town in Hayle, Cornwall, UK, this is a stark reality and it is now only in dreams she regains her vision, because on the April 21st, 2011 she lost her sight. 

"I feel like I’ve been buried alive." said Tina Nash when she spoke for the first time of her ordeal. "I actually look forward to going to sleep, because in my dreams, I have sight. It’s when I wake up that the truth hits home.”     

Last year her boyfriend Shane Jenkins, 33 ,subjected her to a 12-hour “premeditated, sustained and vicious attack.” as described by a Detective Inspector. For Tina life would never be the same because on the horrific night in question Jenkins gouged out her eyes.      

"I wonder if he brags that he's the last person I saw," said Tina, during a BBC interview. On Tina's birthday, Jenkins who now resides in a psychiatric unit spoke to the Daily Mirror stating, "I didn't start the whole thing that night. She's the one that attacked me. I'm not as evil as everyone has made out, I'm actually really chilled."     Why did Jenkins choose her Birthday to give his own account of events ? It appears even now he is intentionally attempting to control her life.      The night before the attack the couple had watched the horror film Hostel in which a lady has her eyes gouged out. On the night in question the couple had argued after Jenkins had attempted to hand some sleeping pills to a neighbour and Tina had left and gone to bed at her own home in Hayle, Cornwall, only later to be beaten unconscious in her sleep.      

"When I came round he was trying to strangle me and knocked me unconscious. I come round again and he was strangling me again and he knocked me unconscious again but when I came around again I realized what was going on and thought oh my god, he's trying to kill me.”      Tina then in desperation apologized and said she loved Jenkins, it was only then she was to realize the severity of her injuries when Jenkins chillingly described what he had done to her. “Your eyes are hanging out your head, you will never see your kids again, I'm going to get 20 years for this”      

Tina then felt her face only to realize one of her eyes was now out of the socket and hanging from her face and another punched deep into the socket. It was in that moment Tina Nash discovered she was blind. Other injuries included a fractured jaw and a broken nose. Yet despite her desperate pleas to be saved and for Jenkins to call an ambulance he did not release Tina for 12 hours. Doctors and surgeons battled for four weeks but couldn't save Tina's eyes. One eye was pushed so far back it had burst and she now wears a prosthetic eye in her left socket.      

Six foot four inch Jenkins who has the word "Outlaw" tattooed on his arm, owned a book about Raoul Moat a deranged murderer from Newcastle upon Tyne who shot three people with a sawed off shotgun before killing himself in July 2010. During Moat`s attack he had shot a police officer David Rathband who survived but was permanently blinded. Jenkins reportedly once told Tina, "If I am going down, I am going down for something worthwhile."      

This was not the first time Jenkins had been violent, three months before the attack he was reportedly charged with breaching bail after being charged with a domestic assault causing actual bodily harm. Pubs in Penzance, Cornwall (the Southwest of England), had repeatedly barred him for violent behaviour. "He once dragged someone outside, up the road, put a bench on his head and started jumping on it,” one barman said, “He ended up with a fractured skull and brain damage and I think he did some prison time for that but played the diminished responsibility card and was out in about 10 months. This was several years ago in his mid-twenties." Devon and Cornwall police refused to confirm this.      

Eight months into his relationship with Tina he had physically attacked her after she had found him with her friend dressed only in her underwear. As an explanation to the event he punched her three times. She then had fled to the bedroom and hid under the duvet but he attacked her again pressing his thumbs into her eyes but that time she had managed to escape. From then on in their relationship Jenkins had subjected Tina to repeated violent attacks, strangling and beating her, she had stayed with him out of fear.

Jenkins has been given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of six years, which he is serving in a mental hospital. He admits he "went nuts" and "lost the plot" but continues to blame Tina for the assault. Tina has life changing injuries, she will never see her children again or the Cornish seaside but now lives independently with her two sons 4 and 14 and their new pet dog. She is striving to help other women who are victims of domestic violence by highlighting her own suffering at the hands of Jenkins, urging them to speak up. "Shane was not mentally ill when he attacked me, he was not drunk or under the influence of drugs."      

As she stood for the cameras last month, she was a completely changed woman from the victim who tearfully described her ordeal, she is now a survivor who continues to outstand locals with her positive attitude.      

"I urge anyone out there suffering domestic abuse to contact the police before it is too late. Don’t be frightened or embarrassed," said Tina.

Update 2022

Monster Shane Jenkin who gouged partner's eyes out in Hayle fails in freedom bid - Cornwall Live

Winnipeg's summer of hell messenger delivered to court

Alleged murderer Lulonda Lynn Flett, 41, was led into a week-long preliminary hearing in Winnipeg August 13, 2012, to see if there was sufficient evidence to send her to trial for a massacre that killed five and severely injured three, and there is enough evidence. The hearing ended abruptly when the Crown dropped three additional charges of attempted murder and Flett stands to face five counts of murder in the second degree allegedly committed by arson last year, July 13, 2011.

 

Police say Flett was witnessed torching the porch at the front of an old 13-room wood-frame tenement, igniting the front of the building using some kind of combustible fuel. She started the fire in the middle of the night, before 2:00 a.m., then was seen leaving the area while the ensuing blaze lit-up the tinder-dry house and immolated eight people inside. City fire officials told media the blaze was climbing stairs and “blocking an obvious escape route by the time crews arrived.” Neighbours told Winnipeg media that the rooming house was occupied by drug addicts.

Flett's fiery attack took place last summer in a city staggered by a heatwave, a weather inferno that seemed to spawn a fury of arsonists. By the end of it, firefighters told CBC News in October they had just been through the "summer of hell" with arson incidents. Flett's charges came from witness accounts and investigation into her motives.

"I can acknowledge that our accused may have known at least one individual who did reside at that location," said Const. Jason Michalyshen, on the Sunday following her arrest. The 13-room tenement was not known to be her residence. She was under court order to stay away from her sister-in-law, Lynette Harper, who was among eight people at the house during the time of the fire. Harper was one of the few who escaped “unscathed” along with another resident Marie Flett.

Flett`s August date at the hearing occurred after Howard James Mason, 52, another arson-killer, had a life sentence upheld July 2, 2012 by the Manitoba Court of Appeal. Justices Richard Chartier, Holly Beard and Marc Monnin agreed with the judge who sentenced Mason, Justice Brenda Keyser, in putting the protection of the public first after "chilling" crime and his horrendous criminal record.” Mason was a violent Winnipeg arsonist who confessed to killing two people on Dec. 21, 2006, using a lighter, what he calls a "f--kin' deadly weapon," to inflict a 'Rubby death' by setting fire to a couch of a rooming house. People were passed out inside.

A few days after the fire Mason turned himself into police. He said he was motivated by “anger … wanted to hurt some people.” Dan Vaillant and Lavina Bradburn were burned beyond recognition and had to be identified through DNA tests. Another woman trapped in the blaze spent five months in hospital, suffered burns to 55 per cent of her body, lost fingers and required over two dozen surgeries.

In 2011 Mason made a plea of guilty to two counts of manslaughter and a count of arson causing bodily harm. Mason had a long criminal record including arson convictons in 1977 and 2001, and numerous convictions for assault and robbery. He served three prior prison terms. During the appeal a psychologist called Mason a "versatile and persistent" criminal. Mason has been "unable or unwilling" to face substance abuse and anger problems.

The Appeal Court judges ruled that his punishment of was not "harsh and excessive. It was certainly open to the sentencing judge … to conclude that (Mason) could not be deterred and that, out of public safety concerns, the time had come to physically remove and separate him from society and to put controls in place for the remainder of his life," Chartier said.

Justice Keyser based her lower court decision on evidence showing he had "minimal prospects for rehabilitation, lack of empathy and insight as well as repeated and continuous aggressive behaviour spanning his entire adult life." Mason presently serves a life sentence. The last recourse for this convicted killer is the Supreme Court of Canada if he still believes the sentence is excessive punishment for killing two and mutilating another. He receives his first chance at parole in 2013.

Adam Croft became the poster boy for stopping abuse of Non-Returnable Warrants in Canada

Occasionally we gaze on things in society with astonishment like when we hear about criminals being released due to non-returnable warrants. We almost inevitably have to ask, "What the hell is that?" Having a non-returnable warrant means if you commit a criminal offense in Winnipeg, then you can run to Vancouver, or you commit a crime in Toronto you can run to Vancouver, or you commit a crime in Trois Riviere and you can run to Vancouver (yes, Vancouver). Now a city in Saskatchewan has unfurled a travel program by purchasing homeless people a bus ticket to Vancouver.

Initially one Adam Croft of Ontario had been on the lam for a couple of years and suddenly became the poster boy for non-returnable warrants in Canada. When he was arrested in Vancouver on Jan 16, 2008 he was more than a wanted man, for the astonished Croft was part of a pilot project of the Vancouver Police Department in dealing with individuals who face serious charges in other jurisdictions (provinces); in the case of Croft outstanding charges include assault causing bodily harm.

The VPD picked him up with media in tow and after arresting Croft they asked Toronto police if they were willing to accept a return of the non-returnable, and Toronto agreed, if VPD foots the bill on transportation. Croft chose to accept justice in B.C., pleading guilty to all charges, but the Vancouver (and Victoria) police departments on Canada's west coast would continue to lead the charge against criminals who escape justice by changing locations.

Believe it or not, this migratory behavior works to escape justice, sometimes, or, in the case of some principalities, a lot of times. Vancouver police estimate they have 2,500 'warrant jumpers' inhabiting the Downtown East-side low-track hotels and streets in the city where the 'welcome wagon' delivers crack and meth. 

All of a sudden these folks find the welcome comes as a paddy wagon or back seat of a cruiser. The issue is raised by the VPD which won't let it die.

It used to be that a majority of non-returnable warrants related to non-indictable (non-criminal) acts like highway traffic offenses (excluding accident or injury) but police in Vancouver have long expressed the feeling they are being overrun by indictable criminals stampeding into the Lower Mainland from other jurisdictions. 

(More recently Vancouver has been targeted by police forces wanting to rid their streets of homeless, namely Saskatoon.) It has come to the point that, according to the VPD, the courts in southern Ontario are encouraging the out-migration of their criminals by commonly setting an '80 km perimeter of return' for the footloose; in other words, “Get out of town and you won't be pursued.”

"Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under section 83.29 of the Criminal Code of Canada," says Wikipedia. "The judge must be satisfied that the person named in the warrant is (a) is evading service of the order, is about to abscond, or did not attend the examination, or did not remain in attendance, as required by the order. Once the warrant has been issued section 29 of the Code requires that the arresting officer must give notice to the accused of the existence of the warrant, the reason for it, and produce it if requested."

The problem with the warrant system is not new. A communiqué from the Vancouver City Clerk's Office Jan. 24, 1997 as issued by Vancouver City Council regarded a Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) resolution for an impending annual conference. The resolution discussed the radii of warrants under Criminal Code offences, and asserted that the criminal justice system was allowing offenders "to avoid arrest and hence prosecution, by fleeing the jurisdiction for which a warrant for their arrest is in effect."

The resolution continued, "THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Vancouver urge the Government of Canada in conjunction with all the Provincial Attorney Generals, to commit to adopting a national policy for establishing warrant radii across jurisdictions and hence ensuring a consistent approach to enforcement of the law."

In 2006 there was a resolution from the Law Amendments Committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police that urged Ottawa to show leadership to the provinces and create a national transportation system to bring fugitives back to face their crimes. The CACP also "urged the Minister of Justice to amend the Criminal Code to make it illegal to cross provincial boundaries to knowingly evade a regional warrant and provide stiffer sentences for those who do."

The problem arises from the order for police to arrest, which requires a statutory power. The FCM notes, "Warrants for arrest must be in effect inside the jurisdiction where police encounter the individual. The warrant must be issued to extend the radius to detain," and the FCM says that because of the multi-jurisdictional situation in justice "warrant radii are a significant impediment in the pursuit of justice," for, FCM says, "cooperation between the different agencies has historically not been easy."

Vancouver police have studied the issue and can say the justice system in Vancouver "sets the largest radius than any other jurisdiction. The radius for a warrant is determined by Crown Counsel after consultation with the police." Most indictable offences have Canada-wide warrants, but, VPD says, "Many jurisdictions outside B.C. will issue warrants with radii as little as 200 km outside the issuing agency." (Some set the radii as little as 80 km.)

The reason for setting a 'return radii' relates to cost. Return of the offender is absorbed by the jurisdiction issuing the warrant. With criminals banished to Vancouver, "Many people wanted on non-returnable warrants continue to be criminally active outside the issuing jurisdiction." A criminal element has been congregating on the west coast.

The CACP suggests amendments to the Criminal Code, "Amend sections relating to powers of arrest and warrants." The Criminal Code of Canada has 28 parts containing 848 sections. The code was first passed in 1892 and grew out of this consolidation of criminal law under a single statute.

The administration of criminal law in Canada is provincial and it is these jurisdictions that foot the bill. Bearing all this in mind the VPD created a radius guideline for common criminal offences. In most cases the warrant would be either B.C.-wide or Canada-wide (and the radius in Lower Mainland was eliminated).

According to a report from a joint Federal/Provincial Task force on trans-jurisdictional issues the Criminal Code of Canada needs to be amended to deal with these footloose criminals. The task force said a national approach must increase legal authority of local agencies in powers of arrest, but most important, the approach needs to deal with the problem on the west coast. The task force suggests "a reciprocal agreement between provinces is one solution." In addition, "a new offence of fleeing a jurisdiction to escape prosecution needs to be considered."​