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Courts - Canada - Abusive judge
B.C. Provincial Court
Bought Sex from youth who appeared in his courtroom
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. Former judge David William Ramsay whispered
"guilty" five times yesterday, admitting he led
a double life buying sex from girls as young as 12 and threatening
them if they dared tell.
His wife sat grim-faced in B.C. Supreme Court, eyes glued
to the court's scarlet carpet, while Ramsay stood in the prisoner's
dock and acknowledged a series of facts that bespoke a tortured
and repressed personality.
By day, Ramsay was a provincial court judge, handling everything
from family affairs to the most serious crimes, and a seemingly
upstanding citizen. By night, he preyed upon girls who had
appeared before him.
If the poor, homeless girls complained, the tall, lanky Ramsay
turned violent.
One 16-year-old had her head smashed off a dashboard, was
raped and left abandoned bleeding in the middle of the night
with the "decent, caring" Ramsay's taunts ringing
in her ear. She still has nightmares about it.
Another said in 1993, when she was 12 years old, Ramsay paid
her $80 for ?oral sex and a lay.?
?That judge is one of my johns," she remembered crowing
to her mother during child-welfare proceedings in front of
him.
Later, he picked her up and said she'd been "a bad girl."
He then paid her $150 to "simulate aggressive sex,"
which included spanking her.
But he began to go too far and the girl was forced to bolt.
He yelled as she fled: "Go ahead. Tell someone. No one
will believe you. Once a whore, always a whore:'
The woman, who has turned her a life around and today is raising
two children, says she cannot speak about the incident without
pain and is haunted by it.
Along with Ramsay's other victims, she sat in the front row
of the half-filled public gallery.
Until the unexpected change of plea, they were steeling themselves
to relive ugly times each has tried to bury.
Special Crown prosecutor Dennis Murray said Ramsay's offences
demanded between three and five years' imprisonment
"He was uniquely in a position to know the extent of
the damage he could cause," Mr. Murray said.
Ramsay's lawyer, Leonard Doust said he would argue for a shorter
prison term.
B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm will
hear sentencing submissions on June 1.
Ramsay is free on $50,000 bail but under virtual house arrest
while awaiting sentencing.
The agreed-upon-statement of facts, read to the court by Mr.
Murray, unveiled a pattern of aberrant behaviour and misconduct
by Ramsay.
He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault causing bodily
harm to one girl, three counts of buying sex from three other
girls under the age of 18 and one charge of breach of trust.
By court order, the women can be identified only by letters
- A, J, H, and C. Stays of proceeding were entered 'on five
related" charges.
Mr. Doust tried to minimize Ramsay's crimes as the "manifestation
of a significant character flaw.?
He suggested Ramsay could not mount a full defence because
of a faulty memory.
"He accepts responsibility;' the Vancouver lawyer told
the court. "He cannot deny it."
Ramsay, who was appointed to the bench in 1991, received reports
on these girls outlining their ages, their psychiatric histories,
their troubled backgrounds ? the degree to which each was
in crisis.
The girls all came from depressingly similar backgrounds -
their parents were dysfunctional, violent and poor. They too
were abused sexually and physically.
In the first case, "J" was a 16 year-old working
the streets in late 1999 when Ramsay picked her up, drove
her outside of town and offered her $150 for sex.
When she pulled out a condom, Ramsay became enraged because
he was paying a premium. He grabbed the girl by the hair and
smashed her head off the dashboard.
She struggled and managed to get out of the vehicle.
Ramsay followed, pinned her to the ground and raped her while
calling her a "whore.'
He left her naked, weeping and drove off tossing her clothes
out the window.
In early 2000, the girl entered rehab and cleaned up her life.
As a result, she tried to regain custody of her son, who had
been seized by the child welfare authorities because of her
addiction and prostitution problems.
On May 28, 2002, when she appeared in court to regain custody
of her son, the judge was Ramsay.
Although he granted the order, the young woman bolted from
the room and broke down on the courthouse steps.
"How dare he smile at me and say how well I was doing
after what he did to me,' she sobbed to social workers.
She told them what had happened and they pursued her allegations.
The investigation "snowballed" from there, Mr. Murray
said.
Can West News Service
(The Vancouver Sun)
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