As accustomed as I am to seeing the blatent stupidity of our justice system, I was unprepared to read that Kelly Ellard, the convicted killer of 14 year old Reena Virk 10 years ago in Victoria, is being granted an appeal to seek a new trial, her fourth in this case. And just to make sure my gag reflex was working, Mr. Justice Ian Donald agreed to allow her to do it on the public teat.
To his credit, Justice Donald at least recognized the case is “notorious.” But still, this case has had every detail examined in the media, in court three times and in the blogosphere. This isn’t a “whodunit.” Ellard was there and an active participant in the brutal killing of Virk. Ellard has played the system like a fiddle and the charade continues unabated by common sense.
At what point will the system say enough is enough? Well, never, apparently.
Ellard is a stone-cold killer. She is also an habitual, albeit small-time, criminal. She has not spent one meaningful, productive moment in her life as far as I can tell. She is incorrigible and on top of all of that, she is very violent. When she gets out of prison, she will immediately return to her former life. On that, you can make book. Bet the farm in fact.
To be sure, Ellard is entitled to mount a defence and an appeal if she feels she has, after three kicks at the cat, somehow been unfairly done by. And she is entitled to ensure her rights are not abused by the system. But please, this is now becoming an abuse of process and the public should not have to pay for it.
Ellard would have us believe everyone is lying except her. Which, of course, is nonsense. The first conviction was overturned by the BC Court of Appeal because she was asked 18 times in cross-examination why the myriad of witnesses would lie. Even though that was the salient part of her defence, the Court ruled the Crown couldn’t ask the question so many times.
And yes, I thought that decision was fundamentally flawed as well. But, nevertheless we are now at this point where the Legal Services Society had declined to pay for any further legal action and the court has ruled in favour of wasting yet more taxpayer money on this frivolous action.
I had no doubt our criminal justice system is absolutely dysfunctional and broken. This latest decision merely confirms that opinion.
Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com
To his credit, Justice Donald at least recognized the case is “notorious.” But still, this case has had every detail examined in the media, in court three times and in the blogosphere. This isn’t a “whodunit.” Ellard was there and an active participant in the brutal killing of Virk. Ellard has played the system like a fiddle and the charade continues unabated by common sense.
At what point will the system say enough is enough? Well, never, apparently.
Ellard is a stone-cold killer. She is also an habitual, albeit small-time, criminal. She has not spent one meaningful, productive moment in her life as far as I can tell. She is incorrigible and on top of all of that, she is very violent. When she gets out of prison, she will immediately return to her former life. On that, you can make book. Bet the farm in fact.
To be sure, Ellard is entitled to mount a defence and an appeal if she feels she has, after three kicks at the cat, somehow been unfairly done by. And she is entitled to ensure her rights are not abused by the system. But please, this is now becoming an abuse of process and the public should not have to pay for it.
Ellard would have us believe everyone is lying except her. Which, of course, is nonsense. The first conviction was overturned by the BC Court of Appeal because she was asked 18 times in cross-examination why the myriad of witnesses would lie. Even though that was the salient part of her defence, the Court ruled the Crown couldn’t ask the question so many times.
And yes, I thought that decision was fundamentally flawed as well. But, nevertheless we are now at this point where the Legal Services Society had declined to pay for any further legal action and the court has ruled in favour of wasting yet more taxpayer money on this frivolous action.
I had no doubt our criminal justice system is absolutely dysfunctional and broken. This latest decision merely confirms that opinion.
Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com
Posts
3 comments:
What a gong show, 'nuff said.
You are right in saying that the justice system in our country is dysfunctional. Does it mean that the Judges and some of the politicians are in d same boat? May be that is the reason why nobody is touching the justice system issues. Let the system works and help the criminals. Let the victims of any crime and their famiiies suffered for the rest of their life. That is the reality in CANADA!!!
Well, I think that is the reality that Canadians were already immune to the dysfunctional systems in our country.
Post a Comment