Prior assault charge against alleged Winnipeg serial killer stayed after complainant deemed unreliable | 24CA News
WARNING: This story incorporates distressing particulars.
A 2021 assault cost in opposition to accused serial killer Jeremy Skibicki was stayed partly as a result of the decide discovered the testimony of his estranged spouse unreliable resulting from her reminiscence points.
The lady’s mom mentioned she was identified with post-concussion syndrome after the alleged assault, and that had an impact on her reminiscence.
The assault cost in opposition to Skibicki stemmed from an incident through which the mom alleges her daughter was chased down an residence hallway with a knife. It left the girl with accidents from being punched within the head and hit over the pinnacle with a cane, based on the mom.
A spokesperson for the province mentioned the assault cost was re-evaluated after a decide “made findings about the reliability” of the girl’s testimony in a separate trial involving the girl and Skibicki across the identical time.
That trial was related with an alleged violation of an order banning Skibicki from contacting the girl.
Her mom mentioned she and her daughter have been livid once they realized the assault cost would not have its day in court docket.
“My daughter yelled at the Crown … ‘I hope when you put your head down at night, you know you’re letting somebody out'” who could damage or kill somebody, mentioned the mom.
CBC just isn’t naming her to guard the id of her daughter, who’s a sufferer of abuse.
The assault cost was stayed after a trial in December 2021, just some months earlier than the primary killing Skibicki is now accused of.
He’s charged with first-degree homicide within the deaths of 4 girls in Winnipeg — Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and a fourth unidentified lady Indigenous leaders have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.
Police consider Buffalo Woman was the primary of the 4 to be killed, on or round March 15, 2022.
Skibicki’s lawyer says his shopper intends to plead not responsible on all 4 first-degree homicide counts.
Just earlier than the assault cost was stayed, Skibicki was acquitted within the trial involving the alleged court docket order violation throughout a Dec. 14, 2021, listening to in Manitoba provincial court docket.
A decide discovered he could not rely solely on the testimony of the girl, who has post-concussion syndrome and struggles with reminiscence.
At a 2019 listening to, the place the girl was granted a safety order in opposition to Skibicki, she mentioned she suffered from reminiscence points after a fall three or 4 years prior.
The lady’s mom mentioned these reminiscence points bought worse after the alleged assault.
In acquitting Skibicki of the alleged court docket order violation, Judge Sidney Lerner additionally famous he was puzzled why police — having seen the girl’s cellphone, which she mentioned held proof of the alleged contact from Skibicki — did not seize any proof from it.
Stayed costs ‘devastating’ for survivors: lawyer
A lawyer who works with a corporation that provides household legislation assist to girls leaving abusive relationships says getting an assault cost to the courtroom could be a tough course of for survivors of intimate-partner violence.
If a cost is stayed on the finish of that lengthy path — after coming ahead, coping with police and doubtlessly testifying in court docket — it might really feel like a failure for the survivor, mentioned Pamela Cross, authorized director at Luke’s Place, in Ontario’s Durham area.
“It’s devastating, in a word — absolutely devastating,” Cross mentioned.
“Now she’s got to go back and sort of rebuild her whole sense of esteem, which was already destroyed by the abuser and has now been destroyed by the system that she thought was going to help her.”
She mentioned that impact may make a survivor much less more likely to name police once more.
Cross mentioned Canada’s felony justice system is not well-suited to reply to intimate accomplice violence. For one factor, it is a crime that usually has no witnesses, leaving the courts with a “she said, he said” dilemma.
“And often the abuser can come across looking much more believable because he’s not traumatized, he hasn’t been harmed. And also, he may be somebody that the players in the court system can identify with better than they can identify with the survivor,” she mentioned.
Many working throughout the court docket system additionally haven’t got a deep understanding of the long-term impacts of intimate accomplice violence — together with traumatic mind accidents, which Cross mentioned are widespread.
“There’s no external physical evidence of what’s happened, but there has been damage done internally that can affect the survivor in terms of her ability to remember coherently or remember in consecutive order what’s happened,” she mentioned.
“That then can make her look like a less-than-reliable witness.”
Zita Somakoko, who heads the advocacy group Breaking the Silence on Domestic Violence, mentioned there must be a collaborative effort to offer extra coaching on the difficulty to folks working in locations just like the court docket system.
“Victims get punished at every angle,” Somakoko mentioned.
“And then all we have for the perpetrator? Slap on the wrist.”
The provincial spokesperson mentioned new Crown attorneys in Manitoba get a week-long home violence coaching session and extra particular home violence coaching for these transferring to work within the specialty unit.
Crowns working with traumatized victims and witnesses additionally get extra coaching, the spokesperson mentioned.
Challenges in prosecuting
While having a witness deemed unreliable due to reminiscence points could be a problem in some instances, prosecutors in that scenario have choices to bolster their proof, mentioned Brandon Trask, an assistant professor in the University of Manitoba’s college of legislation.
That can embrace submitting a witness’s assertion as proof if it was made earlier than the onset of their reminiscence points, or calling knowledgeable proof to assist the court docket perceive why the witness cannot bear in mind sure issues, he mentioned.
“That’s not going to be a very common thing that you see in court. There are a lot of reasons for that, not the least of which would be sort of a resourcing issue, because expert evidence is very costly and time-consuming to get,” Trask mentioned.
Throughout a case, Crown attorneys additionally must continuously ask themselves two questions, he mentioned.
The first is whether or not there is a affordable chance of conviction, which comes down as to if there’s sufficient proof. If there’s, the second query comes up: whether or not it is within the public curiosity to proceed, which may contemplate components equivalent to how severe the alleged crime is and the way a lot time has handed, Trask mentioned.
Introducing similar-fact proof if there are adequate similarities with a earlier incident can also be an possibility, he mentioned.
In 2015, Skibicki was convicted of assaulting a unique lady, who was then his common-law accomplice. The agreed details in that case included him pulling his pregnant accomplice’s hair, punching her a number of occasions within the face, making an attempt to strangle her and threatening to kill her if she known as police.
But similar-fact proof is a tough space of the legislation that comes with main dangers — together with the potential for the defence to make use of it as grounds for an enchantment if there is a conviction, Trask mentioned.
While prosecutors in Canada can request officers examine a matter additional, they can not direct police operations, which may current some difficulties, he mentioned.
If too little proof was gathered and there isn’t any suggestion extra will are available, not continuing with costs is usually the one alternative Crown attorneys are left with.
That means even a stable witness assertion may be affected by the truth that witnesses’ recollections usually fade over time — which is why it is useful for prosecutors to produce other proof that corroborates what they’re saying, Trask mentioned.
Cross says whereas a survivor of intimate accomplice violence could really feel she’s the one who failed if her testimony would not result in a conviction, she’s not in the end the one accountable.
“She has the right to rely on a criminal system that we’re all taught in this country — from the time we’re very young — is there to keep us safe,” Cross mentioned.
“And if she feels … there’s no point in her engaging with it, then the system has failed. The country has failed her.”
Support is on the market for anybody affected by particulars of this case. If you require assist, you’ll be able to contact Ka Ni Kanichihk’s Medicine Bear Counselling, Support and Elder Services at 204-594-6500, ext. 102 or 104, (inside Winnipeg) or 1-888-953-5264 (outdoors Winnipeg).
Support can also be out there by way of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison unit at 1-800-442-0488 or 204-677-1648.
