Family, Friends And Jury: Collateral Damage Of The Pickton Trial

Kathleen Wattley, citizen news, Pickton, missing women, Sarah DeVries, Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, prostitution, sex trade, brothels

Kathleen Wattley - DOB: October 20, 1959, missing since June 18, 1992

When the families didn’t know the details, and the sensationalism happened on the first day of trial, we immediately lost an opportunity to use the media in a positive way…to expose how this is going on in society.

Holly Desimone , Canada

Date Posted: 11/20/07

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I’ve been an advocate for people affected by sexual violence because of a personal experience. I was sexually assaulted in 1990 and I went public in 1991, against the wishes of my family. The case was featured on America’s Most Wanted in 1993 and in Reader’s Digest in 1998. The rapist was an international fugitive wanted in other countries for similar crimes who entered the country illegally with a fake passport. Because this advocacy is my life’s work, I am concerned about all women who face sexual violence, and that includes the victims of the Pickton serial killer case.

It’s difficult for anyone to make the choice of going public when they are the victim of sexual violence; there’s still a lot of stigma attached to it. When I went public, it was several years ago, when going public before a trial began and before the perpetrator was apprehended was unheard of.

I’m definitely not an expert in the area of sexual violence against prostitutes. It’s sad that we have women who are working the streets for survival sex. Many women live in poverty and can’t afford to put food on the table or pay rent. When you end up with addiction, it becomes a circle. Because we’ve had so many cuts in social programs, the shelters are full and there is no way to get people into treatment, it creates a lot of risk.

Women probably know the risk, but because they’re trying to put food on the table while struggling with addiction, they really don’t know where to turn. The places they turn to do help to a certain degree. It’s so complex, and there’s no simple answer.

We’ve seen that prostitutes are extremely targeted, demoralized and marginalized. In three different provinces in Canada – Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba - there have been a number of women slain, and the victims are not just women working in the sex industry.

The Pickton case has been so horrific. Usually you have one or two victims - we’ve never been faced with this number of victims all in the same trial. We’ve got the victims themselves, who have been unable to speak for themselves because their lives were taken, we’ve got the families of the victims, and finally we have women who worked alongside the slain women.