Sexual Predators in Canada

Is Judicial System Breaking Down?

On Friday, June 8th, 2007, Provincial Court Judge Michael Hubbard acquitted Officer Seth Paine on two criminal counts: luring a child over the internet, and touching a young person for a sexual purpose.

"It is a fact-driven case," quipped defense lawyer Ted Beaubier outside the court. "It is not a situation where the law is necessarily sanctioning sex with 14-year-olds." Actually, it's exactly that.

In 2006, Const. Seth Paine, 31, was charged with using a computer to communicate with the intent to lure a person under 18 years old and touching a young person for a sexual purpose.

The former officer admitted his guilt to the girl and the court. Trial transcripts of his email correspondences tell of his guilty conscience when he confides that he was supposed to protect young girls like her from old guys like him.

Seth Paine told the girl she was too hot to handle, but maybe just one time. He then arranged for a rendezvous during one of the girls eighth grade lunch breaks.

Victim of a Sexual Predator

Six weeks later, when it finally dawned on her that she'd been seduced and dumped, she had a meltdown which included self harm and the slashing of her upper legs and thighs.

She told the court that she was "festering inside" when Paine blew her off and eventually "Just snapped."

None of this seemed to make any impact on His Honor:

"However inappropriate the relationship may appear to those of us with a traditional view of the company a 14-year-old should keep, the association does not become criminal without the added ingredient[s]," a position of trust, a position of authority or a relationship of dependency.

The honorable judge determined the 14-year-old girl "was acting entirely voluntarily and of her own initiative." And therefore felt this fact negated the first count which required Officer Paine be in a "position of authority or trust" over her.

In order for the sex act between the girl, a mooney eyed adolescent, and Seth Paine, a married, uniformed officer of the highest order in Canada, to have been criminal, Victoria prosecutor Daniel Scanlan had to prove to the judge that Officer Paine did indeed occupy a position of trust in the adolescent's life.

Judge Ramsey and The Highway of Tears

According to journalist Dave Milne of the Canadian Press, the tips against Paine and a second RCMP officer, 23-year-old Jonathan Clarke from Langley, BC, were unearthed during an investigation into the now infamous case of Judge Ramsey, a sexual predator who preyed on young native girls from the Prince George area. Both RCMP officers were at one time stationed in Prince George.

Prince George RCMP media liaison officer Const. Mike Caira confirmed to media last year Paine and Clarke's investigations were linked. "It was all part and parcel of the same investigation," said Caira.

Judge David Ramsay was sentenced to jail in June 2004, for a seven-year term after sexually preying on five aboriginal teenagers; some were as young as 12 when the abuse began.

Judge Ramsey has pleaded guilty in court.

Police have asked the victims not to speak to the media because they were continuing the investigation into what other "notable men" might also have done to them.

Highway 16 is a stretch of road dubbed the Highway of Tears due to its scandalous reputation as the hunting ground for those whose preferred prey are aboriginal girls.

This corridor serves Prince George and surrounding areas as an alternate route popular with long haul truckers and also hitchhikers too poor to own, maintain and gas up a private vehicle.

As few as 9 and more than 30 women and girls have simply disappeared on this highway while hitchhiking.