I am going to write a MUCH more comprehensive piece about Aaron, his life and his untimely death, but do not have time at the moment. For the time being, please read the following....
When I first heard the sentence handed down to the first murderer in the Aaron Webster case, and the details surrounding it, I was outraged. Please read the following two articles. The text of a letter I have sent out to numerous people regarding this matter follows immediately afterward.
Please consider adding your voice to mine, and hundreds of others. Write to your provincial and federal justice ministers, your MLA and your MP. This is more than just about Aaron, or even about gay rights. This is about fairness and JUSTICE.
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Judge Imposes Hate Crime Sentence Despite Prosecution
by Rich Peters
365Gay.com Newscenter
Vancouver Bureau
Posted: December 19, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET
(Vancouver, British Columbia) A Vancouver judge Thursday ruled that the 2001 killing of a gay man was hate crime even though the prosecutor had decided not to seek the additional charge.
Judge Valmond Romilly sentenced the 19 year old accused to three years in prison for his involvement in the killing of Aaron Webster. Webster's nude body was found near a path in a gay cruising area of Stanley Park. The 41 year old Webster had been beaten with a baseball bat and golf clubs on Nov. 17, 2001.
The crime went unsolved for nearly a year. Then after a local Crimestoppers broadcast police got a tip and arrested the teen. Four additional suspects were charged several weeks later. Their cases are still before the courts.
The 19 year old cannot be named under Canadian law because he was a minor at the time of the killing. The teen had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in July. The sentence, which includes one year for the hate crime enhancement, is the maximum Canadian law permits for a young offender.
The killing galvanized the city's large gay community. Vancouver's police chief, the investigators, and provincial and local politicians attended his funeral. But, despite pleas from the community the prosecutor did not ask for the additional hate crime sentence. The crown attorney said it would be too difficult to prove that the killing was hate motivated and not a robbery.
Judge Romilly disagreed.
The teen in his confession said he and his friends had been drinking and went looking to beat up gay men who cruised the sprawling downtown park.
In his delivering sentence Romilly called the attack savage and cowardly and compared the teens to a "thug brigade" out of Nazi Germany.
Romilly said after reading the Criminal Code of Canada, "I failed to see why it cannot be described as a gay bashing." Canadian hate crime law includes LGBT protections.
�365Gay.com� 2003
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Charges Too Light In Slaying Vancouver Gays Say
by Rich Peters
365Gay.com Newscenter
Vancouver Bureau
Posted: December 22, 2003 8:02 p.m. ET
(Vancouver, British Columbia) Vancouver gays are demanding the prosecutor increase the charges against four men accused of the vicious 2001 killing of a gay man.
The full details of Aaron Webster's murder came out last week at the sentencing of the fifth person responsible for the violent slaying on a trail in a gay cruising area of downtown park. The 19 year old was the first of the five to be sentenced. He and the others were charged with manslaughter, and the prosecution did not ask for hate crime enhancements.
At the sentencing of the teen who was a minor at the time of the killing, and cannot under Canadian law be named, Judge Valmond Romilly admonished the prosecutor for not including a hate crime charge. Romilly added the charge himself, saying that after reading the Criminal Code of Canada, "I failed to see why it cannot be described as a gay bashing."
The teen said he and the others had been drinking and then went looking to beat up gay men who cruised the sprawling downtown park.
In his delivering sentence Romilly called the attack savage and cowardly and compared the teens to a "thug brigade" out of Nazi Germany.
Romilly sentenced the teen to the maximum allowed under young offender legislation, two years for the manslaughter and a third year for the hate crime enhancement.
Vancouver activist Jim Deva said that not only is it inconceivable the prosecutor did not ask for additional time for the hate crime, but that manslaughter was woefully inadequate.
Deva said he was "deeply, deeply offended" by what he called the light treatment the five were receiving from the prosecutor. Deva said the details that came out during the sentencing show the charge should have been second degree murder which carries a much longer sentence.
The court was told that Webster was killed by being beaten with baseball bats and golf clubs.
"For the first time, our community is starting to get some details of the actual attack, some alarming details," Deva said.
"We have been concerned since the charges were laid that manslaughter was not adequate to address justice for Aaron. Our community has been in an absolute uproar over these manslaughter charges versus second-degree murder," he told the Vancouver Province newspaper.
"And now, as we begin to hear some of the gruesome details of that gang of thugs, and the fact that they're only going to be charged with manslaughter, we are deeply, deeply offended."
A second man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and awaits sentencing, and three others have been charged -- also with manslaughter -- and will be tried next year.
"I think we have to directly approach the attorney-general's department, have them sit down and read this ruling, and then tell us why there are two forms of justice, one for gay men and one for the rest of the world," Deva said.
�365Gay.com� 2003
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Hey, folks�
All right... I've had a few hours to mellow out (slightly), but I am still incensed over the Crown prosecutor's treatment of this case. By the defendant's own admission, he and his friends had been drinking and set out to intentionally seek out gay men to beat up. To my mind, this demonstrates premeditation....
These "tough young men" (and I use the term "men" with sarcasm) then surrounded Mr. Webster and beat him mercilessly with baseball bats and golf clubs. BASEBALL BATS and GOLF CLUBS, not fists and feet. This goes a lot further toward demonstrating the premeditation of the act- it was not a spur-of-the-moment thing; they showed up fully equipped with WEAPONS. To "beat someone up" you don't need weapons, especially when you outnumber them five-to-one. But weapons come in quite handy if there's an intent to go beyond a "simple beating," and kill someone.....
Although I am no legal expert, it boggles my mind that ANYONE, least of all a Crown prosecutor, could not see that this was a hate-based crime. Thank gawd for Judge Valmond Romilly, who refused to accept the Crown's mealy-mouthed position, and imposed the extra hate crime time, anyway.
BUT... the point still remains that even WITH the extra year, three years imprisonment for such a vicious, cowardly, violent and hate-filled crime is an INSULT to the gay community- and it SHOULD be an insult to every thinking person in the country!!!
WHY were these five "he-men" not charged, at the VERY least, with second-degree MURDER?!? I see NO justification for sluffing this act off as "manslaughter," nor do I understand why these "toughs" did not have their cases raised to adult court. There is already one more MURDERER who has pled guilty to the charge of "manslaughter" in this case (without the enhanced hate crime charge), and three more who are awaiting trial on these charges next year.
I say, pardon the language, BULLSHIT! Not only should that first "man" be re-tried on a murder charge, but the other four charges should be dropped and new charges of murder filed against the defendants- and ALL FIVE should be tried as ADULTS! I am apoplectic over this blatant second-class treatment that Aaron Webster's murder is receiving. This was not just a "simple fag bashing"- this was a vicious, unprovoked murderous attack against a gay man chosen at random, SIMPLY BECAUSE HE WAS GAY!
Words cannot fully describe my anger over the Crown prosecutor's behaviour in this matter, particularly in a city where there is such a large and vocal gay minority, and when the cops and courts are supposedly trying to "build bridges" with the gay community. If this bullshit is allowed to stand in Vancouver, why would a victim of gay-bashing in the BC Interior, Saskatoon, North Bay or Rimouski (as places picked at random) be encouraged to report it to their local police? We can't even get murderers charged properly in a large "gay-friendly city" like Vancouver; why would the cops in Redneck Canada give a damn about a simple "fag-beating?"
And let me be clear. This is NOT just a gay issue. This is an issue that goes to the fundamental justice and fairness of our court system. Personally, I am spending a portion of my holidays writing to BC's Attorney General and the federal Solicitor General, as well as the pertinent MLAs and MPs to express my outrage over this issue, and I urge anyone who feels similarly to do the same.
Thanks for letting me rant.... and a happy Winter Solstice and Saturnalia season to you all. May your holidays be filled with peace, love and happy times.
Nathanial
Contact info. for the appropriate Justice Ministries is below. Information on your individual MPs and/or MLAs will change; don't be lazy- go look it up yourself...
Provincially (in BC)-
Honourable Geoff Plant
Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Treaty Negotiations
E-mail address care of: [email protected]
OR...
Phone: 250-387-1866
Toll-Free: 1 800 663-7867 (Enquiry BC)
Fax: 250-387-6411
OR by "snail" mail at:
PO Box 9044
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria BC
V8W 9E2
Federally-
The Honourable Irwin Cotler
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8
OR by e-mail care of: [email protected]
