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IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU! |
THE STORY OF EUGENE & GABRIELLA PENTZ'S NIGHTMARE IN THE CANADIAN JUSTICE SYSTEM
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IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU! |
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CAN YOU HELP? Yes you can! MAIL, E-MAIL OR FAX THIS ARTICLE TO YOUR MP, THE OPPOSITION & THE PRIME MINISTER. ASK YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO DO THE SAME! The Honourable Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada Parliament Bldg, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6, FAX: (613) 941-6900 Hon. Leader of the Opposition, FAX: (613) 947-0310 EUGENE & GABRIELLA PENTZ APPRECIATE YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT e-mail them at: [email protected] Or write to them: 10185 View Street, Chemainus, British Columbia, V0R 1K2 CANADA IF YOU WISH TO BUY ARTWORK FROM EUGENE PENTZ TO SUPPORT THEIR LEGAL BATTLE, VISIT |
Thank you for visiting the website of Eugene & Gabriella Pentz! Eugene Pentz, is a respected artist and master woodcarver, and together with his wife, Gabriella, they operate a studio showroom out of their home in Chemainus, British Columbia, Canada. What you are about to read is the tragic account of their experiences in the Canadian legal and justice system after the separate deaths of first their son-in-law, and then their daughter. Their daughter's wish that Eugene and Gabriella raise her two daughters, Rebecca and Christina was thwarted by lies, prejudice and a woefully flawed justice system. The Pentz's situation is unique, mainly because of all the tragic circumstances, but there are thousands of individuals, grandparents, aunts, uncles, mothers and fathers, and most of all, children who are shut out of their extended families. They are used and manipulated by the justice system, who have destroyed the family unity of these unfortunate individuals. In most cases, if the decisions are contested, lifetime savings are slowly eaten up. What makes it so frightening is that it could happen to any of us. It is therefore imperative that we all become aware and take steps to ensure that in the future, this kind of injustice becomes unheard of, by fighting for true justice in the present.
Gabriella & Eugene sit behind stacks of legal papers generated by a legal battle for their rights as a family. (Below) Happier times.From back to front, L to R, Eugene, Gabriella, Rebecca & Christina (taken 1994)
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DEATH AND GREED
The nightmare began in Alberta on June 13, 1992 when the Pentz's son-in-law, Paul Kliim-Hansen was electrocuted in a poorly wired hot tub. His wife, the Pentz's daughter, Gabriella (Gabby) received $100,000 as a beneficiary of her husband's life insurance policy. The other beneficiaries were their two young daughters, Christina, 9 months and Rebecca, 18 months.
Gabby's brother, Robert recalled later that at Paul's funeral he was horrified to overhear the dead man's sister, Carol Treich making a comment to another guest that, "Nobody's paying attention to me. The wrong child must have died!" Little did he know that this comment was a portent of things to come.
Almost immediately after the funeral Gabby's father-in-law, Dan Kliim-Hansen requested money out of the insurance policy payout, meanwhile suggesting that he assist her in filing a lawsuit against the hot tub company, with 4% of the settlement as his fee. Kliim-Hansen Sr. also took her pickup truck, which was returned to her only after an aggravating confrontation. According to close friend Leanne Jahnke, after Paul's funeral his grandmother left around $3,000 in Kliim-Hansen Sr.'s hands for Gabby and the girls. Gabby never received it.
Gabby went ahead and filed a lawsuit on her own for $1.5 million. (seven years later this was settled for the girls by the Alberta Public Trustee, and was deposited into the girls' trust fund.)
Gabby was devastated by the death of her husband. She needed some time alone to put her life in order and move her family and belongings to a new home which she purchased in Didsbury, Alberta. So she placed her daughters in the care of her parents who lived in Invermere, British Columbia. Because the tragedy was so fresh in everyone's minds, they had a serious talk at that time about accidents and death. Gabby told her parents that if anything should ever happen to her, she wanted them to raise her children. She told them that she was in the process of preparing a will with that stipulation. This was confirmed later by Gabby's friend Sara Dunbar. Gabby also purchased a life insurance policy for $250,000 from Royal Life Insurance, with her landlord, Daniel C. Church as agent for that company. She named her sister-in-law (Paul's sister) Carol Treich as trustee.
ANOTHER DEATH
Shortly afterwards Gabby had a falling out with Carol either over her late husband's insurance payout or the requests for money, and she intended to change the trusteeship. It was not to be. On August 16, 1992 Gabby was travelling home near Cremona, Alberta with two companions when their car hit a moose. Gabby died in the accident. (Incidentally, for reasons unknown, it took nearly four years for the Pentzes to obtain a copy of the police report and other visual documentation from the scene of the accident.)
Shockingly, the same day Gabby died, her father-in-law, along with landlord/insurance agent Church ransacked Gabby's home and all of her personal papers, documents, passport, telephone lists and personal letters disappeared. What became of Gabby's unfinished will is still unknown. None of these items were ever seen again. The Pentzes had also asked Gabby's friend Leanne Jahnke to pick up Gabby's purse from the RCMP office in Didsbury after the accident and when Kliim-Hansen Sr. found out about it, he went to Ms. Jahnke and demanded she give him the purse.
After Gabby's death, Eugene and Gabriella, who still had Rebecca and Christina with them, shared the little girls with Carol Treich and her husband Andrew, as well as with the paternal grandparents, Dan and Lynn Kliim-Hansen. They realized that as extended family these relatives were a vital part of the lives of the two little orphans. The fact of the rift in the relationship between Gabby and Carol did not affect the Pentz's viewpoint of the importance of an extended family for the little girls. In compliance with their daughter's wishes, on August 25, 1992, they applied to become the legal guardians of Rebecca and Christina. On October 9, 1992 Carol and Andrew Treich also began legal action to obtain the girls, although it was apparent much later that they had begun their plan of action months previously.
The Pentzes were appalled to learn they were facing a court battle to ensure that their daughter's wishes would be honoured. Eugene and Gabriella retained a lawyer, Colleen Kenny, a bencher, of McManus, Anderson & Miles, in Calgary, Alberta. Carol and Andy Treich had retained Laurie McMurchie of Soby, Boyden & Lenz, also in Calgary.
CAMPAIGN OF LIES
At the insistence of both Colleen Kenny and the Treich's lawyer, a certain Margo Kushner, a private social worker and president of Impacts Consulting Ltd., in Calgary, was appointed by the court to prepare a home study report on both sides. When this report was finished the Pentzes learned the results from their lawyer, who stated that the report was not in their favour and that Eugene and Gabriella were not allowed to have access to it. Kenny refused to release or show a copy of it to them. They finally hired a private detective to force Ms. Kenny to allow them to review the 32 page report.
What they found was a damning and biased report. It was full of prejudice and hearsay (which was later admitted to by the Pentz's lawyer) against their nationality (Hungarian), unqualified psychological assessments on their mental health, questionable opinions, and, worst of all, hints of child molestation and abuse. There were also suggestions that the couple had some sort of sick fixation on the two little girls. The same report saw the Treichs as being perfect parents even though they had no parenting skills.
It was discovered much later, according to a letter from Ms. Kushner to both lawyers, dated September 8, 1992, that Carol and Andy Treich had visited her office on Sept. 3, 1992 and "retained (Kushner's) services to commence a child custody investigation for the Kliim-Hansen children." On that same date (Sept. 3. 1992) Ms. Kenny wrote a letter to the Pentzes, saying that she and the Treich's lawyer had agreed to Margo Kushner's conduction of the home study. If Margo Kushner had been in conference with and was being paid by the Treichs to conduct the study, how could she be impartial?
As it turns out she was not. The report was heavily biased against Eugene and Gabriella. How could Kenny have even consented to Kushner doing the evaluation? Did she not see the conflict of interest there?
During discovery Carol admitted that the Pentzes were willing to share the girls with them as part of the extended family, but during the trial she reversed that statement, saying that the Pentzes did not want them or the extended family involved in raising the orphans. As well during Discovery, Ms. Kenny requested Margo Kushner's handwritten notes top compare them with her typed evaluation report, to see how she had arrived at some of her conclusions. Kushner refused to hand over her notes, saying she wanted to re-write them first, to make them more legible. It would have been very easy to slant the hand-written notes to match the bias found in the finished report.
TRIAL OF LIES
On May 25, 1993 the custody trial began (Action No. 9201-14015; Court of Queen's Bench of Calgary, Alberta, Canada) Justice W. V. Hembroff presiding. During this trial Kushner gave 53 pages of insults and damaging testimony, full of errors and contradictions, none of which the judge seemed to notice. Kenny didn't bother to dispute any of them.
Not only did the Treichs benefit from the Kushner report and her testimony, but they also brought in Coralea Purych, a former friend of Gabby's, who lied in her testimony regarding, among other things, the way Eugene and Gabriella treated Gabby as a teenager. Daniel Church, the insurance agent/landlord/friend of Kliim-Hansen Sr. also testified and claimed that Gabby had indicated that the "guardian should be the trustee" of her life insurance. No guardian was named on the insurance policy or any other paper, and remember, Gabby was intent of changing the trusteeship from Carol to someone else. From the conversations with her parents it would seem that she expected Eugene and Gabriella to fill that role.
As well, Gabby's lawyer, Kerry Wallace McLelland testified and confirmed that Church had told him that Gabby had confided to him (Church) that she had second thoughts about keeping Carol as trustee of her insurance policy.
While Kenny refused to call in key character witnesses who would vouch for the Pentz's warm and loving nature, the Treichs brought in numerous witnesses who testified against them. Some of these witnesses had only met the Pentzes a few times and had never observed the intimate details of their relationship with their children, to which they made claim of having.
After Judge Hembroff read the letter written by Leanne Jahnke, (which explicitly described the demands for money by Kliim-Hansen Sr., and the bad blood between Gabby and her in-laws) he became concerned that Kenny wasn't doing her job. When both lawyers refused to call Ms. Jahnke to the stand he ordered both lawyers into chambers. What was said inside was never revealed, but when the trial resumed, the entire tone changed. Judge Hembroff accused the Pentzes of lying and changing their story, but did not point to a single incident where they had changed it. He threw out comments referring to Eugene, saying, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". Kenny refused to divulge what was said in chambers, and the Pentzes were left wondering ever after what it was that changed the judge's and the trial's tone.
THE QUESTIONS BEGIN
Eugene and Gabriella were still reeling from the shock of their only daughter's death, as well as that of their son-in-law, and were unable to concentrate on what was really happening. Being unfamiliar with court language and procedure, they had put their trust in their lawyer. As things developed to their detriment however, the couple began to suspect that Ms. Kenny was at best, extremely incompetent, or at worst, in collusion with the other side. They began questioning certain things which didn't make any sense.
1. Why did Kenny agree to having the court appoint Kushner as an expert to conduct the home study when she was so obviously compromised?
2. Why did Kenny not keep them informed of developments such as the Treich's interim custody of the girls. Why did Kenny not inform them of the testimony content of the Treich's witnesses? The Pentzes knew these witnesses as friends and did not know that they would be saying all kinds of half-truths and outright lies against them. They could have called over 20 witnesses of their own to counter the lies.
3. Why did Kenny not call their son, Robert Pentz, or others who they regarded as key eye-witnesses? Robert could have verified their relationship with their own children as loving parents. As well, he could disprove Coralea Purych's lies
4. Kenny had knowledge of certain documents which were sent to Judge Hembroff by Laurie McMurchie after the completion of the trial but before the judgement was handed down. What was in those documents? Why did she refuse to divulge the contents to the Pentzes?
5. Why did both lawyers agree not to call Leanne Jahnke to the stand? Why did Judge Hembroff leave it up to the lawyers after he read her letter?
6. After the trial, why were the Pentzes never able to find or contact Ms. Jahnke again?
7. Why did Kenny refuse to enter the May 1992 psychiatric report by Dr. T. J. Holden of Calgary General Hospital, which spoke favourably of Eugene's mental state? as a matter of fact this report was completely opposite to Kushner's, which suggested that Eugene was suicidal.
8. What about the psychological evaluation done by Chartered Psychologist Dr. R. P. Haines, Ph D.? this report indicated that the little girls were bonded to their grandmother, Gabriella, with no mention of sick fixations or questionable mental capacities of the Pentzes. In his conclusion Dr. Haines warned of serious detrimental effects to the children if they were to be moved out of the Pentz home. It was totally ignored by the judge.
WAS IT ALL ABOUT MONEY?
Why hadn't the Treichs simply agreed to discuss their wishes to care for the little girls as the Pentzes had proposed? A satisfactory solution could have been worked out. It turned out, that with custody of the girls the Treichs would have access to a rather large part of the little girls' inheritance from their deceased parents, one large sum being supplied by the company that insured the hot tub's safe operation, the other being Gabby's insurance policy payout which was paid out monthly to the guardians by the Public Trustee for caring for the little girls' needs. The Treichs would also receive a substantial monthly amount from the Canadian Government Orphan Fund.
At the custody trial, when asked why the Treichs did not have children of their own, they replied that they couldn't afford to have children, even though their combined income was $60,000 a year.
To remove the possibility of greed motivating the actions of either party, the Pentzes asked the courts to freeze the girls' assets until they were 18 and suggested that the prospective parents raise the children out of their own pockets, as they were prepared to do as loving parents. They had no interest in the money, but were told by the courts, "Things don't work that way."
THE LOSS OF REBECCA AND CHRISTINA
Carol and Andrew Treich were awarded custody of the two children. Justice Hembroff stated . . ."The evidence of and about Carol and Andy Treich leads me to believe they are a loving and well married couple" . . . "Ms. Kushner in her study . . . she said very sincerely from her time with Carol and Andy and the girls, they just 'fit together as a family' . . ." Judge Hembroff made it clear in his judgment that the main factor in his decision to grant custody to the Treichs was their stable and loving two years of marriage, according to Ms. Kushner's report.
Ironically, after Carol's adulterous affair with another man, the Treichs separated in 1996. Meanwhile the Pentzes had been married 25 years, weathered all kinds of emotional storms and are now celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary.
The Pentzes were also told by legal officials that one of the main reasons the Treichs were given custody was because the large insurance payout must stay and be spent in Alberta. Had they known that, Eugene and Gabriella would have gladly moved to that Province.
A few months later the Pentzes appeared before the same Judge to finalize access with the children. Because of the devastating effects of the custody trial that Pentzes asked him to resign from the case. Judge Hembroff jumped up in anger at that and left the courtroom, saying, "Find someone who is squeaky clean!" What did that remark imply? From the way the trial went the Pentzes almost suspected that the judge had been bribed, but of course that couldn't be proved.
UNHAPPY CHILDREN
After Carol and Andy separated, Carol sold her house in Cochrane, AB and moved into her South American boyfriend, Teo Marco's home in Millarville, AB. To the Pentz's dismay the girls, when they visited their grandparents, spoke of unpleasantness at the boyfriend's hands. The Pentzes were told by the little girls that he pinched and kicked them and that he locked them in their rooms. The girls also complained that Carol was mean to them and slapped them in the face if they cried and carried on. Eugene and Gabriella found the children to be much too thin and unhappy. (This was admitted by Alberta Dept. of Child Welfare Social Worker, Dorothy Badry. She testified at the Aug. 30, 1995 Trial (No. 15940) that Rebecca was approximately on the 25th percentile and Christina was below the 5th percentile.) The little girls also reported to their grandparents that Carol made them throw any toys sent to them by the Pentzes into the garbage.
From the very beginning the girls were terrified of being returned to Carol, and each time begged their grandparents not to send them back after they had visited. The youngsters would kick, scream and fight on the trips back to Carol, all the while crying that they wanted to stay with "Mamma" and "Pappa" (a common term for grandma and grandpa). Eugene and Gabriella decided to fight to regain custody because they realized that the little ones were not in a home where they would be nurtured and given the loving care their deceased daughter would have wished for.
Before the children were removed from Eugene and Gabriella's home, the health of the little girls were of great concern. Rebecca had a punctured eardrum and was seen by audiologist, Karen Verbeurgt at the East Kootenay Health Unit #1, in Cranbrook. She was slated for surgery after other treatments failed. The Treich's lawyer however, after custody was given to the Treichs, ordered the Pentzes, Dr. Verbeurgt and Dr. L. C. Jewett of Cranbrook Regional Hospital, not to continue the scheduled treatment of Rebecca's medical needs. The surgery was never done and the Pentzes do not know if Rebecca's problem was ever attended to.
The same applied to Christina. She was born with under-developed hip joints and needed braces and special attention, otherwise she would never be able to walk properly. Again, the Pentzes do not know if this was ever looked after.
LITANY OF DENIALS
For the next six years Eugene and Gabriella desperately searched for proper representation to correct the horrendous injustice. They faced the same thing again and again. As soon as it became known by what means a ruling had been made, the prospective lawyer refused to handle the case. Countless lawyers even refused as soon as they heard the name of Colleen Kenny, knowing that Ms. Kenny was up for a judicial appointment. She became a judge in 1994 at Queen's Bench in Calgary.
Some lawyers have at least admitted that the legal and judicial system is corrupt. One lawyer (whom the Pentzes are unwilling to name in order to protect him) asked them point blank, "Mr. and Mrs. Pentz, tell me, did you grease the wheels of justice?" Another lawyer in Invermere, BC was approached, who told them he would make some phone calls. The next day the Pentzes were told, "Mr. Pentz, it's been fucked up, and that's the end of it. Get on with your life." Hearing such comments did not add to their morale. Eugene and Gabriella felt crushed by their own misery as they watched all their small hopes dissipating.
In spite of all odds, they launched appeal after appeal, first to the Alberta Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court of Canada. One of their lawyers, David Salmon put in an Application for Special Motion, saying "We feel that we have brought our application under Section 52 (1) of the Domestic Relations Act and that there is jurisdiction." In Justice Fraser's judgement to that he said, "The decision is to the effect that Section 52 (1) of the Domestic Relations Act governs an application to vary or discharge a guardianship. The application before me has not been made under that section." In other words, Judge Fraser denied that the application had been made under the proper guidelines and he therefore denied the application, when in fact, it had! The Pentzes asked Salmon if this was conspiracy against them and he replied, "Yes, it is!"
But soon after this, Mr. Salmon began playing the same games with them, perhaps because he felt that they could not win. They had no choice but to represent themselves. They were supported by the Canadian Grandparents Association and many other people who knew them.
In June of 1997, armed with crucial evidence in favour of their application for change of custody, they were to appear before Madam Justice Rawlins at Queen's Bench of Alberta. (That same day, just before their trial appearance, the couple discovered that the brake lines of their car had been cut. The Pentzes believe this was an attempt on their lives to shut them up. The Calgary City Police and RCMP refused to investigate, and the evidence eventually disappeared.)
At this trial Carol Treich claimed that the girls had told her their grandparents had burned the dolls that Carol had given them in the burn barrel, (in spite of the fact that outdoor burning is banned in Invermere. All refuse must go to the dump). The Pentzes actually produced the dolls in court to prove that Carol, again, had lied to further blacken the Pentz name. Again, the judge ignored this evidence.
To expose such sloppy, unfair and lopsided dispensing of justice they wrote a myriad of letters to lawyers, politicians, the media, anyone who they felt might be able to help. There was none coming. In the end it was one denial after another, including an order by the courts forbidding them to circulate any more material to the media and forbidding them to write letters to politicians or anyone else with the purpose of exposing the injustice done to them. Finally the Pentzes were denied complete access to their granddaughters by the courts. (Order of Madam Justice Rawlins dated Dec. 16, 1997. Action No. 9701-04414).
At the very last appeal (Feb. 1999) Ms. McMurchie (Treich's lawyer) admitted in court that no matter what kind of evidence and who as witnesses the Pentzes would have brought to trial, including their son, Robert, the decision made by Justice Hembroff at the original trial would not have changed. This statement seemed very strange indeed! How could she have known that? Were all the outcomes pre-determined? At the Pent's request this appeal had been taped, with the understanding that they would receive a copy for the purpose of submitting and Application for Leave to Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. When Eugene later requested that transcript, it was denied with no explanation as to why.
Eugene and Gabriella have lived through hell, and all because no one would believe that they had been so thoroughly and effectively lied about. All this, because the courts refused to acknowledge that a mistake had been made. To date, the Pentzes have not seen their granddaughters since 1997 and are not sure where they might be.
There is far more to this story than can be written here, and many more details that would make this website even longer. There are eight years of unbelievable struggle by the Pentzes to save their granddaughters and to clear their names. It has cost them personally over $100,000 in legal costs, even without legal representation, while the Treich's legal expenses were paid out of the children's trust fund. The trust fund is depleted by nearly $200,000 for lawyers' fees, against their daughters and her children's wishes.
It must be pointed out that the Prime Minister is directly responsible for all Queen's Bench judges and other non-provincial judges, who are appointed by his government. Things will only change if the PM acknowledges and intervenes to correct the situation.
The Pentz's main objective is to have their granddaughters back in their loving and caring arms and home, as was their daughters wish. These two little girls have been effectively cut off from their mother's entire family by the courts, an arrogant and criminal act by any standards.
The Pentzes want this case re-opened and examined to uncover all the perjury that has been aimed against them. They want their names cleared of any allegations of child abuse. They want to know that no one else will ever have to go through this again.
As one reads this, the question come up time and time again, WHY? What is behind all the blackballing by the judiciaries, lawyers and politicians? Is the Canadian legal system that corrupt? How many others have had their lives ruined by shoddy dispensing of justice? It is human nature to think, "This could never happen to me." That's what Eugene and Gabriella Pentz thought too. They know differently now.
FOR FURTHER DETAILS ON THIS CASE, CLICK ON THE LINKS AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE
TO VIEW EUGENE'S ARTWORK WEB SITE GO TO www.members.shaw.ca/westside.art
