Agriculture: New blueberry markets are needed. 13
Charity: Firefighters filling their boots. 16
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More barking about dog parks
Big thanks Highland Park elementary teachers (from left) Melanie Sedergreen , Nancy Sinclair and Sherrill Feir show their appreciation for the public support they received during the strike Thursday morning along Lougheed Highway. See story, 3.
City taking feedback on three trial off-leash areas By Nei l Corbe tt ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Colleen Flanagan/ THE NEWS
Brian Petrini wants Volker dog park back, and said the Westview replacement is a pale imitation. The area resident, and owner of a 15-month-old Doberman Pinscher, would take his dog to the Volker offleash park for a run on a regular basis. It was close enough for his 14-year-old son to walk there, and Petrini liked that the boy was getting off the computer. There were always people there with their dogs, so it was a socializing time for pets and owners. Petrini said the new park at Westview is smaller – with no room to throw a ball for a dog inside the area cordoned off with orange snow fence. See Dogs, 4
Daycare owner declares bankruptcy Judge awards family $25,000 for sex assaults By M o ni s ha M ar tin s mmartins@mapleridgenews.com
The owner of a Maple Ridge daycare has filed for bankruptcy after being sued in court by parents whose children were repeatedly molested by her husband. Breshna Tata’s declaration in early September brings all court proceedings to an end. It means one
family is unlikely to see a penny of the $25,000 in damages they were awarded by the court in July. “It’s just so upsetting,” said the mother of another young girl, who is also suing Tata. Latif Hamad Tata was sentenced to four years in prison in August 2013 after he admitted to sexually touching two girls, between ages two to four, at the now-closed Shining Stars Daycare. Latif Tata faced a total of 12 charges – four counts each of sexual interference of a person under 16,
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invitation to sexual touching and sexual assault – but pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault. The 40-year-old was also charged with sexually assaulting two other young children, but those charges were stayed as the victims were too young to testify. Following the conviction, two families filed small claims lawsuits against Breshna Tata, seeking to recoup daycare fees they had paid to her. In July, provincial court judge Patricia Janzen ruled in favour of one
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family, finding Breshna Tata had breached a contract by allowing her husband to care for the younger children while she was picking up the older children from school. The family who sued had two children attending Shining Stars Daycare and both were assaulted by Tata. “It is almost impossible to imagine a more egregious breach of a contract,” wrote Janzen in a judgement. “The most fundamental term of any childcare contract is that the
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child is kept safe from physical, sexual and emotional harm.” Although the family did not claim damages for mental distress, Judge Janzen found the breach warranted a larger award than ones previously issued by the courts. Janzen delivered the highest penalty she could: $25,000. “Short of the death of a child, it is hard to imagine circumstance more likely to cause anguish to a parent than the sexual assault of both her children,” she said. See Daycare, 15
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