Fairbrother soars in Isitwendam – page 17 Birds and Bees lands at Artspace – page 18
Prince George Thursday February 13, 2020
Holmes at home on the court - page 15
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New trial for sex charges Mark NIELSEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Blues in the night
Citizen Photo by James Doyle
Maureen Washington returned to Prince George for an amazing show at the Playhouse on Saturday night.
The B.C. Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for a Prince George man accused of sexual interference. In a decision issued Jan. 17, a threejudge panel found the trial judge who found Paul Peter Veeken guilty of the offence erred by shifting the burden of proof onto the the defendant in commenting on his denial of the alleged acts. “The judge was certainly entitled to reject the appellant’s evidence and find that it did not raise a reasonable doubt about his guilt,” Justice Gregory Fitch wrote in the decision issued on behalf of the panel. “The difficulty in this case arises because of the judge’s conclusion that he could neither accept the appellant’s evidence nor find that it raised a reasonable doubt in the absence of independent and reliable evidence supporting his account. To approach the issue this way was to erroneously shift the burden to the accused to adduce evidence that confirmed his denial of wrongdoing.” It’s the second time Paul Veeken has been given such a break. The first occurred in December 2017 when a jury trial was overturned after the BCCA concluded a judge’s instruction regarding hearsay evidence was insufficient.
Indigenous women file lawsuit F Postmedia
ive First Nations women from different communities around B.C. are suing the provincial government over allegations they were sexually and physically abused in foster homes. The alleged victims, whose claims date back to the 1960s and run through to the 1980s, were young girls at the time and say that government social workers knew about the abuse or were willfully blind to it. Several say they were removed from a
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foster home when complaints surfaced, only to be moved to another foster home where more abuse occurred. One woman, who was born in Fort St. James and now lives in Prince George, was apprehended in 1963 shortly after birth and was in ministry care until 1981. She says that she was physically, psychologically and sexually abused from as early as she can remember in the first foster home where she was placed. The physical abuse was allegedly
perpetrated by her foster mother, who whipped her with rubber cords, dragged her around the house and slammed her head against the wall. The sexual abuse was allegedly perpetrated by the father of the foster mother and occurred while the mom was away at work. The ministry did not adequately monitor and supervise the foster home, says the plaintiff. When she and a foster sister disclosed some of the abuse, a ministry social worker’s solution was to have them speak
to the foster parents with the social worker and a native school coordinator present, she says. The plaintiff was removed from the home eventually and placed in another foster home, but endured more sexual and physical abuse at the hands of a relative of the foster parents. In an email, the Ministry of Children and Family Development said it cannot comment on active legal cases and the government is committed to lasting reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.