Posted on 04/19/2002 6:11:41 AM PDT by Clive
There was no question that former Boy Scout leader Brian Durham was going away for a long time, despite his pre-sentence delusions about doing a short stint in jail and then returning to the "freedom of the open road" as a long-haul truck driver.
One should not plead guilty to 27 predatory and sexually related offences involving 20 victims, mostly young boys, without some expectation of spending a long time locked behind the walls of a penitentiary.
But how long is long?
Yesterday, in Kitchener, Superior Court Judge Ron Sills sided with the prosecution's argument that Durham was a high risk to reoffend, even if chemically castrated, and gave him a status that could see him breathe his last breath in prison -- the status of a dangerous offender.
For Brian Durham, now 43, the question of "how long" has now been answered.
And this sits well with those he hurt.
Reflect, for a moment, on a boy named "Dave" who, on the day his former Scout leader and tormentor was arrested, was living on the streets of Kitchener as a 14-year-old runaway. He ate from garbage cans, blocked memories of his molestation and rape with drugs and booze, fell into trouble with the law and, if a wish could come true, he'd wish for the strength to take his own life.
All because of Brian Durham.
Reflect, for a moment, on his mother, "Kim," who on the day she saw Brian Durham's arrest announced on the six o'clock news, knew she was no longer looking at her son's former Scout leader or the man she considered a close family friend.
All the pieces of her son's hell suddenly fit.
'GUT FEELING'
"When my son began sexually acting out, doing strange things, my gut feeling as a mother told me he was being abused by someone," she said, admitting that she thought, at first, that it might have been one of her son's teachers.
So she went to someone she trusted. That someone put his arm around her shoulder, patted her on the back, and told her not to worry ... that he'd help get to the bottom of it all.
That someone, of course, was Brian Durham.
Scouts Canada was generally absent during the argument stage of Durham's sentencing, but was in the courtroom yesterday when the final decision was rendered, even issuing a press release within two hours of Mr. Justice Sills' ruling.
"Scouts Canada applauds sentencing of Brian Durham," read the release's headline.
"This decision demonstrates the court's understanding of the heinous nature of Mr. Durham's crimes," said Scouts Canada president Phil Newsome.
"Scouts Canada relies on the justice system to protect the public and ensure that predators like Mr. Durham do not have the opportunity to re-offend," he said, adding the organization was "sorry for the pain and anguish that the victims and their families suffered through this terrible ordeal."
Just as Brian Durham conned 20 young boys out of their innocence, ruining their lives to satisfy his perversion, he also conned Scouts Canada, providing them a criminal background check which the organization accepted without further investigation.
Kim admits she got angry in the courtroom yesterday with Scouts Canada representatives.
"They should be made accountable for their shoddy monitoring," she said. And who can blame her for feeling this way?
WIFE KEPT SILENT
For now, her son is home. On medication, but at home. No less troubled, but at home.
Being at home is big.
Who can blame her, either, for being angry at Brian Durham's wife who, as the court heard, was privy to what her husband was doing with some of the scouts under his leadership, but who said nothing until she finally caved to pressure by the police to come up with the names of other victims.
Kim and the parents of those other victims left the courtroom yesterday and then waited out back for Brian Durham to be hauled away to prison.
The last they saw of him, he was in the back of a marked police cruiser. He was dressed in orange prison gear, the shirt pulled over his face
"It struck me that there he goes, off to prison, and everyone gets their lives back except us," said Kim.
"Maybe, someday, it will be easier to live with, but for now I will allow myself to feel the pain, the betrayal and even the guilt.
"And I will also grieve for what might have been."
I hope they prosecute the wife too.
Touche', AM!!
I assumed that it had been widely acknowledged that castration by any method is not effective. Perversion is seated in the mind--not the genitals.
I can't help but think if the parents had been more suspicious, kept a closer watch.... it could have prevented some of these boys from being molested. These animals prey on kids with pre-occupied parents. When my own kids were in organized activities... they were NEVER allowed to go on trips, camping or otherwise... without one of us tagging along. JMHO
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