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	Woman Awarded $415,000 in Damages for Sex Assaults By Robert Freeman BCLocalNews June 30, 2008 http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/22740279.html A prominent Sikh priest who sexually abused his niece for ten years after she came to live on the family farm in Chilliwack following the death of her mother was ordered to pay $415,000 in damages last week by a B.C. Supreme Court Justice. Last year, Justice Nancy Morrison found Joginder Singh Bains, a 76-year-old retired farmer and well-known figure in Chilliwack's federal Liberal Party, had sexually assaulted his niece repeatedly from the time she was eight until she was 18 years old in 1975. Bains denied the allegations during his sworn testimony at trial. The niece, Karamjeet Kour Singh, is now 50 and goes by the name of Vicki Waters in Nelson, B.C. where she lives with her husband Rodney. Morrison found Bains's wife Darshan also liable for damages because she knew of the assaults, and had "collaborated" with the plaintiff's grandmother to have an IUD surgically implanted in the girl when she was 12 or 13 years old. "The aunt, Darshan Bains, took no reasonable steps to prevent or stop the sexual abuse that she had to have known was ongoing," Morrison said in her 2007 reasons for judgment. "The only outcome of their acts resulted in the continued sexual gratification of the male defendant and the continued cover-up by the female defendant. The defendants had to foresee what harm was being done to this child over the years. No other conclusion can be drawn under these circumstances." In her ruling on damages last week, Morrison rejected the defence argument that no evidence was presented in court to prove Waters' loss of self-esteem, depression and other problems were caused by Bains. Defence counsel noted that Waters was emotionally and physically abused by two other men in later common-law relationships, and, from the age of 14, by another uncle, so the damages should be limited to the assaults that occurred before she left the family farm at age 18. "My view of the evidence differs from that of the defence," Morrison said in her June 25 reasons for judgment. "In my view, the plaintiff has suffered serious losses, and these are as a direct result of the ten years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of the defendants," the justice said. "There have been no significant intervening factors such as rapes by other persons, or serious motor vehicle accidents, as we have seen in some of the other cases cited. "But for the sexual assaults of the male defendant and the complicity and actions of the female defendant," Morrison continued, "this plaintiff would not be in the position where she now finds herself." Waters claimed a loss of self-esteem, problems in her marriage and child-bearing, nightmares and flashbacks to the times she was assaulted by her uncle. Morrison said it could also be "inferred" from the evidence at trial that Waters became vulnerable to further victimization as a result of the sexual assaults by Bains. The justice found both Bains and his wife equally liable for damages. "Both defendants played a significant part in her losses," Morrison said. "The young plaintiff was present in their home, slept in their bedroom and at times, in their bed with them, when sexual assaults took place. The insertion of the IUD into an unknowing 12- or 13-year-old is, as I have stated before, appalling." Morrison said both defendants breached their fiduciary duty to their niece, who was "vulnerable" after losing her mother in a tragic accident. But instead, the justice said, Bains instilled fear in his niece right from the start. "Fondling, physical assaults and domination quickly progressed to sexual assaults," Morrison said, "including vaginal and anal rape, beginning when she was still a prepubescent child." Morrison ordered Bains and his wife to pay $325,000 in general and aggravated damages, plus $80,000 in punitive damages and $10,000 for future care and counselling, for a total award of $415,000. She rejected defence counsel's claim that Bains and his wife are "individuals of modest means," saying their Chilliwack farm has an assessed value of more than one million. Contact: rfreeman@theprogress.com
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