Villain or Victim?, The Asian Pacific Post, September 4, 2008

Villain or Victim?

The Asian Pacific Post

September 4, 2008

http://www.asianpacificpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c441c2a5c98011c2a62a4600002_Villain_or_victim_.do.html

In a case that has shocked and divided the Sikh community in Western Canada, a man who claims he was repeatedly sexually abused as a boy by four priests at a Winnipeg temple has been spared jail time after kidnapping two of his alleged abusers in a bid to extract a confession from his former religious teachers, one of whom is now living in British Columbia.

The 26-year-old, who pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible confinement and a single count of assault causing bodily harm, has been given a suspended sentence and a year of supervised probation for his crimes, a sentence that has left him with a lifelong criminal record.

The case dates back to December 2006, when the man entered the Gurdwara Nanaksar Sikh temple in Winnipeg’s St. Vital neighbourhood in an effort to confront four priests – all now in their mid-40s or late 30s - for allegedly abusing him for seven years until he turned 15.

The gurdwara is affiliated with a specific Sikh sect, Nanaksar Satsang Sabha, and is one of only three temples of its kind in Canada – the others are in Brampton, Ont., and Surrey, B.C.

In the days following the confrontation, three of the priests – all reportedly still teachers at the Gurdwara Nanaksar temple - were arrested and charged with a variety of sexual assault charges, including sexual assault, sexual interference, sexual exploitation and, in the case of two of the priests, non-consensual anal intercourse.

They will appear in Winnipeg court this November 5.

The fourth suspect in that case is living in Metro Vancouver and has not been arrested. Nor has a warrant been issued for his arrest.

The identities of all of the parties are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

The 26-year-old alleged victim had sought a conditional discharge which would have spared him a criminal record.

But Judge Catherine Carlson said a conditional discharge would send a message to the public that it endorsed vigilante justice.

“I am sympathetic to your situation,” she said. “But the court simply cannot sanction individuals taking the law in any way into their own hands and confronting the perpetrators in a threatening way.”

Said the young man’s frustrated defence lawyer, Kathy Bueti: “They’ve made an example of him that’s what they’ve done.”

On December 14 of 2006, a young man enlisted the aid of a sympathetic friend and together they drove to the Gurdwara Nanaksar temple on St. David Road, where several hundred of Winnipeg’s 15,000 Sikhs regularly congregate to celebrate their faith.

Reportedly armed with a ceremonial sword and a tire iron, the young men forced two priests into a van and drove to the alleged victim’s parents’ home in the Waverley area of south Winnipeg.

There, in the presence of his mother and sister, the instigator hoped to elicit a confession from the priests in relation to the alleged sexual abuse he suffered as a boy.

Court heard that the man asked one of the priests: “Do you remember how many times you did that to me?” - a question met with a sarcastic reply that “enraged” the man.

The man then lunged toward the priest, whose finger reportedly caught in a bracelet, causing the digit to break.

The altercation ended with the arrival of police, responding to a 911 call.

At the time, police said a “personal dispute” was behind the incident and the victims knew their attackers.

In the days that followed, police brought forward multiple sex-abuse-related charges against three of the temple’s priests after the man made a formal statement to police.

Winnipeg Sikhs were stunned by the charges and gravely concerned for the reputation of the city’s active and civic-minded Sikh community.

“The community is totally stunned by this,” Tej Bains, a retired social worker and activist, said at the time. “We are still in shock and there’s a number of factors. First of all, we just don’t talk about sexuality and … we really honour our priests.”

“This is very bad . . . any allegations of this kind reflect bad on the community as a whole,” said Mohinder Singh Dhillon, who worships at Singh Sabha, another Winnipeg temple.

“Everybody’s shocked . . . this was the last thing that would have ever popped into my mind,” said one member of Gurdwara Nanaksar.

“There’s a massive uproar - sex is not talked about . . . it’s a very taboo topic,” he added.

But defence lawyer Kathy Bueti finds her client’s allegations of abuse wholly believable.

“Traditionally, people don’t tend to fabricate this stuff,” she told the South Asian Post. “Particularly men from this particular cultural background . . . they won’t even discuss heterosexual sex.

“It was extremely difficult for him to come forward and even talk to his parents about this, and confront his abusers,” she added.

Bueti said her client claims to have been sexually assaulted at least 100 times by the priests on an almost daily basis, and asked the judge to take his emotional state into account when sentencing the man last week.

“He dealt with that and didn’t tell a soul,” she said in an earlier interview. “This was the first day he was going to tell another human being on earth what had happened.”

Bueti told the South Asian Post that charges against her client’s accomplice were dropped when her client plead guilty to the kidnapping and assault charges.

“He was there for moral support,” she explained. “He wasn’t a player.”

Bueti said her client stopped attending temple at the age of 15, a decision that irked his parents, who were unaware of the alleged abuse. Her client, she said, also “put up a fuss” to prevent his younger brother from going to the St. Vital gurdwara, a protest that further confused his parents.

“The family was going on a daily basis,” Bueti told the South Asian Post. “Weekends, evenings, camping trips, the whole bit. Ironically, the mother is preparing lunch for these priests every Monday for years on end only to find out that this has happened.”

The alleged victim’s family, she added, was “extremely distraught” to learn of the alleged abuse when their son finally opened up to them in December in 2006, and fully supports her client.

“It effects every day of his life,” she said of her client’s current emotional state, adding he has put school on hold and is currently employed as a labourer.

“He had a very pro-social life leading up to this,” said Bueti. “Now he’s been self-medicating with alcohol and lower-end street drugs.”

Crown council Melinda Murray, who prosecuted the alleged abuse victim on the kidnapping and assault charges, said a conditional discharge – essentially house arrest with no criminal record – would not have been an acceptable outcome in the case of the crusading young Sikh, who had no prior criminal record before confronting the temple priests two years ago.

“(Defence council) was asking for one of the most lenient sentences in the (Criminal) Code,” she told the South Asian Post. “I was strongly opposed to that sentence . . . and the judge agreed with me.”

Murray said the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping and assault along with the nature of the accused’s allegations do lend credence to the young man’s story.

“But that is something that has to be prosecuted,” she said. “He did take matters into his own hands and a message had to be sent to him and to the public that vigilante justice is not appropriate in Canadian society.”

The allegations have divided the Sikh community, whose culture does not endorse open discussion of sexual matters, admitted Murray.

“It was very divisive for the community,” she said. “It was obviously a very difficult situation for the temple and the community.”

The three priests, who are innocent until proven guilty, maintain their innocence and deny all charges.