|
Chief
Sabo | Mayor Maddin | index
to Saskatoon Police stories | Crime Stats: Saskatoon
Crime capital of Canada
Assault victim criticizes
police
Silas Polkinghorne, CanWest
News Service, July 21, 2003
SASKATOON -- A woman who was
violently attacked along the riverbank last month fears that
her assailant is still on the loose.
"Whoever did it is capable
of murder and they're still walking around," said Cynthia
Janisse, 19, who now has a large scar on the left side of her
head and has lost hearing, at least temporarily, in her left
ear. The muscle control on one side of her face was also affected.
She thinks she knows who hit
her and wonders if police have yet to make an arrest because
they aren't taking her case seriously. Janisse recently moved
to Saskatoon from Kitchener-Waterloo and had no permanent address
at the time of her attack.
Police said this is not the
case and their probe continues.
Janisse's ordeal began some
time before she woke up near the South Saskatchewan River one
Saturday in June. She was bleeding from a head wound she later
learned was inflicted with a blunt object, like a baseball bat
or rock. It narrowly missed an artery.
Janisse vaguely remembers dragging
herself up the riverbank and collapsing on a "nice old man's
porch" on Saskatchewan Crescent. The man called an ambulance,
which transported her to hospital, where she had surgery.
"I would've definitely
bled to death ... if I hadn't woke up and gotten out of there,"
she said in a recent interview.
Janisse and between 15 and
30 others were gathered at a fire pit near the riverbank between
the Broadway and University bridges on the evening of June 13.
Around 9 a.m. the next morning,
she went to sleep at the party site, she said. According to Janisse,
there was only one person around when she fell asleep.
She woke up later that morning
to discover her injury.
Janisse and friend Joey Acoose,
who was also at the party, said the one person nearby, a male,
was likely the one who wielded the blunt object and struck Janisse.
"As far as I'm concerned,
all the evidence leads to him," Acoose said.
The police, however, say they
haven't come to any conclusions yet.
Acoose said he came across
blood, a suicide note and jacket at the party site several hours
after the attack.
Janisse is now staying with
a friend in the city.
While Janisse believes her
homeless status made police take her less seriously, police spokesperson
Sgt. Lorne Constantinoff said that's not the case.
Sgt. Lorne Mulder of the major
crime unit said Cynthia and one other individual must go through
more interviews for the case. He said that homeless people are
victims of crime no more frequently than anyone else.
He said the alcohol consumed
before the incident is more commonly associated with crime.
Janisse and Acoose are participants
in Saskatoon community youth arts programming's (SCYAP) urban
canvas project. SCYAP told Janisse she had been approved to enter
the program while she was in hospital.
She said if this incident has
a silver lining, it's that the attack and related events have
inspired her art.
© Copyright 2003 The Leader-Post (Regina)
|
 Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
Truth suppress'd, whether
by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com
If you hold the mouth
of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb
Publisher : Sheila
Steele
Got something
to say about this or any other stories on this site? Go to injusticebustersblog Participate!
- injusticebusters
court advice :
- How to walk yourself through the justice system
-
- Why you should dump your preliminary hearing (written July 1998 and still valid)
-
- Sermonette:
The
Naked Truth -- (You
will find links to many more sermonettes in the sidebar on this
page
Another target
of Dueck's malice: : Wilf Hathway
Our activism
contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the civil
trial.
Index
to the stories on this website
This is not
regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story
and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at
the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated
Index to Saskatoon Police stories
This is a pretty good scrapbook
for the 1998-2002 period.
Inquiry into the malicious prosecution of David
Milgaard untanling 36 years of Saskatchewan police and Crown
misconduct: : Opening day 1 | 2
| 3 | 4
| 5 | 6
| 7 |
- Stephen Williams:
Canadian writer subject to Stasi-like treatment by Canadian police
- Terry
Arnold: : Snitch a
suicide?
- RCMP
scenario stings: Brian
Hutchinson starts digging
Toronto Police paid out $30M in secretly resolved
claims over last five years
|
