- Sept-Oct 2003:
The Klassen/Kvello civil action
- A self-represented
litigant's major accomplishment
Injusticebusters thank
all the journalists who got on board to help make this the story
of the century
Fifth Estate | Dueck walks | Petty
harassment dueing the trial |
Guardian knew kids were lying:
Kids rewarded with fast-food, inquest hears
Jason Warick, Saskatchewan
News Network, September 13, 2003
SP Editor's note: Story
contains graphic testimony and may offend some readers.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The woman who was the first
to learn of bizarre ritual sex abuse allegations by her three
foster children noted at that early stage that the children appeared
to be lying at times.
These false allegations, repeated
to a Saskatoon police officer and a therapist, led to charges
against more than a dozen adults in a 1991 case known as the
"scandal of the century."
It was actually the foster
boy, Michael Ross, abusing his sisters, Kathy and Michelle, the
entire time.
Most of the people charged
are suing justice officials for $10 million for malicious prosecution.
The trial began in Saskatoon's Court of Queen's Bench Monday.
"Michael has had a terrible
time with lying because he's been covering for him and Michelle
and they both threaten Kathy," foster mother Marilyn Thompson
wrote.
Thompson sat down with the
three children more than 20 times at the family kitchen table
in Warman, often until 3 a.m.
She took 90 pages of notes,
much of it graphic allegations of child abuse suffered by the
Ross children at the hands of their former foster family, the
Klassens. The claims also included the Klassens' extended family
members.
Thompson appears to make abbreviated
references in her notes to Cpl. Brian Dueck and therapist Carol
Bunko-Ruys, the two officials who led the investigation.
In one of the pages, Thompson
transcribes a story about an alleged baby killing. The kids even
demonstrated, tying each other down on the table.
"They appear to be willing
to do this demo for Brian, etc.," she wrote.
Most of these allegations were
repeated for Dueck and Bunko-Ruys during videotaped interviews
at the Saskatoon police station in 1990. In one interview, Michelle
Ross enters the room and a large knife is already there, as are
stuffed animals and anatomically correct dolls.
There are also notes from Thompson
alleging that Michael was repeatedly abusing his sisters, yet
the children were not separated.
She details frequent oral sex
and intercourse taking place between Michael, 11, and Michelle,
8. Michael won't have sex with Kathy, also 8, "because he
says he's afraid Kathy will let out a big scream."
Thompson's husband, Lyle, sat
in on some of these kitchen table sessions, but at least once
got too sick and had to leave, according to the notes. The Thompsons
could not be located to testify at the trial.
In her testimony Friday, Michelle
Ross, now 22 years old, said she and Michael and Kathy were also
taken out to fast food restaurants more than a dozen times by
Dueck and Bunko-Ruys.
Michelle Ross appears to have
seen the restaurant trips as a reward for her co-operation.
In a letter to Bunko-Ruys,
Ross writes she "should get an award" for relaxing
on the couch and closing her eyes during a session.
"I would like to know
when me and (sister) Kathy are going out for lunch. See you later
Carol. Thanks for Everything. Everything! From Michelle Ross."
They went to Taco Time, McDonald's,
and various other Saskatoon restaurants, sometimes during breaks
from the police station questioning sessions.
Richard Klassen, a plaintiff
representing himself in the lawsuit, said the Thompson papers
showed Michael was "a pathological liar" from the start,
and officials knew that.
Robert Borden, lawyer for the
other 11 plaintiffs, said the first week has gone very well.
He said they are ahead of schedule and should finish their case
in another eight to 10 days.
It's not clear whether the
defendants will present any witnesses. Defence lawyers Don McKillop
and David Gerrand said they are not making any public comment
during the trial.
© Copyright 2003 The
StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Dueck's claims doubted: Alberta
social workers questioned abuse allegations
Jason Warick, Saskatchewan
News Network, Friday, September 12, 2003
A group of Alberta social workers
doubted the 1991 ritual child abuse allegations against more
than a dozen adults, but the Saskatoon police officer leading
the investigation "seemed very certain," one social
worker testified Thursday.
"I don't know if excited
is the right word, but enthusiastic about his case. He felt he
was in the middle of a big investigation," said child social
worker Sheila Verwey of Saskatoon police Cpl. Brian Dueck.
The claims investigated by
Dueck and made by foster children Michael, Michelle and Kathy
Ross included the murder of babies, forcing children to perform
sexual acts with animals, and massive orgies.
The claims of the children
proved false, and a dozen adults originally charged in the case
are now suing Dueck and other officials for more than $10 million.
The lawsuit began earlier this
week at the Court of Queen's Bench in Saskatoon, and has focused
mainly on Dueck's investigation.
Dueck and social worker Carol
Bunko-Ruys had been investigating members of the Klassen family
and others after the Ross children made the horrific claims.
Some of the Klassens had moved
to Alberta for work by this time. Verwey, a provincial social
services worker in Red Deer, Alta., testified her office got
a call from a social worker in Saskatchewan in April of 1991.
That worker, who Verwey said
she can't name because of regulations, told the Red Deer office
about the Saskatchewan investigation, and said the Klassens were
also abusing their own birth children.
The worker said Verwey's office
would have to help apprehend the Klassens and their children.
A month passed, so Verwey's
colleague called the unnamed Saskatchewan social worker back.
They were told there was a delay because "they were having
difficulty finding a Crown prosecutor to take the case."
Dueck came to Red Deer shortly
after and presented the case to the Red Deer social services
office, complete with documentation.
The Red Deer staff were "uncomfortable"
about Dueck's conclusions, Verwey testified.
Dueck "seemed very certain
of what he was dealing with. We weren't coming to the same conclusions,"
she said.
"I'm not saying it was
completely impossible, but the information provided about ritualistic
sex abuse -- it covered so many people in an organized way."
Verwey admitted Dueck may have
had other information to make his conclusions, but it wasn't
shared with them at the time.
Verwey will continue her testimony
today.
Earlier in the day, three retired
Saskatoon police officers testified, including Dueck's supervisor
at the time of the case.
Theodore Johnson supervised
12 officers, including Dueck, in the youth division.
Johnson said he knew "basically
nothing" about the Klassen investigation because Dueck did
not give him much information.
At one point, Johnson thinks
he even asked Dueck to give him a written progress report on
the case, but Dueck didn't comply.
"He said he was working
with the social workers and the prosecutors," but didn't
give any specifics, Johnson said.
Another former officer, Marv
Hansen, discussed the importance of written reports and of keeping
Johnson informed. It ensured that officers "worked in a
responsible manner."
Under cross-examination by
Dueck's lawyer David Gerrand, Hansen said it was "incredibly
difficult" to assess the credibility of child witnesses.
This was complicated by the
fact the department was short-staffed at the time, and child
abuse investigators had little training in the area, he said.
"We struggled to learn
on the job," he said.
Hansen said he eventually requested
a transfer out of the unit because of the stress.
Officers didn't want to charge
innocent people with child abuse, but they also didn't want to
let real child abusers get away with it, Hansen said.
Hansen detailed certain interview
techniques used on suspects in abuse cases. It was common to
lie or at least mislead suspects in an effort to elicit a confession,
he said.
If the suspect is convinced
"the jig is up," they may confess, Hansen said.
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Video details horrific claims at trial: Officials
failed to investigate brother for abuse, victim says
Jason Warick. Saskatchewan
News Network,
Editor's note: Some readers
may find passages in the following story offensive.
An eight-year-old girl tells
a police officer and therapist in a 1990 videotaped interview
that she was sexually abused by more than a dozen adults and
also watched them kill babies, drain the infants' blood and eat
their eyeballs, court witnessed Wednesday.
These and other bizarre allegations
made by a young Michelle Ross and her siblings led to sexual
assault charges against the adults in a case once known as the
"scandal of the century."
Most of the charges were eventually
stayed and the children have since admitted to fabricating the
stories, but many of those charged say their lives were ruined
by the false label of "child abuser."
They filed a $10-million lawsuit
alleging malicious prosecution against various justice officials,
and the trial began Monday.
More than two hours of Ross's
video statement to Saskatoon Police Cpl. Brian Dueck and therapist
Carol Bunko-Ruys was played in court Wednesday. Ross, now in
her early 20s, also testified Wednesday and is expected to continue
today.
In the video, Ross gives a
detailed account of the killings of two babies. She said her
birth parents stuck knives into a baby boy and girl while she
watched.
"The baby screamed and
yelled and tried to kick her in the stomach," Ross says
on the video.
Ross is supplied with a toy
knife and a doll, which she undresses. She then makes cutting
and stabbing motions toward the doll when asked to show what
happened.
The babies were cut up and
placed in boxes and buried in the garden, she says. Ross remembers
going with her mom into the garden, even though she was only
two years old at the time.
She later admits she didn't
see the baby boy being killed because she was at day care, but
maintains her brother told her it was true.
Bunko-Ruys leans in closely
during the story, nodding repeatedly.
The family of one of the babies
got angry when they heard what happened, yet still came over
for Ross's third birthday party, the child says on the video.
Ross describes similar killings
of the family cat and dog. Bunko-Ruys then tells Ross she's "doing
very well" and they appreciate her telling them these things.
"I want you to know I
believe you," Bunko-Ruys says.
In the video, Ross says she
wants the adults to be put in jail. Dueck tells her that none
of them are in police custody yet "but they will. If you
help me then maybe that will happen."
Ross gives a long list of people
she says abused her, and gives vivid but similar details for
each of the assaults. It includes various members of the Klassen
family and their extended families.
Dueck has made note of each
name, and crosses it off after she gives details about their
alleged abuse. After more than an hour, Ross begins to fidget,
then yawn. She then tries to help Dueck with his list of names.
"Are you going to cross
this (name off)?" she asks, and he does.
"I know this is hard for
you, but let's do a little bit more," Bunko-Ruys instructs.
She repeatedly tells Ross,
"Close your eyes" and try to remember any other people
who might have touched her.
"Can you remember any
other big people who might have touched you?" Dueck asks.
The video interview ends a few minutes later.
Ross was questioned Wednesday
by plaintiff Richard Klassen, who is representing himself in
the lawsuit. Robert Borden and Ed Holgate are the lawyers for
the other 11 plaintiffs.
She told court that she made
up the stories because her older brother, Michael, pressured
her and convinced her it was true.
It was Michael who was actually
abusing her and her sister Kathy the entire time. Ross said many
officials knew this but did nothing.
Ross read a letter she wrote
to Bunko-Ruys around this time. The letter asks for help because
Michael was abusing her. Ross wrote that Michael even abused
them in Bunko-Ruys' office when the therapist went outside to
talk to Dueck.
"June of '91. Dear Carol.
When you and Brian (left the room) . . . Mike got mad. Then he
locked the door. Why? Because so he could screw us -- me and
Kathy. Then he put his finger in me. Then he gave me a threat.
The threat was this -- that if I told on him he would put me
in a high, high tree and cut the tree with an axe and make me
bruise my body. PS -- we ate candies. I need help. HELP. From
Michelle."
Ross also tells Dueck in the
video that Michael was "screwing" her the night before,
but he doesn't inquire further.
Michael would often sneak into
the girls' room at night in the Klassen foster home, Ross testified.
Foster mother Anita Klassen
testified Tuesday she told social workers about Michael. They
suggested she buy a beeper for the door, but Michael eventually
learned how to avoid detection.
Michael was eventually removed
from the Klassen home and placed in a Warman foster home. But
after the allegations began against the Klassens, the girls were
placed in the Warman home with Michael.
The family also found Michael
sneaking into his sisters' room, Ross testified. They tried the
beeper, tried to tie a rope to the door, and even piled cans
outside the door. He still got in and molested the girls repeatedly.
"Sometimes, he'd put his
hand over our mouth and then he'd abuse us," she told court.
He became known infamously
as "Houdini," Ross said.
She testified Anita and Dale
Klassen were good foster parents, and none of them abused her.
"I was raped by my brother,
not by all these other people I said I was," she said. "I
want people to know that."
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
'I'm not guilty,'
Klassen cries: video: Woman repeatedly sought lawyer during interrogation,
tape shows
Jason Warick, Saskatchewan
News Network, September 10, 2003
Anita Klassen repeatedly
asks for her lawyer while being accused of sexually abusing her
foster children, but Saskatoon police Cpl. Brian Dueck continues
to question her for nearly an hour, court witnessed Tuesday when
a disturbing video of the 12-year-old interview was played.
"I believe (the foster
children) are telling the truth. Do you want to tell me the truth?"
Dueck said to Klassen.
"I didn't do nothing wrong.
I'm not guilty," she answers, sobbing loudly.
She asks for her lawyer for
the second time, but Dueck continues his questions.
"I don't want to hear
it. I want to talk to my lawyer," she repeats.
Klassen is one of 12 people
suing Dueck, Crown prosecutors, social workers, and other justice
officials for malicious prosecution in a case known at the time
as the "scandal of the century." They were all charged
in 1991 with sexually abusing Klassen's foster children -- Michael,
Michelle, and Kathy Ross -- as well as other children.
The charges were stayed against
all of them as part of a controversial plea bargain which saw
Anita Klassen's father-in-law, Peter, plead guilty.
All three Ross children have
since admitted to making up the allegations against the 12 plaintiffs,
as well as those against Peter Klassen. Michael was actually
abusing his sisters repeatedly.
Dueck showed up at the Red
Deer, Alta., Dairy Queen restaurant where Anita Klassen worked
on June 25, 1991.
He told her she was being detained
for questioning, and they conducted a videotaped interview at
the Red Deer police station. That video was played Tuesday in
Saskatoon's Queen's Bench Court during the second day of the
$10 million lawsuit.
Still wearing her red and beige
work uniform and light grey running shoes, Klassen sits down
on a couch with her arms folded and legs crossed.
Dueck begins by outlining some
of the allegations against her.
Klassen says she tried to care
for the kids "to the best of my abilities." Her distress
begins to show, as she places one hand over her face.
"I didn't do anything
wrong to them. I took care of them," she says.
"Why would they make up
those kinds of things?" Dueck says.
"I don't know. . . . I
couldn't control them," she says.
Later, Dueck says he has interviewed
more than 200 children in other cases and "they don't lie
about things like that."
After requesting her lawyer
for the third time, Klassen is crying loudly and almost screaming.
She stands up and walks off
camera to a different part of the room, still sobbing.
"Anita, come and sit down
here," Dueck instructs.
"Ohhhhh, God!" she
screams.
"C'mon. Sit down. Anita?
Anita? Come, sit down," he says again.
"Ohhhhh, God, ahhhhh!"
she screams repeatedly.
After more than a minute, Klassen
sits back on the couch and curls up in the fetal position with
her head facing away from Dueck.
She stands again and paces,
then kneels on the couch looking away from Dueck.
Dueck asks how she is doing,
then asks her again to reveal what she did to her foster kids.
"Maybe it was fun for
them," Dueck says.
"Maybe they enjoyed it.
Did they enjoy it?"
She begins to sob again.
"Nooooo. I didn't do nothing,"
she says.
Dueck tells her that prosecutors
and other American experts have viewed tapes of the children's
allegations, and "we've all come to the conclusion that
these kids are telling the truth.
"I think it's time you
face reality. It's up to you now, whether you want to help yourself."
Eventually, after asking several
more similar questions, Dueck ends the interview.
During the playing of the video
Tuesday, Klassen sat in the witness box and stared at the floor.
Many of her supporters and other plaintiffs cried or shook their
heads during the testimony.
Dueck, who has since been promoted
to the rank of Saskatoon Police Service superintendent, sat alone
in the back of the courtroom.
Dueck declined an interview,
saying he doesn't want to try the case in the media.
Klassen said she felt "caged
in this little room and (pressured) to talk and say I did it
when I didn't.
"I asked to speak to a
lawyer quite often and I felt that I wasn't able to go talk to
a lawyer," she told reporters outside court.
The incident has harmed every
aspect of her life. She doesn't trust people, and worries about
being arrested every time a police officer comes to her workplace.
Klassen also testified Tuesday
about the problems she had with Michael Ross in her home.
He would sneak into the girls'
room at night and touch them, she said.
They bought a buzzer that would
alert the family when he entered the girls' room, and tried other
measures, but he found ways around it.
She told the Department of
Social Services to remove Michael from her home, partly because
he threatened to kill her own newborn baby.
But it was nearly a year before
Michael was removed.
Two other witnesses testified
Tuesday. Both are plaintiffs in the suit but cannot be named
because they were youths at the time of the charges.
The one woman said she was
pressured by therapist Carol Bunko-Ruys to admit her parents
abused her, even though they had not.
Bunko-Ruys, who is also named
in the lawsuit, told the then girl she'd lose her job unless
the girl admitted her parents abused her. The girl repeatedly
denied the allegation.
Testimony continues today,
and is expected to last several weeks.
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
'Clear our
name,' Klassen matriarch implores daughter on her death bed
Jason
Warick. Saskatchewan News Network. Tuesday,September 09, 2003
The last words of 56-year-old
Marie Klassen before she died in 1995 were, "Clear our name,"
says her daughter, one of 12 people suing justice officials for
wrongly prosecuting them on child sexual abuse charges.
"There's a lot of resentment
that she can't be here today, that she can't see the best part
today," daughter Pam Shetterly said outside court Monday.
"If my mother could have
defended herself, she certainly would have. It is now our responsibility
and we will do that."
The $10-million lawsuit in
the case once dubbed the "scandal of the century" began
Monday in Saskatoon's Court of Queen's Bench.
Under questioning from the
various lawyers, Pam Shetterly -- formerly Pam Klassen -- talked
about her mother's blindness, partial paralysis, and other afflictions.
Marie Klassen could not walk
without assistance as a result of being dragged by a horse as
a child. She couldn't bathe herself, and needed help with other
tasks.
But she was alleged to have
chased a boy down the street, dragged him back to her house and
abused him. Another allegation charged that she laid the children
in the bathtub and then laid on top of them.
Shetterly said it was obvious
that her mother could not have committed the alleged acts of
abuse, given her condition.
Shetterly was also charged
with abusing the children. There were bizarre allegations of
sexual parties, where the various Klassen family members and
other adults would abuse children. There were allegations of
"sex with bats, eating of babies, drinking of blood -- that
sort of thing," Shetterly said.
At one point, Saskatoon Police
Service Const. Brian Dueck told Shetterly she and her family
members would be charged with sexual assault.
Dueck told her that her brothers,
who were also being charged "could run but they could not
hide," she said.
"I told him it was impossible.
I told him it was ludicrous," she said.
Shetterly's foster children
were removed from her home, as was another boy whom she had adopted.
Even after the charges were stayed against her and most of the
others, she was not allowed to be a foster parent again, she
said.
After testifying, Shetterly
told reporters life has been "dreadful" since they
were charged in 1991.
"The anguish, the fear,
has been resurfacing," she said.
"We have to touch the
most painful part of our lives for a courtroom that we didn't
feel held any justice for us 13 years ago.
"We hope that times have
changed."
Shetterly was one of three
witnesses to testify on the first day of the lawsuit Monday.
The suit is expected to run for several weeks.
Justice George Bayton said
there are a number of "complex and convoluted" issues
that are sure to surface, and his task will not be easy.
He asked all parties to focus
on speaking during the court process "not in public demonstrations
or in the media."
Bayton noted that there has
been national public and media interest in the case. He's allowing
the assembled media to audiotape the proceedings. The tapes will
not be allowed to be broadcast, but will assist media in taking
accurate notes, he explained.
And Bayton allowed one of the
plaintiffs representing himself, Richard Klassen, to have his
assistant sit at his counsel table, even though she has no formal
legal training.
More than 30 witnesses are
expected to testify, including prosecutors, police, and various
other justice officials.
The charges were laid against
these 12 and others in July 1991. The group went through a pretrial
hearing and was committed to stand trial. On the eve of the trial,
a contentious plea bargain was reached.
Marie Klassen's father, Peter,
who had previous child-abuse convictions, pleaded guilty in exchange
for the remaining charges against his family members being stayed.
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Lawsuit in
'scandal of century' begins today
Jason Warick, Senior Reporter,
Saskatchewan News Network, with Canadian Press files, September 8, 2003
A $10-million lawsuit filed
in 1994 by a dozen people wrongly accused of ritualistic child
abuse begins today, reviving a case once known as the "scandal
of the century."
Richard Klassen, one of the
plaintiffs and drivers of the lawsuit, said he can't believe
he'll finally get the chance to show people what really happened.
"My guts are turning.
I'm confident we have a very strong case for malicious prosecution,"
said Klassen, who now lives in Outlook.
"We'll finally be able
to tell our stories."
Six weeks have been set aside
to hear the lawsuit at Saskatoon's Court of Queen's Bench. Police
officers, social workers, prosecutors, and judges are among those
expected to testify.
Klassen, his wife and others
were accused of abusing three Saskatoon-area foster children
in 1991. The allegations included acts of satanic worship, including
claims they forced the children to eat feces and drink urine.
Eventually the allegations
included almost every adult the children had known. In 1991,
police arrested 16 people. In 1993, charges against 12 of the
16 were stayed while one person pleaded guilty to one count of
sexual assault. The birth parents and a family friend were found
guilty, but the decision was later overturned by the Supreme
Court.
All three children have since
admitted they made up the stories under pressure from prosecutors,
social workers and police. In reality, the older boy was abusing
his two sisters.
Klassen has developed relationships
with all three of his young accusers, now in their 20s. His actions
have led to a criminal-libel charge and prompted some of the
defendants to counter-sue him.
The lawsuit claims justice
officials "encouraged the children to make up stories of
sexual abuse."
Social workers, police and
others intimidated the children, selectively reinforced certain
responses, and even suggested answers to questions, the suit
alleges.
"They knew we were innocent.
This was deliberate," Klassen said. "This prosecution
was out of control."
The arrests in 1991 came around
the same time as those in the Martensville sex abuse case. Saskatoon
police officer John Popowich, who was wrongly accused of child
abuse in that case, was given a $1.3-million settlement and an
apology from the provincial government last year.
Then-Justice Minister Chris
Axworthy pledged to move quickly to settle the outstanding suits
in the Martensville case, and Klassen also hoped a settlement
and apology were near for him and the others.
But none of the other Martensville
plaintiffs have reached a settlement, and Klassen said the government
has not approached him with offers.
Klassen's case has wound through
the court process slowly as both sides have filed countless motions
against the other.
Klassen, with a Grade 7 education,
has represented himself and has spent most of the past nine years
researching the case. Saskatoon lawyer Robert Borden represents
the other plaintiffs.
Government lawyer Don McKillop
declined to comment on the case.
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Background to this case |
Stonechild
civil trial
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell