Concerns raised about offender
Cuzner writes to RCMP commanding officer on behalf of MacIntosh complainants
Cape Breton-Canso Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner has written to Nova Scotia’s RCMP commanding officer on behalf of complainants in the Fen MacIntosh case expressing concern that MacIntosh won’t adhere to the requirement of presenting himself to authorities within seven days of arriving in Canada.
The letter, dated Oct. 1, was written to assistant commissioner Brian Brennan, noting that he was made aware that the convicted pedophile has been release from a prison in Nepal and intended to return to Canada. He had served about half of a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted of abusing a Nepalese boy.
“After only serving a partial sentence for the heinous crime of sexually abusing a nine-yearold boy in Nepal, I am extremely worried that he will not adhere to the requirement of presenting himself to the Canadian authorities within seven days of his arrival in Canada,” Cuzner wrote.
Cuzner goes on to note that individuals entering Canada who were convicted abroad of a sexual offence and those who served their sentence abroad and were released by a foreign jurisdiction are required to report to police within seven days
of re-entering Canada.
“It is a criminal code offence not to report,” Cuzner wrote. “Individuals who know of someone returning from abroad should notify their local police.”
He added that on behalf of complainants from his riding who went to police with their own allegations of having been abused as boys by MacIntosh, he “shares their sense of urgency that the RCMP are made aware that this dangerous offender is again on Canadian soil.”
Cuzner’s office said he wasn’t able to speak in detail about a specific case, citing the Privacy Act.
At two trials in Port Hawkesbury in 2010, MacIntosh, now 75, was convicted of 17 counts of abusing four boys in the Strait area in the 1970s. However, those convictions were subsequently overturned by a higher court that ruled it took too long to take him to trial. He was extradited from India in 2007 to face the charges, the first of which was laid against him in 1995.
MacIntosh was arrested in December 2014 at a hotel room in Lalitpur on charges of luring a boy to his room for sex in exchange for money. He had gone to Nepal in August of that year and reportedly targeted other street children during his stay.
In 2016, MacIntosh’s appeal was denied by a Nepalese court, although a fine intended to go to the victim in the case was reduced from about $13,000 to about $3,900.
It was reported in Nepalese press that the victim was an amputee and MacIntosh lured him by offering him gifts and promising medical support to procure a prosthetic arm.
It’s unknown whether MacIntosh, who is now 75, has already returned to Canada. It’s believed that when he does he intends to go to Ontario.
MacIntosh’s age and health have been cited as possible factors in his release.
One of the complainants, Bob Martin, said Tuesday he had been informed by RCMP that if MacIntosh was to return to the Strait area, the public would be notified.
MacIntosh has two other similar but unrelated Canadian convictions that date back to the 1980s.