How the judge missed the point.
Everyone knew Jian Ghomeshi would be acquitted of sexual assault and choking charges, although we note that no one said he didn’t do those things. He must be super-grateful to the Crown and the police for their excellent work on his defence, as the Beaverton put it. Those sweet, sloppy public servants.
And then we turn to puzzled Judge William Horkins, who in 2008, as Paul McLeod of Buzz Feed has reported, let an accused sex attacker off on similar grounds even with DNA evidence and testimony from the two complainants, one of whom may have been drugged, and a witness. Lost “in a state of great uncertainty,” as he wrote in his judgment, he seemed lost and unable to cope with anyone’s testimony.
Horkins, 62, had a number of words for the three women in the Ghomeshi trial and their testimony: “mythologizing,” “excited,” “odd,” “wanting to be a heroine,” “deceptive,” “manipulative,” “tainted,” “playing chicken.” He accused Lucy DeCoutere of being thrilled by Mia Farrow’s support for the hashtag #i Ibelieve lucy. (Horkins would enjoy Twitter; it’s a place where women aren’t allowed to get above themselves.) Mystifyingly, he was suspicious about emails showing open “animus and anger” toward Ghomeshi.
Sneering at “taint”? Are we in Louisiana? I smell chewing tobacco. In each case, Horkins missed the point. These women had nowhere to turn. They lacked prestige degrees, lawyers in the family, good salaries, legal knowledge, a hugely supportive parent-sibling-friend network, self-confidence. They were physically slender, much smaller than Ghomeshi, as other women have said of his pattern of approach.
Post-Ghomeshi, what sex assault victim hoping to go to court some day would ever talk to a reporter again, or use email, or speak at all?
Magnificent women, among them the Star’s brave Lauren Pelley, have been openly talking — yes, on Twitter, Judge Horkins — about their reactions to their sexual assault, which were much like those of the complainants who banded together to help others. But they would not survive in Horkins’s court. They would be mythologizing, acting like heroines, seeking attention.
He doesn’t realize that women who don’t go to the police feel guilty about the other victims they are abandoning. For their rapist, it will be open season, and that’s just wrong. So they go to the police. I mean, former Toronto police chief Bill Blair asked them to come forward. Does he regret it now?
I apologize for briefly inserting a minor matter here: I have never been physically injured, but yes, I have been groped repeatedly, threatened, followed, sexually harassed and, for years, repeatedly stalked. Each time, I objected, sometimes loudly. Overall, I did the opposite of what the complainants did. I complained, I yelled at men who touched me, I asked for corporate help.
My stalker was told by his employer to apologize. So he did. To my husband.
That’s good, right? But I would still fail in Horkins’s courtroom. I’ve sent incorrect emails. I’ve been too placatory. I’ll destroy my private Twitter DMs today but they could be retrieved. Everything can be found, though strangely not Ghomeshi’s computer cache.
Everything I’ve ever written would be taken out of context or used against me, as it has been against every journalist now trying to find other work as the industry dwindles.
By the way, what all women feel about their rapists, attackers and tormentors is at the very least “animus and anger.” Those men will be purely hated until they slide into their graves and after. That is natural and normal. Why would Horkins question it? Because women must never be angry.
Interestingly, Horkins said his conclusion that finding there is “reasonable doubt is not the same as deciding in any positive way that these events never happened.” What? So alleged sex attacks can never be prosecuted?
Here’s the result: Like the complainants, the CBC girlishly smoothed things over with Ghomeshi even though they knew he tormented staff. That was wrong.
The complainants talked, to media, to each other, to the world. That was wrong. If they had raked Ghomeshi with their nails, thus retaining DNA evidence, it wouldn’t have helped.
Worst of all they spoke. What a mistake. I probably shouldn’t even be writing this.