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Sunday, March 7, 1993 - North Shore News ~ 3

mare of sexual assault continues

Son’s victimization by teen babysitter an enduring pain for NV family

THE NIGHTMARE began
simply enough.

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

A 34-year-old single mother
living in a “‘decent’’ neighborhood
in the Upper Lynn Valley area re-
quired care for her six-year-old
son.

She worked in Vancouver and
needed someone to be responsible
for taking her son to school in the
morning and to care for the boy
after schoo) until she returned
home from work.

Unable to afford’ a group
childcare arrangement, the mother
canvassed her neighborhood for a
babysitter.

A 12-year-old boy who lived in
her block came forward and asked
for the job. He said he was on a
waiting list for babysitting class.

The mother felt OK about the
arrangement because a woman
who lived in her house was usually
at home upstairs. The babysitter’s
grandmother was usually home at
his house, so in all likelihood an
adult would be present in either of
the houses at any given time.

The 12-year-old began his
babysitting stint during ‘the first
week of school in September 1991,
__ Said the mother, ‘‘It seemed to
be going well, but toward the end
of September and in the beginning
of October my son started getting
detentions at school. He was
distracted: he just wasn't - there
completely.”

On the home front there were
behavioral problenis,

- -. ‘By October teachers suspected
. the boy had a learning disability.

His parents, who had separated
in July 1991, felt the breakup was
at the root of the problem.

The parents met with their son’s
‘school. psychologist, teachers and,
principal.

. In .November the boy was
psychologically tested.

WS photo (using model) Nell Lucente

THE BOY had been without refuge. At school he was disciplined for hls behavior. He was victimiz-
ed by his abuser. And he fought with his mother.

Meanwhile, his behavior

deteriorated.

“My son was getting more de-
fiant. He would yell at me, take
swings and kicks at me,’’ the
mother said.

She continued to believe that
her son’s acting-out was a conse-
quence of the separation.

One day the woman living
upstairs in the house heard the
babysitter yelling at her son and
ordering him to go to his room.
She phoned the boy’s . mother,

who then telephoned to see if her.

son was OK.

“He said that everything was
fine. He sounded subdued,’’ she
said.

She said she then questioned the
babysitter and he said that her son
didn’t wait for him after school.

‘Y said, ‘Come to me, ! will
discipline him. It’s not up to you,’
she said,

The mother resolved to dismiss
the babysitter. She Iet him go in
mid-January,

“But my son was still
withdrawing. He’d come home
and crawl into a corner or we'd
fight and he’d yell that he hated

Outdoor burning remains
heated issue in West Van

New bylaw before council at Monday session

WEST VANCOUVER District continues to march out
‘of step with the rest of urbanized Lower Mainland on
‘the issue of cutdoor burning.

North Vancouver City, North
‘Vancouver District and most
; other-urbanized municipalities in

the Greater Vancouver Regional
- District (GVRD) have prohibited
ali outdoor burning for more
-than a year, but West Vancouver
Council: continues to introduce
_ initiatives for outdoor burning in
the municipality.

. Last Monday, council rejected
an | outdoor-burning proposal
that involved a $150 inspection
fee, a $25 permit fee and the fire
chief’s OK that the . property
owner had no reasonable alter-
native bur to dispose of his
‘garden waste through burning.

,Coun. Pat Boname said the
proposal was too time-consum-

ing for the municipal staff and
the fire department.

She therefore seconded a mo-
tion introduced by Coun, Diana
Hutchinson that would bring
‘back '1991 outdoor-burning
: Fules, which allowed all residents

£0 have 1 open burn of brown,
‘.dry garden cuttings twice a year
_ between Nov. | and March 31.

A new permit fee for outdoor
burning in the municipality
rou be $50, up from $15 in

By Anna Marie D’Angelo
News Reporter

And Boname said outdoor
burning would be allowed for a
year under the proposed bylaw,
which . will be introduced at
tomorrow night’s council
meeting.

‘‘West Vancouver properties
are different than other piaces in
the GVRD...,”° Boname said.
“Some people have huge proper-
ties, and they have to drag (their
garden refuse) straight up from
the bottom of ravines.””

Boname said she hoped the
GVRD would have its regional
composting site in place within
the year.

The site, she said,
would provide residents with a
place to drop off garden materi-
al they can’t compost.

‘*All we are doing now is put-
ting all the garden stuff in green
garbage bags and having them
hauled off to the transfer station
which seems to be as en-
vironmentally unfriendly as con-
trolled burning,’’ said Boname.

But Coun. Don Griffiths said
that instituting old burning rules

was a regressive step.

“My position is that it (out-
door-burning rules) needs to be
gradually tightened. People are
only going to find other solu-
tions to burning if they have to
find them,’’ he said. —

He said he has never needed
to have an outdoor burn on his
2/3-acre West Vancouver prop-
erty during the 18 years he has
lived there. He said that
residents asking for burning
permits have lived on flat pro-
perties within 20 feet of a road.

Reacting to West Vancouver’s
almost singular position in the
GVRD concerning outdoor bur-
ning, Griffiths said, ‘“We should
join the human race.”’

He said the municipality
shouldn’t wait for the GVRD to
set up 4 central composting site.

“We have to push on. We
can’t wait for the GYRD. The
municipality still has responsibil-
ity,’’ said Griffiths.

He said continued trucking of
garden waste to landfills would
put pressure on the GVRD to set
up a centra! composting site.

Both Griffiths and Boname
agreed that burning was about
the only way to get rid of garden
waste from places like Eagle
Island and extremely steep and
inaccessible properties in the
municipality. ~

she said.
meantime

me,"’

In the the school

‘psychologist completed the testing

of her son.

Her son’s school work was back
on track and the psychologist
determined the boy did not have a
learning disability.

“He was a bright little child,”
she said.

One day in April last year, as
mother and son left to catch a
bus, the boy told his mother that
he had ‘‘a big secret’ to tell her.
He asked her to bend down
because he had to whisper it.

“He told me that he (the
babysitter) had sexually assaulted
him. He said it happened more
than once,” she said.

The mother asked him why he
had not told her before.

From an early age the parents
had told their son about what
kind of physical touch was ap-
propriate.

Said the mother, ‘tHe said he
was afraid, The boy had threat-
ened to kill him. He also said the
babysitter had given him money
and candy when he was ‘good.’ ”’

The father subsequently spoke
with his son.

“He went into full detail with
him. It had gone on on a regular
basis. He had threatened him with
a gun,”* she said,

The boy had been without ref-
uge. At school he was disciplined
for his behavior. He was victimiz-
ed by his abuser. And he fought
with his mother. '

The parents asked their son if
he understood what had happened
to him and asked him what should
be done. Together they resolved to
go to the police with’ the
disclosure.

Said the mother, ‘‘He said,
don't want this to happen to any-
one else. We should tell the
police.’ *’

The case went to youth court in
North Vancouver last year. The
babysitter was charged and con-
victed for sexual assault.

Despite the judicial outcome,
the parents maintain the pain con-
tinues for the broken family.

Said the mother of her son to-
day, ‘I know he is still suffering
the -consequences. He does not
like going to school. He's rougher
now. His education has suffered
because of this.”

She left her job due to stress.

She and her son have had to
move.

Said the mother, ‘It’s changed
my lifestyle. [’don’t know where.‘
this kid is. 1 feel he could come
after us.’

Parents launch Childwatch

PARENTS IN West Van-
couver’s Ridgeview elemen-
tary school’ neighborhood
have
program designed to make
local streets safer for their
children.

By Maureen Curtis
Contributing Writer

‘dn the days when | grew up,
playing outside was normal and
healthy,”’ said Lynn Harrington in
introducing the new Childwatch
project at a recent, West Van-
couver District Council meeting.

Dressed in. a bright lime-green
vest that will be worn by parents
patrolling the streets around the
school, Harrington told council
that more innocent times have
been replaced with increasing

threats to children of abduction .

and molestation.
She said parents in the highly
visible. Childwatch vests,

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initiated a volunteer’

“WEST VANCOUVER —
‘DISTRICT COUNCIL

‘emblazoned with a watching eyes

symbol, will provide a real deter-
rent to child predators.

Under the program, .parent vol-
unteers walk children to and from
school along main streets.

Unusual activities and
suspicious people are reported to
the police. :

The West Vancouver Police
have discussed the program with
Harrington but are not yet involv-
edinit.

‘We appreciate the fact that
parents want to take a more active
role in their community, but from
what I understand there are still
some details to be worked out
from our end,’’ said West Van-
couver police spokesman Const.
Jamie Gibson.

Gibson added that the Block
Parent program is still active in
the municipality.

Vintage Years

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- Manday, rain. High 9°C, Low 3°C.

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