Fam @ aunt, and 1 am speaking on behalf of his maternal family and the damage you wreaked, The night of February 14, 2013 is seared in our minds forever. My husband and | were watching the late news ‘on CTV, when we heard about a small, dehydrated, starved 11 year old boy found wandering in a Kanata ighborhood. His father, an RCMP officer, had been arrested. ! remember the feeling of dread slowly building@ who we had not seen in 3 long years, would be 11 by now. It was almost midnight. We found your address on an old court document and googled your house. t was the same house that was pictured on ‘the CTV news bulletin. We were in shock. Trying to control our panic, we called and woke(@@Bsister, then his uncle, We contacted the Ottawa police and made preparations to go meet with them. It still feels surreal; a nightmare that could not possibly be true. That right in 2013 cataputed us back3 years to November 2009, when mother was gravely il. His srandparents, with whom he and his mother lve, had hoped that there would bea gradual transition from their home to yours in Ottawa over a period where we could all work together to help @adjust othe enormous impending change in isle. You took him with nothing but the clothing he was wearin, 2 days before his mother's death. No toys, no mementos. No goodbyes. We cannot even imagine the distress of sich an abrupt departure during such a wretched time in his fe. ‘You chose to keep him from attending his mother’s funeral. He was 7 years old. How achingly sad he must have been. Now he knows the truth, He knows her heart was just too sick. He missed a warm and loving, Visitation, with beautiful pictures of her life, most of which were with him, fading in and out on a big screen. He missed the hundreds of people who came. He missed the overflowing room where her service was held) ‘where our son played the piano and@@p uncles and sister spoke in her honor. He missed the community of friends and family whose sadness was amplified by the absence of the child everyone wanted to hold, comfort, and help grieve. The death of a mother can be such a traumatic event for a young child. Even now ‘that he has visited his mother and grandmother, in their beautiful stone monument under the willow tree hy ‘the pond, it must be so difficult for him to reconcile that peaceful image with the vile, disgusting, things we heard you say to him about his mother; in those videos that will haunt us forever, taunting him when he was at his most vulnerable, in pain, starving and terrified. After you took@ his grandparents kept the basement apartment untouched, frozen in time; his room, his toys, everything, His grandmother died shortly after she was denied access, heartbroken and convinced that her baby was notsaf. Hs grandfathers sil with us but his heath detetarated apy aterjet When they visit, his grandfather's eyes light up and even though he can no longer communicate it’s elearthat their special bond is still there, He wants to touch and hold @who makes him smile, When we leave,@is quiet. He can never get back the yeas that were stolen from him and his prandfather, who was so actvely involve! in bis life; who made him feel safe and played soccer with him in the back yard During those 3 years, we often drove through Ottawa, Each time we were painfully aware that we would be defying the court if we attempted to drive by school, simply to get a glimpse of him and see it he was What if he saw us? How could we explain that we were not allowed to speak with him, and worse, would our contact with ead to repercussions from his father who we felt despised us so vehemently? We will forever wonder what more we could have or should have dane, and we can never forget that while @encured unimaginable atrocities, his family was literally a car drive away. ‘Mer (escape and hosptatzation,ittook over 3 months unt he had healed enough physialy and emotionally to see us He was s0tny and vulnerable, ust as he had been when helt thee years prio ‘though he has come such a long way, the fact that hei beautiful funny and intelignt makes idangerously easy to fall into that foggy, comfortable state of denial where everything is OK and the nightmare is over. Au contraire, the internal, invisible damage will take a lifetime to heal, We can’t explain to him why, 4 years after his escape, this i sill not aver. He has been through so much. He hhas been so strong but it has been so difficult. He did not want to present a victim impact statement because he did not want to go through the anxiety yet again; to have to go back to that time. He just wants to be normal. He has had enough, He must learnt trust again, We cant explain to him why a fom courtjudgegove his father the ight to completely and totaly isolate him ater his mother ied, not allowing so much as a monthly vst or even a telephone all with hi family, We can't explant him how a psycheogst, who had been to the one and had repeatedly admonished his father abou his extreme behavier towards his son, ed not act, even with the knowledge tat the cid had been forced to take cold showers and slep Inthe basement. We cat enplotn to him why two police officers brought him back to his father aftr he found the courage to exape to» classmates home. To this day he alto understand why these decsons were made. We wonder i simple apology from any of thezeproesslonals would have validated his paln and helped In his path to healing There ae, of course, neat, logical rationalaations that ust all of these actions, but isthe one who has to Ive with the consequences of the eparable mistakes that were made by professional who dd ot see the red tags; protesionals who ultimately aciitated hs isolation and enabled his father to act wth impunity for so ong Individuals and institutions putin place to help hi ated him just shi father did. We mus in way to ut aside our anger ao that we may be able to help him heal and tut again; to rermenber that there were also those who showed him compassion and believed him, We ae forever grateful to every person who nursed him back o heath cared fr hin, and was there for him during the aftermath of hs ordeal We hoe he sees the good and can learn to trust again @we wonder if your attacks on @were fueled by your hatred for his family. We still cannot fathom what we tight have said or dane to undermine your ability to love, nurture and protect your child, asad litle boy ‘whose life was completely devastated by the loss of his mother, his family, and his world When this is ver, everyone wil go on with their ves and this nightmare willbe bu an unpleasant memory. Except{@From now tlhe end of his days Ail ve with the hundreds of news articles, televised report and twitter feeds that are archived and accesise to all forever. would be folsh to think that this cavion bight intelgent boy has not aleady rea these report and witnessed the complete and total abrence of remorse on the part of his abuser. The lasting reminder to him that in his fathers eyes, he ts eothing, We canna rive fam our mings the mages ofthe velence that was perpetrated rl but there one haunting cena tat leaves spatula umd. The one wherefioes not escape Now these willbe our family’s last words to you, on behalf ofall who ove@@Balthough the pains deep and lating, we hope one day he wl se his physical scars as a testament to hisstength. We pray that one day he will truly feel worthy and loved and know he has value. ‘This has been an achingly long, gut wrenching journey. But in the end, a battered, courageous little boy, with nothing but his will to live, freed himself from your dungeon. An angel, not Satan, escaped from your hell, ‘and the final, sad irony is that you ended up being the criminal you accused him of being.