WARNING: This story includes details of sexual aggression and can affect readers who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who has done it.
The mayor of Vancouver, Ken Sim, asks for “concrete action” of the provincial and federal governments after two high profile assaults in the city in recent weeks.
Peterhans Nungu, 34, was arrested and accused of assault that caused body damage, police said, in relation to an assault in the coal port on April 15. On Tuesday, police said the bond and released from police custody on April 23 was awarded, but was transferred to a safe medical installation where it was under medical supervision.
Police said he was released from the facilities this week and will live under house arrest in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, the sexual offender convicted Ronald Hartley Duckhorn, 35, was arrested and accused after a woman was attacked, stolen and sexually attacked by a stranger in a Stanley Park bath on Monday. The last charges against Duckhororn have not been tested in court. His next scheduled appearance is May 23 in the Provincial Court of Vancouver.
After Sim’s plea was public, Vancouver police sent a press release saying that they had arrested high -risk sexual offender Randall Hoply on Thursday, not long after being released from prison.
“The law enforcement agencies have done their work by identifying the suspects and arresting, but the judicial system is repeatedly disappointed to the victims by allowing those with a high risk to offend the public again,” Sim said Thursday.
“The public deserves a response from Attorney General Niki Sharma about why this continues to happen.”
In an interview with CBC TThe early edition On Thursday morning, Sharma said he has been trying to put the federal government on board changes in the Criminal Code when it comes to repeat offenders.
The early edition8:42The BC Attorney General requires federal actions on bail reform
Niki Sharma spoke with Stephen’s program on Thursday, after a sentenced sexual offender was accused in relation to sexual assault in a Stanley Park bath.
Changes in the Criminal Code entered into force in 2024 that aim to make it difficult for people accused of violent crimes to be released if they have a history of serious and violent crimes that involve a weapon, and also in cases that involve intimate violence of a couple.
The criminologist at the University of Fraser Valley, Amanda McCormick BC today Michelle Eliot organizes that because the Canadian justice system moves so slowly, it is difficult to know what type of impact that change in public security has had.
“These days, we are seeing that a couple of years have been, depending on the nature of the crime, before these cases leave the courts, so we do not have that data at this time,” he said.
In 2023, BC launched the repeated violent infraction intervention initiative in several communities around the province, which brings together the police, dedicated prosecutors and probation officers to provide early interventions in cases that involve violent people and connect people with services that can help break the cycle.
But Sharma said that it is not enough, and that the law around repeat offenders must be even stronger. She said that the province has ideas about how to achieve this and will present them to the federals, but did not specify how that could be.
Sharma said bail reform is “completely essential” when it comes to improving public safety in BC
“When someone is repeatedly violating probation, essentially violating judicial orders … In my opinion, there should be an escalation in detention and punishment for that individual instead of a repeated cycle of liberation,” he said.
In a statement sent by email to CBC News, a spokesman for the Federal Justice Department said that the Government has committed to “go further” with bail reforms aimed at repeat offenders, and needs a cooperation of the provincial government.
“Even with strengthened bail reforms, we know that the lack of court and surveillance resources is leaving the victims and committing public safety,” said the spokesman. “The lack of funds not only makes it difficult to adequately administer the bond, but it can also cause delays that can endanger judgments.”
If you are in immediate or fears for your safety or that of others around you, call 911. To obtain support in your area, you can search for local crisis and services through the Finish the database of the Canada Violence Association.
