BENNEST

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The case of William Bennest, is featured on this website because Bennest has highlighted the way the judicial system leaves citizens wondering if pedophiliac predators are being punished adequately.

Unbeknownst to most of the parents and teachers, Bennest was an active member of Vancouver's homosexual community and he was an avid purchaser of young male prostitutes.

In a September 1996 raid at Bennests home, police seized 47 videotapes, including 23 commercially made tapes and six homemade tapes of young boys engaging in sex, five audio cassettes and numerous photos, posters and magazines. The tapes included images of a 12-year-old student from his school, Clinton Elementary.

Bennest had spliced the boy's face onto the body of an unidentified young male who was masturbating at Bennests direction. The pre-teen told police that he never had sexual contact with Bennest, and Burnaby school board chairman Ron Burton says, "We have been assured that no current student was sexually molested."

However, this statement "leaves open the possibility that some may have been molested in the past," Mr. Burton admits.

However, this statement "leaves open the possibility that some may have been molested in the past," Mr. Burton admits.

Bennest, a pedophile, was not jailed nor was he criminally convicted, as the charges against him were stayed. He committed serious crimes against Children and the Crown Prosecutor in British Columbia, behind closed door, did a plea bargain with the defence and the judge that set the principale free.

Recently in Edmonton Alberta, --Carl Treleavan-- of a child pornography ring that operated in at least six countries, was sentenced Friday, March 17, 2006, to what prosecutors say is the longest jail term in Canada for the offence -- three years--

Treleavan was one of the administrators of a global pornography ring that distributed images that included acts of incest, bestiality, and rape.

The Crown prosecutor Steve Bilodeau, in joint submission with the defence argued successfully that Treleavan deserved less jail time because of how he co-operated with investigators and how quickly he pleaded guilty. In less than one year will be out of jail on good behaviour.

It is easy to conclude that in Canada, Crown Prosecutors are not serious in doing justice for the children in cases of child pornography and pedophilia.

The following article will give the readers an idea on how Canada is a heaven for pedophiles.

Citizen fights to right system's wrongs

By Leo Knight

(This column was published in the North Shore News on July 22, 1998).

As weeks go, the last one was rainier than should be this time of year. But it was more interesting than most in a host of ways.

In a blatant display of where the attorney general's priorities lie, he has decreed his office will appeal the decision by a New Westminster Justice of the Peace ruling photo radar is unconstitutional in the way it is applied and enforced in this province.

Wasn't it only last February when Ujjal Dosanjh played out the final card in the charade of Regina vs William Bennest?

Bennest, the convicted pedophile who earned his daily crust as an elementary school principal, waltzed through the criminal justice system last October with barely a blemish on his record and a minor stinging on his wrists. The resulting outcry forced the apparently unwilling AG to announce an appeal of the sentence given to Bennest. The sentence, mind you, not a review of how the whole disgusting situation came about.

But just two weeks later, as the Director of Criminal Appeals, Bob Wright, was diligently writing and researching the legal brief for the appeal, Dosanjh appointed former Supreme Court Justice Josiah Wood to review and report to him on the chances of success for such an appeal.

Wood reported back to the AG on Feb. 12 in a 400-word letter dismissing all the hard work and lengthy arguments presented by Wright. ( Following is a 400-word letter of Wood).

No reasons. No analysis. None of that trite legal stuff, just a simple few phrases saying, "sorry, it won't work."

With that, Dosanjh stopped the appeal in its tracks.

The question hung in the air like a dirigible. Why not simply let the courts decide on the appeal?

Why indeed? The issue of an elementary school principal messing around with 12-year-old boys under his care is one that offended even the most jaded watchers of the justice system.

That case came to the attention of Doug Stead. A man who had already felt the frustration of a justice system unwilling to prosecute another individual who had been accused of interfering with young children. In that case, it was a family member of Stead's who was allegedly victimized by Dr. John Gossage, then a New Westminster pediatrician.

Stead battled, screamed and protested to no avail with an uncaring system. Despite dozens of complaints from a variety of victims, Gossage was never charged criminally. But he was found guilty of professional misconduct by the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Stead was left frustrated, angry and wanting vengeance.

Along came a photo radar ticket in the mail and Stead got his chance to stick it in the eye of the attorney general, the office who denied justice to Stead and his family.

He fought the photo radar ticket and had the method of delivering tickets declared unconstitutional. He used the system that protected an alleged pedophile to protect all of us from the dirty, money grubbing hands of the NDP.

How did Dosanjh respond? Appeal that decision, he ordered. Not now, but right now. Did he hire a former Supreme Court Justice to review the chances of a successful appeal?

Hardly, Marge! Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead with the appeal.

So, let me see if I have this right. A homosexual pedophile is the principal of an elementary school and has designs on a 12-year-old male student.

He takes pictures of that boy and superimposes the images of another underage male prostitute engaged in sexual acts with the principal, along with the student.

He is ultimately charged with a number of crimes involving sex and children -- young boys.

Yet, he is let off in a plea bargain arrangement and sees not one day in jail. No public retribution for his disgraceful and disgusting acts. Nothing for his outrageous breach of trust.

But the AG ensures no appeal is ever launched despite the public demand for justice.

He hides behind the innocuous and specious Wood report, but the truth is he demonstrated no apparent stomach for the appeal. What, pray tell me, could he have been afraid of?

Now fast forward to Stead's photo radar case. Dosanjh and the rest of his morally-challenged government is faced with the loss of a projected $100 million in revenue from the blatant money grab which is photo radar, and it's all hands to the pumps in mounting the appeal.

Doug Stead is revelling in the situation he has found himself in. He is a successful businessman with his hi-tech firm Tri-M Systems in Coquitlam. He can certainly afford the $172 speeding ticket.

But he's in this for the long haul. The little guy is fighting the system and if there's a God in heaven, he'll bring the NDP to its knees.

Here's a quick message to Gordon Campbell and his less than effective opposition: get on this bandwagon quick.

Stead has asked me to pass on this offer for the reader. If anyone has any information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of a politician, doctor, lawyer or judge on charges of pedophilia, he'll personally give a cheque for $10,000 to the whistleblower.

Ten thousand bucks to out a kiddie diddler. Not bad.

I will personally guarantee absolute confidentiality to anyone who comes to me with information. My email address is listed below or call me at the North Shore News.

It's time these leeches were shown up for what they are. Are you listening Premier Clark? Pay attention Mr. Dosanjh. The little guy is getting mad.

In 1992 Former Regional Crown Austin Cullen, who is now a justice at the Supreme Court of British Columbia, reversed the decision to prosecute Dr. John Gossage on charges of sexual assault on a young girl, even though the "disclosure" was excellent from an evidentiary point of view. The family protested the media got involved, as did a lawyer Paul Jaffe.

As a result, the attorney general's ministry appointed a special "ad hoc" prosecutor to review the matter. Peter Leask later became the defense counsel to William Bennest and as a result of the investigation by Peter Leask no charges were ever laid.

The doctor applied for and received an "ex parte" order (given with only one side present), prohibiting the publication of his name and silencing the victim family.

It took over a year to get that order lifted before Dr. John Gossage could be named. Once named, other complainants came out , until there were over 40 separate complaints.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons "convicted" Gossage in March '94 only of "unprofessional conduct" relating to an assault on the Mom of the young girl. His license was suspended for six months and he was fined. That's all Folks. Yet, the college knew of complaints since at least 1988 after being advised in writing by an RCMP officer in Williams Lake.

Fact in passing sentence, Judge Kitchen described school teacher/principal Bennest as an exemplary citizen whose only "flaw" was his sexual interest in young children. The Judge went on to compare Bennest's transgressions to the simple possession of marijuana.

Peter Leask acted in the case of the memorable pedophile William Bennest, Burnaby School principal, and Canada's foremost child pornographer of the day, had his charges gradually stepped down, and charges were stayed, and he exited the justice system without even a minor speed bump.

(Peter Leask acted for the Air India bombers who walked as well. And in November 2005, Peter Leask was rewarded by Erwin Cotler, the former Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada, by appointing Leask on the bench at the B.C. Supreme Court).

And within 16 months on the bench, on March 14, 2007, Peter Leask, in a trial that lasted 5 or 6 days, acquitted a member of the Hells Angels on a cocaine trafficking charge --- One-kilo cocaine bricks worth a total of $1.5 million were seized from the vehicle and at the storage locker--.

Leask found Glen Jonathan Hehn not guilty, saying he found Hehn, a full-patch member of the elite Nomads chapter of the Angels, "to be a good witness."

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