Good news and bad news at the same time. CBC is reporting that an agreement has been reached with the City of Vancouver and the provincial and federal governments to pay $50,000 to each of 11 families whose relatives were victimized by serial killer Robert Pickton, says lawyer Jason Gratl. Gratl is representing the children of Pickton's victims. Good that the families of the victims receive some compensation but bad that the truth is being buried under the carpet again in a settlement.
Why do the victims receive any settlement at all? I mean, isnt his incarceration settlement enough?
ReplyDeleteNormally compensation in a civil wrongful death suit would come from the one's responsible for the murder. Like suing someone for lost wages in a car accident or when ICBC awards damages. Dain's wife could easily sue the Hells Angles for wrongful death. However, in this case a settlement paid out by the government would imply some kind of negligence on behalf of the police and something to hide in a full trial going public.
ReplyDeleteI believe the basis of the lawsuit was that the authorities failed to warn the women on the downtown eastside that a serial killer was on the loose. There was also an issue raised as to the approach police took to inform the families that their missing loved ones might be linked to the Pickton case. The reason it took so long to solve the case might have been a bit of disengagement of the authorities due to the nature of the victims. That could be a source of embarrassment to the Crown and the police. ergo.... settle out of course for 50K each to appease the families and leave the dust under the rug.
ReplyDeleteGrant Wakefield was employed as an agent to do surveillance of the Pickton farm for the VPD August 1999. The VPD terminated his contract September 1999 because they no longer considered Robert Pickton to be a suspect in the missing women case. That contradicts the police’s claims that Pickton wasn’t a suspect until much later on. Someone higher up pulled the plug on the investigation just like in the Western Wind bust. That means the police assume a certain amount of legal liability for murders committed on the farm after they pulled then plug on the investigation. http://gangstersout.blogspot.ca/2013/05/family-of-pickton-victims-sue-for.html
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