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Gordzilla in the City: Who will keep us safe from online harassment?

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Here’s something to ponder: What do you suppose would happen if a clearly unhinged man living just across the border in Washington state set up a hate-dripping revenge website dedicated to destroying B.C. Attorney General Suzanne Anton, falsely accusing her of stealing public funds, hating the Chinese and being an alcoholic?

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What if the angry guy also put Anton’s home address and phone number on the website, announced that he hoped to do “as much damage to her reputation and life as possible,” sent her business contacts links to his damaging claims and mused about how the world would be a better place if she were dead?

Finally, what if the guy kept up this harassment year after year, including sending Anton hundreds of abusive emails, including some with photos showing her his gun licence and the spot where he could sneak across the border into B.C.?

Would the justice minister have reasonable grounds to fear for her safety? Would you? I sure know I’d be fearful.

Which is why you can count me among the many people shocked and frankly appalled at the recent decision by Crown prosecutors not to lay criminal-harassment charges against Patrick Fox of Burnaby for a similar campaign of terror against his ex-wife, Tucson, Ariz., resident Desiree Capuano.

Crown spokesman Dan McLaughlin told CBC that prosecutors “couldn’t conclude” that Capuano would have “an objective fear” for her “personal safety” based on Fox’s comments and “the fact the people live in different countries played a part in that assessment.”

Legal experts say prosecutors have adopted a too narrow view of harassment in deciding not to lay charges, which were recommended by Burnaby RCMP following an investigation. They say the Crown should have considered Capuano’s sense of “psychological safety,” not just her physical safety.

I agree. Psychological harm is physical harm and the Crown ought to know that. Just ask anyone suffering from post-traumatic stress
disorder.

But you don’t even need that argument to justify laying a charge and putting the issue before a judge and/or a jury.

The Criminal Code doesn’t use the term “objective fear” in defining harassment. It defines the crime as action that “causes that other person reasonably, in all the circumstances, to fear for their safety or the safety of anyone known to them.”

What is unreasonable about Capuano’s fear, given that Fox has gone so far as to tell their teenage son that he would have “no qualms” about killing Capuano if it were legal. He also posted that online. Imagine the psychological impact that must have had on the poor kid.

Just because Fox says he wouldn’t hurt or kill Capuano, should she or the Crown rely on that given his clearly obsessive hatred of her and hopeful fantasies that she die?

Fox, whose birth name is Richard Riess, he’s also not just been spewing hatred toward his ex, who separated from him 14 years ago and has been involved in a bitter custody dispute. He’s also been actively working to destroy her life by, for example, sending links to his despicable website to employers and her business contacts through LinkedIn.

The case has also exposed the problem with slander and libel laws in Canada, which make it financially impossible for all but the wealthy to get justice. The size of the awards in defamation cases is usually smaller the cost of hiring a lawyer, typically in the tens of thousands of dollars. It’s why most lawyers tell people who’ve been defamed that it’s not worth it to sue, even if your chance of winning is high.

I would hope that a kindly lawyer in Vancouver would take on Capuano’s case pro bono to at least obtain a court order forcing the pathetic creep — who was deported from the U.S. after being convicted of perjury during the custody case — to take down his appalling website. Surely, good old-fashioned chivalry demands it. Perhaps Pivot Legal Society or a similar group could help.

The attorney general should show more leadership and order Crown prosecutors to reconsider the decision not to lay charges.

Anton issued a statement claiming that the Clark government “takes online harassment seriously” and that “a prosecution may occur regardless of the form that the alleged harassment takes.”

She said, however, that “it would be up to police to determine whether to re-submit its original report to Crown Counsel … with any additional evidence included.”

With respect, Anton is passing the buck. If her government really takes online harassment “seriously,” she must help Capuano.

The Gordzilla in the City column, which appears on Mondays, is written by Gordon Clark, the editorial pages editor. He can be reached at gclark@postmedia.com. Letters to the editor can be sent to provletters@theprovince.com.



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