The witness was one that Botterill felt broke the mould. During his interviews with the prostitutes now in the care of the task force, Botterill had recognized that all expect Stacey said they had been sexually, verbally, or physically abused as children. Members of the task force had begun to believe that there was a very simple formula at play in the streets of Canada: all you had to do was abuse a little girl and then wait ten years and you’d have a prostitute. Diane was the second exception to that theory. She was the only prostitute aside from Stacey to say she had never been abused. Unlike Stacey, Diane did not grow up in a home where there was drunkenness or violence between her parents.
Diane Dennis was eighteen when she came to the task force after being beaten by her pimp. When she came to Craig Botterill’s office he realized he had met her once before. Diane had been a witness in a robbery case Botterill had tried a few years earlier. At that time she had been running with a bad crowd and happened to be in a car with two guys who decided to hold up a late night convenience store. During that case Botterill had met Diane’s father who was a successful local professional who seemed genuinely concerned that his daughter was running with the wrong crowd.
When Diane walked into his office with a member of the task force, Botterill was certain she was still running with the wrong crowd. He was also pretty certain her father’s heart was about to be broken. During the witness interview, Botterill got a sense of who Diane was: a wild young woman who longed for adventure. Diane was drawn to danger. She was a real thrill seeker who had finally found danger in a pimp who had beaten her until she was black and blue.
Diane was highly intelligent and had done well in school—she had no problem grasping the principles of the justice system as Botterill explained them. He was confident she would make a credible witness who would name the pimp who had abused her. When Diane’s trial was about a week away, Craig Botterill realized he had a scheduling conflict so he asked another crown attorney in the office for help. The other attorney agreed to take Diane’s case; the success rate for task force cases made them an easy sell to other attorneys.
Botterill wrapped up the earlier court hearing he had been committed to and decided to head to the court room where Diane was testifying against her pimp. He thought he would sit in the gallery to offer her moral support. He decided it would be a break to watch and not have to ask the questions. When Botterill stepped quietly into the courtroom he realized something was wrong. The crown attorney who had taken the case was asking the judge to declare Diane a hostile witness. Crown attorney’s use that declaration when one of their own witnesses turns on them or they suspect a Crown witness is lying. The declaration gives the Crown a little more leeway during direct examination or initial questioning of the witness. The judge agreed and made the declaration. Botterill knew Diane must have been refusing to cooperate. He sat in the public gallery and watched as the Crown attorney went over the statement Diane had given first to the task force officers and then to him. Diane argued with the statement saying it was not what she meant, that she was telling the truth now. Diane had decided she would not testify against the pimp and the Crown attorney’s pleas were wasted. The pimp was acquitted.
Craig Botterill left the courtroom without talking to Diane. What ever she had decided he knew it was too late to ask her to change her mind now. He worked late that night preparing a case that he would have to deliver in the morning. When he walked out of the office shortly after ten o’clock, he looked down at the traffic on Hollis Street to see if it was a busy night on the stroll. Botterill didn’t notice whether it was busy; all he saw was Diane. The eighteen-year-old was standing on the sidewalk across from his office building. Botterill was certain her pimp had put her there for his benefit. Diane did not notice as Botterill walked away from Hollis Street toward his waiting van.
A few months later, Craig Botterill received a phone call from a prosecutor in Toronto asking if he knew a young girl named Diane Dennis. Botterill told the man he did and asked what had happened. That morning Diane had checked into a Toronto hospital after being severely beaten by the same pimp. The night before Diane had offended the pimp by talking back to him. In an effort to teach her respect the pimp had struck her repeatedly in the face with a metre long length of two by four lumber. When Diane woke in the morning she could not open her eyes because they were badly swollen and her eyelids were caked with dried blood. Diane heard her pimp’s voice but could not see him, or believe what he was saying, when he ordered her to perform oral sex on him. Diane pried one eye open with her fingers and begged him to stop. The pimp threatened to get the board and resume the beating so Diane complied. When he left the hotel room she walked down and asked the startled desk clerk to call her a taxi so she could go to the hospital. Diane flew back to Halifax two weeks later. Botterill made sure she was met at the airport by members of the task force. When it was time for her pimp’s trial in Toronto he sent two task force officers with her for moral support. At her second attempt as a crown witness Diane testified and the pimp was sent to prison.
One of Craig Botterill’s toughest days in court came at the end of a trial—and the problem was neither his opponent at the defense table nor a suddenly reluctant witness. The trial had gone well and the pimp had been convicted; Botterill’s trouble began when it was time for the judge to hand down his sentence.
Judge Reginald Kimball had something to say on the subject of prostitution. It was his understanding, the judge said, that “where there was a John, a whore was not far away, and where there was a whore, a pimp was usually close by.” The use of the word whore, and Botterill’s impression that Kimball saw the pimp’s role as one of protective partner rather than abusive master, made it almost impossible for the prosecutor to keep his temper. The hundreds of hours task force officers had spent trying to reinforce their many young witnesses’ fragile self-confidence could be undermined by such an approach, which ignored their central concept: a girl who becomes involved in prostitution need not wear the label prostitute—to say nothing of whore for the rest of her life.
What nearly finished Botterill, however, was the judge’s suggestion that the Crown obtain a wider understanding of prostitution in Canada by reading a book entitled Red Lights on the Prairie. Craig Botterill had read the book in his social studies class at a Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, high school, a number of years earlier. The book, a depiction of widespread criminal activity in Botterill’s home town during the 1920s and ’30s, extensively describes the operations of numerous well-run and flourishing brothels, whose controlled environment and adult prostitutes were a far cry from the contemporary reality of Canadian prostitution.
When he had finished delivering his oration, Judge Kimball sentenced the pimp before him to eighteen months in jail—the shortest term imposed at that point, and one of the shortest in the entire trial process. Botterill lost no time in preparing a response: immediately after the session, he prepared a motion asking that Kimball be barred from hearing any more task-force cases, on the grounds that his language might imply a bias against prostitutes.
In the spring and summer of 1993 the Nova Scotia provincial courts were kept busy with cases generated by the members of Operation Hectic, but Operation Hectic had its genesis in cases that were about to come before the courts in Toronto. Finally in July of 1993 the big players came to trial.
The month Stacey was supposed to have spent in Toronto before Sears’ trial had stretched into more than half a year. The time passed quickly though; Stacey had made new friends at the Toronto safe house, a place where she found she was not judged and where the girls appeared committed to breaking free of The Game.
The first test of Stacey’s resolve came in June when a preliminary hearing was held to determine if there was enough evidence to hold Smit over to trial. It was a three day hearing, half of which was taken up with Stacey on the stand. Like the girls encouraged by Craig Botterill, Stacey stood up to the pressure, and when the moment came she pointed out Smit as t
he man who had beaten her. Stacey also expected a lengthy stay in the witness chair during the July trial; she had been warned to expect a prolonged cross examination this time around. The warning was for not. On the first day of the trial, Michael “Smit” Sears stood in court and changed his plea, even telling the judge he was sorry for what he had done. Stacey was thrilled but her joy was short lived. As Sears gave his apology, Stacey could hear crying. She looked over to see her former pimp’s sister sitting behind the accused. The only family member able to make it to the trial—she lived and worked in Toronto—the young woman was devastated at what her brother had gotten himself into. She, like other members of his family, believed the plea change was a genuine admission of guilt. Michael Sears was ready to accept responsibility and whatever punishment the court gave him, and the family hoped that was the first step toward returning to the energetic and promising young man they loved. Smit was given six years for living on the avails and assault; he would have a long time to work at turning over that new leaf.
Peanut on the other hand was willing to fight the charge. Annie Mae had signed on him, but Peanut knew she would not have testified even if she were still alive. His only real problem was a sixteen-year-old named Norma Willis. Norma had worked for Smit on and off for two years; she was picked up by members of the Toronto juvenile task force in a routine sweep of the stroll. The officers saw her, thought she looked young, and decided to introduce themselves. They came at the perfect time; Norma was ready to leave The Game and within an hour of meeting the task force officers she accepted their offer of help and gave them a statement naming Peanut as her pimp. He plead not guilty but lost when the jury accepted her story over his. His sentence was three and a half years.
Taunya was the next girl to complete her role as star witness for the crown. Taunya traveled to Toronto in the fall of 1993 to face Manning Greer in court. The night before she was scheduled to testify turned out to be one of the longest nights in the fifteen-year-old’s life. Taunya sat in a hotel room in Toronto with two police officers in an adjoining room guarding her. The presence of the tight security heightened Taunya’s fears and she began to wonder if the threat delivered to Stacey in Halifax had substance to it. Taunya did not want to be the witness shot on the courthouse steps as the pimps finally sent their message to the other girls. She spent the night looking out the hotel window at the city where she and Teri and Gizelle had worked those final weeks for the Greer family. Looking at the city lights left Taunya with a strange longing. She wondered who was down on Church Street working while she sat under police guard in a hotel room. She also wondered who was safer.
Taunya was too nervous to eat breakfast in the morning and after sharing coffee with her police guards she headed to the courthouse to begin her testimony. She spent most of the morning in a small interview room in the courthouse where she paced and smoked and worried and wondered until she was finally called to testify. The court room was not what Taunya had expected; it was smaller and there were no crowds the way there had been during a hearing she had attended back in Halifax. As she walked up the centre isle toward the judge at the front of the room she finally saw the Big Man. Manning Greer was wearing crisp black jeans and an expensive blue dress shirt; his hair glistened with the oily treatment he used to pull his long curls down around his shoulders. Taunya could also see that he was smiling. She thought Greer looked more like one of the lawyers than a man who was on trial.
Greer was seated to the left of the center aisle at a table in front of the main gallery, separated from that area of the court by a small railing. Taunya walked through a small gate near the center of the railing toward the witness chair. As she walked past the railing her eyes met Greer’s. Taunya was surprised to see Greer flash her a bright smile and silently mouth the words “I love you.” The feeble attempt to con Taunya and regain control over her was exactly what the young witness needed to reaffirm her desire to see Greer locked up. As Taunya began her testimony she noticed a strange change in her feelings. After a night spent fearing the Big Man and wondering if he would have her killed, she felt a strange sense of relief as she looked at him from the witness chair. When Taunya was working for Greer she had always found small ways to maintain her independence. She had delayed having her tattoo changed because she knew Greer wanted it done. She had given up that bit of defiance only when he threatened to kill her. She had attempted to convince Star, the captive prostitute, to run while Greer slept, and she had been the driving force behind the plan to run away to Buffalo and make contact with Sweet Lou. In the witness chair, Taunya realized she was afraid of the memory of Greer and his reputation more than of the man himself. She relaxed as she realized she now had all of the power, and she was about to use it on the Big Man. Taunya’s new-found confidence made her a very credible witness. She was not emotional and did not get angry at the defence lawyer when she was cross examined. Manning Greer was sentenced to seven years in a Federal Penitentiary bringing an end to his reign as the king of the Nova Scotia Pimps. He too fell to Section 212 of the Criminal Code, living on the avails, procurement, and exercising control.
Eddy and Slugger didn’t fair any better. Their sentences were not as stiff, five and six years respectively, but Teri and Gizelle had also been strong witnesses. By the end of August all four of the main players had fallen after their teenage prostitutes had the nerve to face them in court.
Back in Halifax, with her testimony complete, Taunya’s fear of the pimps returned, and as that fear grew she realized she could not return to a normal life in the Halifax area. A year later Taunya opted to join the witness protection program. Once inside the program she was given a new identity, a new background, and a new city to live in. An RCMP officer accompanied Taunya to her new home and introduced her to an officer there who knew her true identity and her background. That officer promised to help her if she ever felt threatened or if she thought a member of the pimping family had discovered her.
On the first night of her new life Taunya sat alone in a small apartment the RCMP had found for her and watched TV. The pictures and sounds coming from the television did not cut through the anxiety she was feeling. She was preoccupied as she tried to decide what to do now that she was finally free. For most of her life Taunya wanted freedom. At first she wanted to be free of school and then it was her mothers’ rules she wanted to escape. Finally she wanted freedom from the pimps who had made her life so terrible. Now Taunya had her freedom and it terrified her. For several days she was afraid to leave her apartment, but gradually she began to venture beyond the small convenience store located at the base of the large building she now called home. Within three weeks the former prostitute found a roommate to share the apartment and the expenses, and with her roommates help she found a job serving customers at a coffee shop. After four months, she enrolled in a few night classes at a beauty school where she hoped to become a hairdresser.
Socially, Taunya had great difficulty adapting to her new life. Her roommate introduced her to a few young men but Taunya discovered she did not like or trust white men. Her experience as a prostitute taught her that white men paid for sex while black men did not, and she found she had more respect for black men. She finally met a young black man and started her first normal relationship. Taunya decided early on she would never tell him about her past. She believed avoiding it was the best way for her to forget it. Taunya had one problem in her new life; money or a lack of it. The witness protection program only provided financial support for a few months. That money was gone and it was up to Taunya to fend for herself. Waiting tables in a coffee shop was not giving her enough money to pay her bills. Taunya found it very hard to cash a paycheck for one week of work that was less than half of what she often made in a single night on the street. As the need for money grew, Taunya began to take chances. She made excuses to her boyfriend, and left for occasional weekend trips to a neighboring city. There she went to work as an in-service worker at an escort service. Taunya continued that delica
te balancing act for more than a year. Then she finally decided to break free of prostitution for good. To force herself to stay free of the escort service Taunya took a drastic step. She quit her job at the coffee shop and convinced her boyfriend to pack and move to another part of the country far from the temptations of the Escort Service she had begun to rely on. Taunya finally made the break and stayed away from prostitution.
For Taunya’s close friend, Teri MacDonald, the break was easier to make. She held true to her word and stayed away from The Game, finished school and started the normal life she promised herself she would have on that flight back from Toronto after the 1992 raid.
Whether they assumed new identities and moved away, or tried to stick it out in Nova Scotia, all of the girls who had become involved with the task force—whether as witnesses in the trial of a pimp, or as participants in programs to help them get away from The Game—faced considerable difficulty adjusting to the “square” world.
Some, like Lydia Chiasson, made the transition with surprisingly few setbacks. The nineteen-year-old, like Taunya, joined the witness protection program after her pimps’ trial; she was relocated to a small town and quickly found a job. That she accepted her minimum-wage salary with a certain amount of grace was testament to her maturity; Lydia knew how to survive, and she understood that others, too, had to struggle to pay their rent and put food on the table. Lydia also had the advantage of past experience; before meeting Charlie Cochrane that day on her way to the video store she had been supporting herself with a minimum wage job. Unlike Taunya, who missed her mother and sister, Lydia had been a loner before she met Charlie; there was no one left behind to regret leaving. As for fears of being tracked down for reprisal, she had none; her new home was small enough that the arrival of a fancy car filled with men asking questions about the new girl in town would have quickly attracted attention, especially from the police chief, who knew Lydia had been a witness in a case involving a violent pimp, and who had befriended the young girl and would occasionally stop by to chat with her while she worked.
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