"Pure Madness, Perhaps"

One might think that being a bank manager in a small Ontario town, with all the perquisites that come with it, is an enviable place to be in. Just think of it, the salary, the prestige, the public trust. The admiration and respect that a woman has earned through her personal capability as she sits at the local bank as its manager. She manages the employees, the bank's financial transactions, the reputation of the bank branch.

She makes an excellent salary, with outstanding benefits. She is, of course, under pressure because in that kind of elevated position of earned prestige one is held to be responsible for the smooth running of the bank, its proceeds and profits. You can take all of that to the bank, literally. So what happens when a woman is emotionally distraught when her personal, private life is not proceeding on the smooth path one might envision for a successful businesswoman?

She becomes vulnerable to restless nights with inadequate sleep, resulting in poor decision-making. Most people, however, don't quite succumb to decision-making of the extremely poor calibre that France Maurice, past manager of Hawkesbury's CIBC branch descended to. Making an ill-considered pact with family members who were criminally inclined to enrich themselves by pursuing avenues to ill gain.

Seeking to console herself over her upset private life by consorting with criminals whose intent she knew very well was to assault the very principles of law and order a bank manager and a citizen in good standing ordinarily subscribed to. She became their unprincipled, in-the-know advisor. Who would know better than she which bank customers were in the habit of maintaining loose cash around their homes to make home invasions profitable?

Who would know better than the manager of the bank which of the bank's safes held a substantial amount of cash, and to select it, rather than one that had been drained of ready cash? Who would know other than herself when an armoured car cash delivery was to be made? All this handy information and more was divulged to those of her extended family absorbed in the fun and games of accessing finances not their own.

Everyone, in retrospect, looking back on what results as a consequence from bad, really bad decision-making, becomes contrite. Becomes horribly saddened by what an indescribable mess they've made of their lives. Particularly when they're faced with the inescapable fact that they have been judged and found wanting, and that they must now pay a debt to society for their criminal offence.

Overlooked is the shattering of peoples' trust. That she enabled violence-prone people to have access to the homes of bank clients who had no reason not to trust her is unforgivable. She was, in effect, the instrument of knowledge that led violent criminals to the homes of those they felt would enrich them, and in the process of their criminal acts they not only robbed, but they physically injured their victims.

Ms. Maurice's three children will miss their mother while she is incarcerated. They will learn a lesson they shouldn't have had to be exposed to, that criminal behaviour has very serious consequences.

Their mother should logically have been aware of that simple formula long ago.