Conscientious Objection

It does defy the normal mind to come to grips with the alleged fact of three young girls in Ottawa being accused of cajoling, threatening, and inflicting physical harm as well as future harm on family members of girls they were determined to recruit into prostitution. That the girls accused of pimping were themselves very young, two of them 15 and one aged 16 when arrested in 2012, gives even less social credibility to the charges.

However, witness accounts, both of the young girls who were frightened into compliance as victims of the atrocious scheme, and prospective johns who paid for their services, are in the process of presenting more than enough evidence in a court of law for belief to be established.

     The trial of three Ottawa girls accused of using threats and beatings to force other girls into prostitution is set to resume Monday at the Ontario Provincial Court House in Ottawa. Photograph by: Jean Levac , Ottawa Citizen

Young girls who were victimized by the three teen predators determined to start out on a career of their own as professional pimps, described the level of intimidation they were exposed to, of threats against them and their family members, and how their resistance gave way to fear and compliance. When they were first contacted by their tormentors it was primarily through social media, and they were complimented on their maturely attractive bodies with the suggestions made they could earn good money by using those bodies to advantage.

The girls may have been curious at the attention their attractive potential had elicited, but certainly not interested in the proposals. They found the aspiring pimps to be insistent, intimidatingly certain of themselves, refusing to be put off by the illogic morality and criminality of their reasoning, and the eventual and fear-inducing threats that followed, placed pressure on them to agree finally that they might agree to the proposals. They were fearful, coerced, incapable in their fear to realize that they could seek avenues to protect themselves.

They foolishly accepted invitations to socialize, and on those occasions, flattered that they were being noticed and complimented and courted by seemingly socially popular girls of seeming sophistication, became victimized by physical violence and theft of their property. One girl, convinced when she accepted an invitation to a party that there would be nothing out of the normal occurring, found herself in a situation she would never have agreed to. She drank alcohol in excess, lost consciousness and when she awoke in a drunken stupor realized she was naked in a bathtub.

She was asked by one of the 15-year-olds whether she was interested in the opportunity to "make money". The girl said to her "I'm going to take pictures of you."  "She told me to put my hands on my body", said the victimized girl, also 15 years of age. She had attempted to take possession of the cellphone, but was "too drunk to move", she recalled in a recorded video interview presented in the courtroom. Two of the teens have been charged with producing child pornography. Ottawa police have recovered nude photos from the cellphone of one of the accused teens.

The girls, 15 when arrested, have been accused of threatening, beating and drugging other young girls for the purpose of forcing them to sell their bodies. In fact, three young girls were delivered by these would-be pumps to johns in spring, 2012. The girls were prompted to advise that they were 19 years old, and experienced at the trade. One of the girls testified to having told the man she was to have allowed to have sex with her that she was underage and being forced by the girls who had delivered her and were waiting for her in their car.

He understood what was happening, paid the girl the money promised so that she would not suffer more physical abuse from the other girls, and escorted her back to the car. Another girl offered to give a john oral sex if he would accept that, and pay her so she could bring the money back to the waiting girls. The girl testifying that she had been photographed naked in a bathtub described how one of her friends who had been at the 'party' had said "I'm scared. I don't know what to do", after another friend had been taken to the basement of the house they were in.

When the girl came back upstairs from the basement, her shirt was ripped open, and she was bleeding. "She couldn't stop crying. I saw blood on her face and she had lots of scratches." After that night Internet messages were received by the victimized girls further intimidating them. And the youngest of the accused teen pimps posted Twitter messages alluding to her 'problems' with whores. One 14-year-old girl who had been a target of the teen pimps attempting to recruit her, was admonished by the court for having written encouraging texts of support to another young witness.

Justice Diane Lahaie, hearing the case, was outraged that the girl had communicated with a witness, forbidden by the court. The girl who had been messaged on Facebook had been drugged, beaten and delivered to johns by two of the teen pimps. "I'm just trying to make her feel like she's not alone in this", the chastised teen explained to the court. "This is a very serious matter", the judge stated, emphasizing that the now-16-year-old victim of the pimps could face a contempt of court citation.

"You are not to communicate, directly or indirectly, by any means whatsoever, including Facebook, text messages, cellphones, landline telephones, face-to-face communications (or) through friends in any way with any witnesses or potential witnesses to these proceedings", lectured the judge to the chastened girl. Leading a Crown prosecutor to muse whether a "degree of immaturity" could be factored into the girl's failure to comply with the court order.

After what these children have been through, an ordeal that created immense turmoil in their  young lives, and now aiding in the course of justice, they can be excused for having little faith in the adults around them to fully understand their predicament, and their need to find care and compassion from among their peers. They seem to have found little from the course of justice itself and the source that issues the commands leading to the administration of said justice.