Odiously Vile Justice

"It is desirable in the interests of justice that the appellant be represented."
Appeal Court Justice Marc Rosenberg

Justice. Is justice really and truly served in the matter of a crime so deviantly repellent that all one's senses on knowing the details of a child's life suddenly, irrevocably transformed into an unreasonable facsimile of hell on earth to satisfy the sexual cravings of a psychopath and his sycophantic, immoral lover both of whom had not one iota of decency or compassion, bestially inflicting fear and pain on a helpless child, then satisfied with their effort, casually killing her, and discarding the corpse that had so recently been a happy, vibrant little girl?

Sticklers for the letter of the law all stand and declare: Justice must be served!

Victoria "Tori" Stafford, forever 8 years of age

How does the merciless torturer and killer of a child merit "justice", other than to have had all evidence presented in a court of law weighed when, as example, Michael Rafferty, the man who repeatedly raped the child then committed her to be forever silenced, to have a jury of those who could never be considered his peers, merely ordinary human beings, find him guilty as charged. A man convicted of a heinous murder really does need no additional considerations for his well-being.

Serving a life sentence in a Quebec penitentiary, the 33-year-old man who was convicted of first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm and kidnapping feels he has been ill done by through the manner in which the niceties of the application of law and justice were applied in his very singular case. He maintains his innocence; he "firmly stand[s] behind not guilty". It was his partner in the crime, Terri-Lynne McClintic who struck the killing blow.

Terry-Lynne McClintic was more than his enabler; she informed the child exiting school in Woodstock, Ontario on April tenth, 2009, that her mother had dispatched this somehow-familiar stranger to pick her up from school. She and Rafferty drove Tori to a remote rural location, quietly isolated, where there were no unwelcome intruders to enquire what was happening when the child pleaded fearfully but was sexually assaulted, then beaten to death.

Her decomposed body was only discovered three and a half months later, lying where it had been abandoned when the spirit of life left the body that was dressed in only a tee-shirt, vulnerable to the curiosity of animals pass by, the vagaries of the environment, the changing seasons, despite a desperate search by her parents and authorities that led nowhere until she was found.

And now, appeals Justice Rosenberg, applying the letter of the law in all its detailed justness, believes that the case, in all fairness to the law and Rafferty's rights under the law be re-visited. Michael Rafferty's repeated attempts to have his sentence appealed from life without possibility of parole before 25 years on the basis the trial judge's jury instructions were flawed has been fruitless up until now.

The case should be reconsidered by Legal Aid, ruled Justice Rosenberg.

Alternately, the lawyer representing the man, to continue acting on the appeal and be paid out of public funding by the Province of Ontario There are, he ruled, arguable issues for appeal. Paul Calarco, lawyer for the jailed criminal, pointed to the presence of three potential trial errors involving Terri-Lynne McClintic's credibility and whether Rafferty was an accessory after the fact and the conflicting evidence that his partner's testimony revealed

Monstrous acts of vicious psychopathy remain in a special category all their own. There are those who believe that having committed such unspeakable acts of atrocious harm to others the perpetrators have morally forfeited their 'rights' beyond the pale of consideration. The law states that even the most heinous of crimes merit the consideration of legal representation, regardless of crime and social status.

The integrity of the justice system is at stake, we are informed. Someone who is wealthy and can afford high-priced lawyers is able, using the law and its precedents and its guarantees of Charter rights, to escape justice when they deny being inebriated and driving their vehicle directly into that of someone in the opposite lane, killing them.

The law permits for acquitting such a crime when Charter rights have come in conflict with the punctilious application of the law.

Erring on the opposite side of ensuring that blind justice exerts every iota of defence to the unconscionable murderer, a moronic, dangerous pedophile who mercilessly broke a child and discarded her, represents the alternate side of the law's ledger. Both are equally unacceptable.