A collection agency is going after convicted rapist, sex killer and former colonel Russell Williams, according to CTV Ottawa.
Williams was apparently ordered to pay an $8,000 victims surcharge fine for the sexual assaults and murders he was convicted of last year.
“A lot of offenders don’t have resources to pay,” said executive director of Ottawa Victims Services, Steve Sullivan.
Williams, however, does.
He’s collecting a $60,000 military pension. It would take an act in Parliament to revoke it.
“For someone to make a conscious choice not to pay money to a fund that helps victims of crime — I think you have to ask, is this person really remorseful?,” Sullivan said.
The money collected from such funds goes to the provinces, where it’s divvied up among agencies offering services like counselling, support services and shelters.
Williams — the former commander of CFB Trenton — is serving life in Kingston Penitentiary .
Last October, he pleaded guilty to the first-degree murders of Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38.
Williams also pleaded guilty to two home-invasion rapes and more than 80 underwear fetish break-ins and thefts.
Sullivan, a former federal ombudsman for victims of crime, said most offenders ordered to pay up don’t even owe much.
“We’re talking usually $100 to $150 bucks,” he said. “The average person can pay it fairly quickly.”
Sullivan said the government has already committed to making the victims surcharge mandatory but hasn’t yet introduced legislation.
“Prisoners make $5 to $7 a day so it would be easy for even them … the more money that’s raised through that, the more money goes to benefit victims of crime.”
— with files from Tony Spears and Luke Hendry
kelly.roche@sunmedia.ca
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2011/03/08/17543541.html
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