Noellee (also given as Noelly) Mowatt is nine months pregnant. She’s due to give birth to her second daughter next Tuesday. Instead of being home preparing for her baby’s arrival Noellee is behind bars at the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, Ontario.
Noellee isn’t there because she committed a crime. She’s there because she was the victim of a crime.
Let’s go over that again. A 19 year old woman who is ready to give birth at any moment has been locked up in a maximum security jail, because she was assaulted and she reached out to police for help. The young woman is described as a “petite teenager… isolated and frightened.” (”Premier uncomfortable…”) She has not been contacted by prosecutors, police or even victims services since she police dragged her from her to jail at midnight last Wednesday.
What happened? Back in December 2007 Noelly was assaulted by her boyfriend, Christopher Harbin. She called police to ask for help, and Chris was arrested. He faces a handful of charges including assault with a knife, unlawful confinement, assault, theft and breaching probation. He is behind bars awaiting his trial tomorrow.
Noellee is being held as a material witness, after police say they tried to serve her with a subpoena and couldn’t. She failed to appear for an earlier court date on March 20th.
Police and crown attorneys claim she provided welfare an address but wasn’t living there. They also say she missed three appointments to pick up the subpoena at the police station. Noellee says she talked to detectives several times, and even asked about the court date. She declares that when she asked she couldn’t get a straight answer from the detective, who instead replied, “You know.” No one talked about her picking up a subpoena, nor did anyone try to drop one off where she was staying. The young woman had been living in shelters and rooming houses until her arrest on April 1st.
It seems police were able to find Noellee to arrest her. One wonders why they couldn’t find her to serve the subpoena?
Noellee’s lawyer Lydia Riva says that material warrants are generally used to compel criminals to testify against other criminals. She’s never heard of a victim of alleged domestic violence being jailed like this - although a spokesperson for the Attorney General says it is not the first time. Noelly was refused bail despite the fact that she had been prepared to accept quite strict conditions including house arrest and reporting to police daily until she testified.
Detaining a young woman so close to her due date over what seems to be a bunch of red tape and “he said, she said” seems rather punitive to me. Noellee’s lawyer thinks so too.
“My client is being punished for not pursuing charges against her boyfriend,” Riva said Monday. “We’re supposed to reserve jail for the worst offenders, not for victims.” (”Pregnant teen sent to jail…”)
Crown Attorney Susan Chapman is quoted by CBC as saying:
“The problem with autonomy is you’re giving the power over to the victim in the case in what is really a public prosecution,” she said. “And then you can make that woman vulnerable to intimidation and further abuse by the perpetrator.” (”Pregnant teen jailed to ensure …”)
That doesn’t sound like a whole lot of concern for victims of domestic violence to me! It sounds more like a concern for the grease the wheels of justice need - making the job easier for police and prosecutors without regard to the victim.
A concern for the “intimidation and further abuse” does seem reasonable enough, but then with Chris in Jail it would be easy enough to prevent the couple from seeing one another. Especially if Noellee were under house arrest…..
It’s interesting, one of the reasons Chris Harbin is in jail at the moment is that he failed to attend court mandated anger management and spousal abuse counselling. So he’s being punished at least in part because he wasn’t willing to work on the problems that led Noellee to call police in the first place. On the other hand, she’s being punished because she does want to work on them, and because she feels that he’s “a good man” with whom she can build a life and raise a family.
Can you all see me shaking my head?
What makes the whole thing seem even more of an intimidation or reprisal on the part of the justice system is the fact that Noellee was placed in segregation after talking to reporters. She later said in a telephone interview that she feels the guards were punishing her.
Afraid she will deliver in jail, Noellee is concerned for her health and that of her unborn baby. She is not eating well and has caught the flu since being arrested. She is particularly nervous about being imprisoned with women who have hepatitis and HIV.
A woman so close to her delivery date is usually seen once a week by her attending physician if all is well, and we would expect her to be monitored more carefully if it isn’t. None of the reports I found mentioned anything about Noellee receiving proper obstetrical care in jail, despite the fact that she is distressed and has had to seek medical care as a result of the flu she caught. She has already been in custody for ten days. She may have missed up to two pre-natal appointments at this point. Is she being given access to adequate care for her unborn baby in jail?
After all the trouble this has brought her, Noellee vows never to call the police for anything again, not even if she is dying. She feels that news of her treatment will make other women who are living with domestic violence reluctant to come forward and seek help from the courts. Several people who work with victims of violence have indicated it will probably have women thinking twice before they ask for help in the future. No one wants to end up in jail because they forgive a boyfriend or husband and want to try to reconcile.
Vivien Green, formerly of the Woman Abuse Council of Toronto, says the way the courts are handling Noelly is a “glaring example of the courts’ inability to deal with spousal abuse.” She further goes on to say, “This is a lesson in how pathetically our courts work in these cases.” (”Premier uncomfortable…”)
Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, under attack from both the Conservatives and NDP, admits Noelly’s situation “creates a little bit of discomfort.” He is, nevertheless, not going to “second guess” a judge. Attorney General Chris Bentley also has “some discomfort with the outcome of this case.” I wonder whose discomfort the officials are worried about: Noellee’s or their own?
To be fair, I must mention that Noellee also is facing charges for theft and failing to appear in court. However I believe it’s rather rare for someone to be held in maximum security even if convicted on such charges, especially if she is about to have a baby.
Experts on domestic violence say that many, if not most, women react the way Noellee has when it comes to testifying in court. There is a reluctance to appear in court and often a desire to reconcile with a man whom they love and still want to be their partner. They call police in fear, just wanting the violence of the moment to stop. Police and prosecutors may look upon the women as uncooperative or unreliable, but if this is the reaction of the majority of women in such a circumstance it would seem it is for the system to change - not the women.
In fact, the laws were changed some time ago. Whereas victims once had to press charges the courts now file assault charges on their behalf. And while the victim is still sometimes called upon to testify, the emphasis in a case like this should be placed on evidence and testimony from people who have some knowledge of the violence - those who heard fighting, saw bruises on the victim, a doctor who treated injuries, etc.
Some people are suggesting that had Noellee Mowatt been someone else perhaps she wouldn’t be in jail for her reluctance to testify. Her race, her poverty, the fact that she is both a recent immigrant to Canada and charged with theft herself, all seem to have contributed to the way the courts have seen fit to treat her. There is more than a slim chance that police and court staff failed to communicate with Noellee, and there is no question that their reaction to her not wanting to testify was both severe and highly unusual. Court officials and police have drawn a picture of an unreliable, possibly dishonest and thieving young woman who refuses to cooperate with them.
They ignore the fact that Noellee is concerned for her daughter, mother and grandmother in Jamaica, and that she tries to send money to them to help pay for their living expenses. Only one of the sources I found even mentioned that - or the fact that Noellee and Chris plan to take correspondence courses together and make a better life for their child. It’s all too easy for both the courts and even the media to accept a two dimensional description of a person. It’s what fits into their mold, and anything that doesn’t fit gets discarded as not important.
There may be “a little bit of discomfort” in this whole business, but I simply can’t see how tossing an already scared and disadvantaged young woman into jail serves to do anything but punish and intimidate her into compliance. Wasn’t the goal supposed to be protecting women from violence?
Sources:
“Heavily pregnant teen remains in Ont. jail” (Chris Hattie, National Post)
“Jailed teen due to deliver baby” (Michele Henry, Toronto Star)
“Pregnant woman ‘never calling the police again’” (Michele Henry, Toronto Star)
“Pregnant teen jailed to ensure testimony against boyfriend” (CBC News)
“Pregnant teen jailed after refusing to testify on abuse” (Karen Howlett, Globe and Mail)
“Pregnant teen sent to jail for not testifying against boyfriend” (Canwest News Service)
“Pregnant witness held in Toronto-area jail to ensure testimony” (CBC)
“Premier grilled on girl in jail” (Chris Wattie & Jordana Huber, National Post)
“Premier uncomfortable over jailed pregnant teen” (Chris Wattie & Jordana Huber, National Post)
“Still won’t testify” (Sam Pazzano, Toronto Sun)
“Toronto pregnant teenager jailed on no charges” (Shameless Blog)
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