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Rape victim reveals identity at dangerous offender hearing

Last Updated: Friday, October 27, 2006 | 3:59 PM MT

A victim who has testified at a rapist's dangerous offender hearing wants people to know her name.

Judge Sterling Sanderman agreed on Friday to lift the publication ban preventing media from identifying Rosemary Boulanger, who was raped by Steve Ewanchuk in 1972, when she was 18 years old.

Outside Edmonton's courthouse, Boulanger told CBC News she wanted the ban lifted because it's important for people to know rape can happen to anyone.

She said she is angry with Canada's "revolving door" justice system. 

"I just want the right thing to be done. He's ruined so many lives, not just mine.  This has to stop," she said.

Victims testify

The hearing at the Court of Queen's Bench in Edmonton will determine whether Ewanchuk should be declared a dangerous offender and put behind bars indefinitely.

In the summer of 1972, Boulanger testified Friday, Ewanchuk drove her home from a party.

He raped her in the back seat of his car, leaving her white dress covered in blood, she said, and then he offered to walk her to her door. That's when she knew Ewanchuk was a dangerous man, she said.

Ewanchuk's first-known victim, a 16-year-old girl who is now a grandmother, testified on Wednesday. She told the court that he raped her in 1969 after she accepted a ride home because she had missed her bus.

Six convictions

Ewanchuk has been convicted of sexually assaulting six people, most recently a child.

In November, he was found guilty of sexual assault, sexual interference and inciting sexual touching in incidents involving a girl who turned eight years old between July 2003 and July 2004.

After he was found guilty, the Crown asked for the dangerous offender hearing based on his record.

In 1994, Ewanchuk sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl during a job interview. She said "no" to his advances, but he had argued there was implied consent.

The case, which became known as the "no means no" case, went to the Supreme Court, where in 1999 it ruled that implied consent isn't a defence.

The dangerous offender hearing will resume in a month because Ewanchuk is due to undergo surgery for colorectal cancer in mid-November.

 

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