and then we wonder why Americans think we're soft on crimeAmerican sex offender released
CanWest News Service
Friday, October 27, 2006
An immigration official in Niagara Falls, Ont., released convicted American sex offender Malcolm Watson Friday after declaring he poses little risk to society.
Watson, an American who is also a landed immigrant in this country, was given a choice earlier this week in a Buffalo, N.Y. court of serving time in an American jail or serving probation in Canada in relation to a sex offence involving a 15-year-old girl. The American judge ordered him to return to the U.S. only for court hearings.
Watson was arrested Wednesday after he tried to re-enter Canada from Buffalo, N.Y., where he had been attending a parole hearing. He has lived in Canada with his wife and three children for the past four years.
The incident has some Canadians fuming that the U.S. is exporting its criminals to this country.
“We don’t want to see Canada become a haven for pedophiles or anyone else committing a serious crime,” Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Thursday. “We don’t want U.S. courts getting the notion that we just take people here that they would have put in jail.”
Ottawa wanted Watson kept behind bars until a hearing could be held to determine whether he should be expelled from Canada.
But immigration review board member Ken Thomson disagreed, saying that as a criminal threat, Watson is “at the low end of the scale."
Officials will meet next week to set a date for a hearing to discuss the government’s request that Watson be deported.
He was also ordered to report for an admissibility hearing, expected in the next several weeks, where it will be decided if he will be ordered removed to the U.S.
Already making regular visits to his probation officer in Buffalo, Watson was ordered to cross over only at the Peace Bridge and report to an immigration officer each time.
One more asshole who needs to have his hall pass revoked
- Thread starter gravitas
- Start date
You have to remember that what he was convicted of in the US is not a crime here yet.gravitas said:
if the stockwell day doesn't want the US judges to send convicts to canada then they should just pass a law barring the practice. i am pretty sure that they would get support from the other parties on this matter
Yes ... but only if he is convicted of certain crimes (felonies?) and/or the sentence is over a certain limit (over three years). His conviction fits neither of these criteria. He plea bargained a deal.HeMadeMeDoIt said:
"Under the agreement accepted Monday by a Cheektowaga County court, Watson pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse in the third degree — charges that carry a maximum penalty of one year and 90 days jail, respectively."
Also his crime in the US may not necessarily be a crime in Canada since the age of consent is 14 (18 if he was in a position of authority over the student). He and the student were at the same school but I have not seen any reports yet that he was her teacher.
A correction
It turns out that she was one of his students.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061028.WATSON28/TPStory/Education
The article has a short summary of the 'due process' that the government may have to go through to kick him out of the country.
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