Prostitute's death adds to fear on Halifax streets
Ian Rooney
Murders claim seven women in two years
By Stephen Thorne
The Canadian Press
HALIFAX - The list of dead and missing women is becoming
disturbingly long.
On Wednesday, city police found the slashed body of a 25-year
old prostitute behind an apartment building. She was seven months
pregnant.
Police don't know if Kim Leanne Lucas was killed by a pimp,
a john or someday else. They said Thursday they have no leads
in the case.
"We're looking at all angles", said Const. Gary Martin. "She
was definitely in the trade. There's some indication there may
be a drug problem.
"There's nothing that we're ruling out now".
Kim is at least the seventh Halifax area woman to be murdered
on the streets in less than two years. Most had some connection
to prostitution and remain unsolved.
"Right now, the only thing we have to go on is we're talking another
young female", said Martin.
The most recent Halifax killing is another example of the dangers
inherent in prostitution, says the head of Stepping Stone, a
support industry for prostitutes.
"Prostitution and street life is a dangerous business", said Nancy
Hunter, whose group has dealt with more than 200 prostitutes in the
past year alone.
"There's always the violence and worse in this business. Most of
the girls involved have pimps."
However, pimps have garnered much of the attention in a recent
wave of killings and trials involving Halifax area girls here and in
Toronto. Four Toronto area women have been found strangled along or
near Lake Ontario in the past five months. In of the few solved cases,
Kevin Whynder, a 21 year old pimp, was sentenced Monday for an
execution-style slaying of Kelly Wilneff, 17. She was shot 10 times
in the head before she could testify at his assault trial.
The violence surrounding pimps is reaching beyond the streets and
into the homes of those trying to solve the problem. The teenage daughter
of a Hallifax police officer was recently raped in her own home by
five black males after the officer was credited with jailing a local
pimp.
Such cases have intimidated witnesses and made the police job nearly
impossible, said Martin. "There is alot of fear on the street", he
said. "People, no matter who they are, from what part of society have
those fears. We're dealing with them constantly."
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File: /freenet/home/52/at570/ .Mike Smith
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File: /freenet/home/52/at570/ .Mike Smith