David Ramsay, 65; Judge Who Was Sexual Predator
Bill Schenley
Photo:
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/photos/ramsay_davidwilliam040503.jpg
FROM: The Vancouver Province
By Jennifer Saltman,
David William Ramsay, the former Prince George
provincial court judge who used his influence to
prey on young girls, has died.
Mike Leger, correctional manager at the
Dorchester, N.B., penitentiary where Ramsay was
being held, confirmed that Ramsay died sometime
Saturday morning.
"As far as cause of death or anything like that,
I can't say," he said.
Leger said more information will be available
Monday.
However, it was revealed at a parole board hearing
in September that Ramsay was dying from cancer
and had about two years to live.
Ramsay pleaded guilty on May 3, 2004 to sexual
assault causing bodily harm, breach of trust and
three counts of buying sex from a person under 18.
The offences took place between 1992 and 2001.
His victims, mostly aboriginal girls living in poverty
and in trouble with the law, were subjected to acts
of escalating sexual violence. Some were as young
as 12 years old.
In June 2004, Ramsay was sentenced to seven years
in jail.
"The accused used his office to elicit satisfaction
of his perverted lust and to shield himself from its
consequences," said B.C. Supreme Court Chief
Justice Patrick Dohm, during sentencing.
"One can hardly imagine a more infamous breach
of trust."
Ramsay applied for day parole in August 2007 at
age 64, scarcely more than three years after his
sentence.
He was seeking to live in a Kelowna halfway house
on day parole.
In their decision, National Parole Board members
called Ramsay "an untreated sexual offender" who
poses too much risk to release despite his begging
for day parole "on humanitarian grounds" because
of his cancer.
Ramsay was due for statutory release, after serving
two-thirds of his sentence, in January 2009.
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More on David Ramsay:
Former B.C. judge admits to beating, sexually abusing teens
FROM: CBC News (May 3rd 2004) ~
A former B.C. court judge has stunned friends and
colleagues by confessing he is guilty of sexually
assaulting teenage girls, including one count of
causing bodily harm.
In a courtroom in Prince George on Monday morning,
David William Ramsay pleaded guilty to a total of five
charges.
Five other charges against him were stayed.
The charges date back to a nine-year period when
Ramsay was a provincial court judge.
The balding, grey-haired former judge stood in the
prisoner's box and pleaded guilty to the five charges,
including buying sex from minors, sexual assault
causing bodily harm and breach of trust.
Ramsay never looked at his victims, four young
women who hugged friends and social workers as
court adjourned. The victims, who were aged 12 to
16 years when they were assaulted, had all appeared
before Ramsay in court in Prince George.
He knew their previous histories of being sexually
abused, about their suicidal thoughts and their lives
on the street. As the Crown prosecutor pointed out,
Ramsay knew how vulnerable these girls were.
According to an agreed statement of fact read in
court, "He picked the girls up on the street on
different occasions, drove them to a rural area near
the jail and paid them for sex."
When one girl asked him to use a condom he
slammed her head on the dashboard until she bled,
then chased her when she ran away. He slapped her,
sexually assaulted her, called her a whore and smiled,
the court was told.
Another girl was left naked near the highway and
threatened with death if she told anyone.
Ramsay's lawyer said his client doesn't remember all
the details, but he doesn't deny them and accepts
responsibility for what happened.
The prosecutor is asking for a five-year prison term.
Ramsay is free on bail until he is sentenced on June 1.
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