THE USUAL TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE DEPT:
The latest news on the late afternoon radio this day (Jan 4th) is that University of Manitoba student Evelynn Ye will be released from custody as a judge has agreed to the applications of her lawyer, John Corona, to have the court agree to her release on the surety that her father CAN provide. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
The Ye family are Chinese refugees from Vietnam. Her father speaks VERY little English. Her mother, who is separated from her ex-husband, has little to no money. Other family members are presently overseas on a return trip to Vietnam(conditions are much better there now for ethnic Chinese).
The Crown initially demanded a $10,000 surety. Two days ago Queen's Bench Justice Karen Simonson set bail at $2,000. The initial judgement was that Mr. Ye could not meet the conditions for his daughter's release. This has been overturned according to the news.
Ms Ye is presently studying for a Bachelor of Science degree at the U. of M. Has she committed any crime that would justify imprisonment ? She was arrested five days ago and held since then in that "wonderful" tourist hotel known as the Winnipeg Remand Centre, an interesting "trip" for a 20 year old with no previous criminal involvement.
Her crime ???? NONE WHATSOEVER, as EVEN the Crown who applied for her arrest FULLY admitted. She was being held as a "material witness" in the case of one of "beautiful" downtown Winnipeg's recent murders. In June, 2005 one 'Tam Le'(30) (NO relation to Evelyn Ye) allegedly killed 20 year old Miguel Munoz (of a family of refugees from Guatemala) outside the Montcalm Gordon Motor Hotel. Molly has NO OPINION of the facts of the case. That is for a jury to decide. All that our good cat can say is it is a shame how many immigrants are murdered in this city because they are under the illusion that this is a "safe place". Mr. Munoz is hardly the first refugee from a war zone to come to Winnipeg and be murdered. Think about THAT all you "Winnipeg Boosters". Rah, rah on !
What this little cat DOES know is that Evelyn Le claims to NOT have witnessed the fatal shooting, NOT an uncommon occurrence in a brawl outside a bar in this town. There are a lot of unanswered questions that come from the Crown's actions in this case.
A. What is so BLOODY IMPORTANT about a VERY circumstantial witness to an event who has already !!! expressed the fact that she is NOT a "direct witness" ? Does her testimony deserve jail ?
B. If the family cannot afford $2,000 bail can they REALLY afford the money to fly her out of the country to Vietnam ? I regularly pass by an Oriental travel agency on my little drives through downtown, and I idly read the ads on their signs. Someday I'D like to visit China. China is less expensive to get to than Vietnam, and China is more than a FEW bucks. Check out airline tickets to Ho Chi Minh City if you like.
Is there more than a "little hole" in the Crown's case ? Or as the old anarchist in the movie Seven Beauties said to the idiot young mafioso, "bullsheeet amigo".
C. Is this POSSIBLY an attempt to intimidate a witness into giving testimony that agrees with the Crown's case ? Perish the thought that educated Crown prosecutors could EVER stoop so low as to "imagine" that throwing an innocent 20 year old in a cell with 'Big Bertha' could EVER be a form of pressure. Of course not. As Mark Anthony said, "they are honourable men". Perish the thought that they could imagine in their wildest dreams that throwing a member of a refugee family from a Communist dictatorship into a jail could "ever" be a way of exerting pressure to testify in a "certain way". Of course not, for as Mark Anthony said, "they are honourable men". Of course not. They REALLY believe their own case, and such thoughts could NEVER cross their educated minds.
Ah well, we'll see what the morrow brings.