Thursday, Nov 01, 2007
The Globe and Mail
Women beaten by husband, jailed by police is suing force
The Globe and Mail quoted SGM's Louis Sokolov today in reporting on a lawsuit against the Toronto Police Services Board brought by a victim of domestic violence who was jailed by police when her husband claimed she had assaulted him. The plaintiff is an immigrant woman who, immediately after she arrived in Canada, was routinely assaulted by her husband. Totally dependent on him and unable to speak English, she endured the abuse for several weeks. Her husband then called the police and accused her of assaulting him. Two police officers arrested her and she was jailed. She “spent the next seven days behind bars, being bounced around from police holding cells and jails to courtrooms – unable to give her side of the story because she had not been provided with an interpreter. She was not released until a charitable organization obtained bail for her. The charges were subsequently dropped when she was then provided with an interpreter and told her story to prosecutors. SGM’s Louis Sokolov stated that his client “has clearly suffered severe and long-lasting trauma. For an entire week, no one in the justice system could be bothered to take the time or effort to provide this woman with her basic rights.”
