Pickton Survivor - A Symbol of our Justice System's Failure to Protect Women

In the news today there are reports that a woman who survived Robert Pickton's brutal attack will testify against him in court. This woman, who is being called "Ms Anderson" thought she had scored big when Pickton offered to pay her $100 to have sex with him at his farm. She turned up at a local hospital with several near-fatal stab wounds. This all happened in March 1997.

"Ms Anderson" wasn't the only women to escape the Pickton farm alive. Another woman was taken home by Pickton, handcuffed and then attacked. She managed to escape and ran down the street naked until she could wave down a car. She told the police what happened. Pickton also told the police of the event, but he claimed this woman attacked him when he picked up her poor soul on the side of the road. It turns out that this woman was a heroine addict, so the police did not investigate further or file charges against Pickton because they thought it would be unlikely that they would get a conviction. Pickton was only arrested in 2002. Imagine how many lives could have been saved.

How many beaten, bloodied prostitutes does it take to figure out that this guy was up to no good? Apparently in BC, the lives of these two women did not mean too much to police. They even knew where this guy lived and obviously knew he had a history of misogynistic violence!

As we all know, the DNA of 33 separate women was found at the Pickton farm. In 2007 at the beginning of this trial, Pickton admitted to an undercover police officer posing as a cell mate that he had killed 49 women, and was hoping to kill one more to make it an even 50. He reportedly fed their bodies to his pigs, and sold ground pork containing human remains to friends and neighbours.

I still can't believe that after dozens of women went missing in British Colombia, Canada, one of the most beautiful and supposedly safe places on the planet, this guy still walked free for years. Shockingly, there were at least two women who told police that this guy was kidnapping women and trying to kill them. It goes to show how little rights that women in the sex trade enjoy. Apparently, it's "not a big deal" if someone goes on a murdering spree, as long as the women are heroine addicts or prostitutes. What a sad commentary on the way our justice system treats women in Canada.