December 9, 2008
We live in a dangerous world when we can’t even put our children in daycares without them being molested. Even though thus is life and we can do so much to safe guard our children there has to be more done at these daycares. The guy got “time served” for pre custody trial spending 20 months in a detention centre. He only got punishment for the crime, not rehabilitation. Sitting in a tiny cell in a detention centre does not constitute rehabilitation and the reason why they get time served is because of the harsh conditions in a detention centre. It does absolutely nothing, nothing accomplished. It’s not only this guy who has the IQ of 75, it’s those who run the government. Staying in a cell is not treatment and like this case they evenually let out, he’s gonna do it over again, no matter what the stupid conditions are, you gotta correct the problem and just saying stay away from a playground for 20 years, does nothing.
SAVE THE CHILDREN, NOT THE PEDOPHILES!
I would love to live to the day when the government will be proactive and not reactive with the criminal system. It wastes money and makes more victims.
Paul Thomas – the pedophile
Dec 09, 2008 04:30 AM
Paul Thomas was a volunteer at a city-run daycare in downtown Toronto, where he formed a special group called “J club” for some of the children he helped mind.
So when he repeatedly engaged in sexual activity with a 5-year-old boy, the victim was worried that, if he told on Thomas, he would be kicked out of the club and lose out on candy, prizes and a feeling of being special.
A second 5-year-old boy upon whom Thomas often forced sex also belonged to the club.
Yesterday the 21-year-old man stood in Superior Court in an orange jail-issue jumpsuit and softly pleaded guilty to fondling the boys and inviting them to touch him.
He apologized for his crimes and for taking up court time.
Justice Bonnie Croll accepted a joint Crown-defence recommendation and ordered the man’s release yesterday after having served 20 months in pre-trial custody.
He must serve three years of probation, and get treatment for sexual deviancy.
Thomas worked as a co-op student and later a volunteer at Blevins Child Care Centre, near Queen St. E. and River St., for a year before he was arrested in April 2007.
Thomas helped daycare staff with children aged 4 and 5.
The first victim alarmed his parents when he told them his penis “belongs to everybody.”
A psychiatric assessment arranged by his lawyer, Gina Da Fonte, shows Thomas has an IQ of 75 and functions at a lower level than a 9-year-old child.
Lynn Connolly, program manager with the city’s municipal child-care services, said in an interview that Thomas came as a student placement from the Toronto District School Board.
She said the fact that someone is low-functioning does not make them ineligible as a student placement.
Blevins did a criminal reference check on Thomas, she said.
Since the incident, she said, Blevins makes sure everyone wears badges to show if they are volunteers, staff or student placements so parents know who is who.
Thomas’s low intelligence and lack of a place to live are risk factors when released, but he has already served the equivalent of almost 3 1/2 years in jail awaiting trial, prosecutor Jill Witkin told reporters. The Salvation Army had a bed waiting for him yesterday.
“The court and the Crown were in a difficult position. You can’t hold somebody in custody indefinitely,” Witkin said.
The sentence was within the expected range for a man with no prior criminal record and who pleaded guilty for such crimes, Witkin said.
The plea spared the two boys from having to testify in court, she said.
Thomas will have to submit a DNA sample to police, and for 20 years will be on the national sex offender registry. For the three years of probation he can’t be alone with children under 16.
For 20 years he can’t go anywhere such as parks, playgrounds or schools where children under 16 are expected to gather, nor can he take paid or volunteer employment giving him authority over them.
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