UPDATED: Five years later ... justice???

I have been following closely the story in Dubai of the South African woman named Kerry Winter who was beaten and abducted by her obsessive ex-boyfriend. It is eerily familiar. She is still missing in spite of massive efforts by her family to locate her.

Update (Sept 20): Unfortunately nothing to update on the search. However the ex-boyfriend has gone through several renditions of confession and then returned to his original story. Bottom line, she's still missing.

Remember my old boyfriend Rick?

Flashback to 2003 ... I dated him for about 16 months and when I tried to break up with him and kick him out of my house ... well, let's just say it didn't go very well. The Police were involved, charges were laid and with the help of some very good friends, I escaped relatively unharmed. He subsequently missed his court date and skipped town to (presumably) go live under a rock somewhere.

Although he has not contacted me since 2004, it has always been in the back of my mind that he could re-surface one day, perhaps show up on my door step. But as time passed by, I was less and less afraid and I was content that those charges may never be resolved.

I got an email from my sister today saying that she had gotten a few calls from an Edmonton number, a woman who sounded LD (Learning Disabled) and was anxious to get a message to me. My sister was suspicious. A 30-second Google search of the phone number confirmed that indeed, it was Rick's mother. This was very alarming to me, no good could come of that.

I called Rick's mom to find out what's going on. I suspected Rick was in trouble of some kind, it was just a question of how serious and what the hell that has to do with me. She is a schizophrenic so communicating with her is never straight forward but in her meandering way, she informed me that Rick was arrested in Edmonton on the warrants from his assault on me, was sent to Calgary and will appear in court on Monday morning. After 5 years I still don't trust him or his mother but the Calgary Police have verified that this is true. That's not to say that he's not up to no good but at least that part of the story checks out.

So after 5 years, maybe there will be closure on this after all. I am not expecting much in the way of consequences and in fact, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the whole thing was dropped. But it doesn't matter now. The best revenge is living well. I am on top of the world, he is in jail. Revenge is sweet!

Update (Sept 20): I was smiling all day long and feeling pretty celebratory when I heard he was sitting in jail for a few days and that this was finally going to be finished. It is all rather amusing.

But then I received messages on Facebook and my worst fear was confirmed: he has continued to hurt women, at least 2 of them. His current ex-girlfriend discovered that he told her a lot of lies lies lies (sound familiar?), he started getting more and more abusive (sound familiar?), she tried to evict him from her property but he wouldn't leave (sound familiar?), she went to the police to get protection from him because she is afraid and discovered he had outstanding warrants. That is how he got arrested ... and then released of his own recognizance (HA! sound familiar?) He missed his last court date and evaded the authorities for 5 years, what makes them think this time will be different??? I found it especially ironic to read this story on the CBC website this morning.

He was in court Monday morning and plead not guilty. There is another hearing on October 1 to determine if the trial can proceed (if the courts could not locate me he would have walked away free and clear ... I called them so no worries there). The trial is scheduled for November 20th. More than likely I will be subpoenaed but even if I am not, I will go and make the best case I can to have him convicted and most importantly, finally put into treatment for the myriad of mental health problems that he suffers so he stops abusing unsuspecting women!

Just a word of caution to those of you who knew him: there is a "no contact" order in place. He is not to contact me directly or indirectly. If he or his mother or any mystery person contacts you asking questions, please don't tell them anything!!! Tell me. He is known to try to coerce, manipulate and intimidate in the most devious and underhanded ways imaginable but if he violates any of the conditions of his release, he gets shipped back to the big house! And then I would be smiling again :-)

The story of Kerry Winter is humbling. Reminds me that if it weren't for my best friend stepping in with some tough love, my situation with Rick might have ended up very differently.

Update: Still hoping for the best for Kerry Winter, but ...