Winnipeg group home employee's sexual abuse 'forever changed' teen resident's life, lawsuit alleges
Plaintiff, now 37, alleges she suffered years of abuse by Marymound employee starting in or around 1999
WARNING: This story contains graphic details involving allegations of child abuse and sexual assault.
A woman suing a Manitoba social services organization says her life took a turn for the worse after one of its employees sexually abused her for years at a Winnipeg group home where she lived more than two decades ago.
The plaintiff, now 37, is suing Marymound Inc. and a former employee, alleging she was sexually abused starting around 1999, when she was living in a group home operated by the organization.
The province and the director of Manitoba's Child and Family Services are also named as defendants in the statement of claim, filed at Manitoba Court of King's Bench on Sept. 12, with the woman alleging CFS breached its duty of care as her legal guardian to protect her from abuse.
CBC News is not naming the woman because she is an alleged victim of sexual abuse. None of her accusations have been tested in court. No statement of defence has been filed.
The plaintiff was about 13 years old when she was removed from a foster home in or around 1999, before CFS placed her at the Marymound group home in Winnipeg, according to the suit. The social services organization works primarily with youth who are in foster care.
She faced "regular and repeated" abuse by a Marymound employee over a three-year period, both at the group home and inside his Winnipeg home, where he "sexually abused, assaulted, battered and molested" her, the statement of claim alleges.
The employee gave the teen drugs and alcohol, and performed sexual acts on her while she was highly intoxicated, before forcing her to perform sexual acts on him, the suit claims.
He also exposed the teen to, and encouraged her to engage in, "deviant and prurient sexual behaviour," according to the lawsuit.
Red flags ignored: suit
The lawsuit says Marymound and CFS were aware, or should have been, of the employee's likelihood to engage in sexually abusive and/or deviant behaviour due to concerns raised by other group home residents, employees, CFS caseworkers, community members and others.
The suit alleges Marymound and CFS were or should have been aware of the employee's propensity to abuse group home residents because of his abnormal interest in young girls, his "difficulty" with drugs and/or alcohol, and the "unusual behavioural changes" of residents, the suit says.
Both Marymound and CFS are liable for negligence as well as breaches of trust and a duty of care owed to the plaintiff, which allowed the employee's abuse against her, the lawsuit claims.
The woman spent many of her formative years struggling to cope with the abuse and "was deprived of a normal, healthy childhood and adolescence" because of it, according to the lawsuit.
The abuse "fundamentally and forever changed" the woman's life, leading her to misuse alcohol and drugs and engage in criminal behaviour, the suit says. It has also affected her ability to pursue or maintain education and employment.
She continues to suffer mentally and physically from the abuse, and her medical and psychological treatment will continue "indefinitely throughout her lifetime," according to the suit.
$3.3M in damages
The plaintiff also alleges that CFS has refused to provide her with timely access to records relating to her childhood, her family and the system's role in her life, amounting to "deliberate concealment," according to the suit.
She is now seeking more than $3.3 million in damages, including aggravated and punitive damages along with compensation for past and future financial damages.
The lawsuit requests that the case be heard in Winnipeg and pleads for an exemption from Manitoba's Limitation of Actions Act, which outlines time limits for legal actions to be presented.
Marymound, CFS, the province and the plaintiff all declined to comment.
CBC News was not able to contact the group home employee prior to publication.
Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access crisis lines and local support services through this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.