N.W.T. sex offender a 'time bomb,' victim's parents say
Edmonton police warn public about man who sexually assaulted girls in 2002
Travis Casaway, 21, originally from Yellowknife and Lutselk'e, N.W.T., finished his five-year sentence Wednesday for sexually assaulting two girls, then aged 11 and 12, on two separate occasions in the fall of 2002.
"You know, the psychologists say he's very violent and he will do this again. They've said it very straightforward," the 11-year-old girl's mother told CBC News in an interview.
"I am not just saying it because it happened to our family. I'm saying it because I don't want it to happen to someone else, even if it didn't happen to our family."
The parents' names are being withheld in order to protect the girl's identity.
According to a transcript from Casaway's 2004 sentencing hearing, Casaway attacked the 11-year-old on Oct. 8, 2002, while she was walking on the Frame Lake Trail in Yellowknife.
'He's a predator'
The girl was about 25 metres away from her home when Casaway grabbed her from behind, held a knife to her throat and sexually assaulted her. The 12-year-old girl was attacked in a similar manner nine days earlier.
"From what I understand, he hasn't undergone any counselling, or hasn't accepted counselling, and is just a time bomb."
At the time of the assaults, Casaway had just returned to Yellowknife after attending a juvenile sex offender treatment program in Calgary — part of his sentence for previous sexual assaults he committed on girls in Lutselk'e in 2001, when he was 13 years old.
Casaway was 15 years old at the time of the 2002 attacks. He was sentenced as an adult in 2004 by the N.W.T. Supreme Court for his offences, which included sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon.
A psychologist who examined Casaway before he was sentenced stated that Casaway "remains in the high risk category to reoffend against a female child, a teenager or a young woman without further intensive treatment."
Casaway served his sentence at the North Slave Correctional Centre in Yellowknife, and was refused parole on six separate occasions, according to National Parole Board documents.
"The board is satisfied that, if released, you are likely to commit an offence causing serious harm to another person before the expiration of the sentence you are now serving," read a parole board decision dated May 30, 2007.
Edmonton police issue public warning
The parole board said Casaway took part in one treatment program for sexual offenders while he was in jail, but he showed little interest and did not take any other programs or counselling.
Just before Casaway finished his sentence Wednesday at the North Slave Correctional Centre, police in Edmonton — where he plans to spend five years under court-ordered supervision — took the unusual step of warning the public about Casaway's arrival.
"He's come to Edmonton, he's going to be in a facility here, a halfway house, but he will still have access to the community," Edmonton police Det. Dave Morrissey said.
"During the time that he was in jail, he did not … avail himself to the programs and treatments necessary that would diminish his risk," he added.
In Yellowknife, justice advocate Lydia Bardak of the John Howard Society said jail is far from an ideal setting for the kind of treatment Casaway needs.
"In this instance, you're talking about somebody who's had his adolescent years behind bars ... the time of our lives when we grow emotionally and learn to do a lot of problem solving and handle our emotions," Bardak said.
"When somebody's had their adolescence locked away from society, the challenges in re-introducing them to society are enormous."
Meanwhile, the parents of his 11-year-old victim say the incident continues to affect them.
"When you see something on TV, like a show about assault or rape, it comes right back. When I walk down the street and I see a lawyer that I saw in the courtroom, it comes back," the girl's mother said.
"There's probably not a day that I don't think about it for a split second."
With files from Richard Gleeson