What Is Wrong With This Picture?

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What Is Wrong With This Picture?
by Timothy Rollins, Columnist

"Beneath the Surface"

February 25, 2001

For my American readers who do not follow news north of the border, an incident occurred Friday morning that has outraged all who have heard about it. For my Canadian readers, you are all too familiar with this particular nightmare by now. At 5:30 a.m. Friday morning, Gordon Stuckless, 52 – the Stalker of Maple Leaf Gardens, was released from federal prison on statutory release after serving two-thirds of a prison sentence of five years upon conviction in 1997 for sex assaults on 24 boys aged 11 to 15 at the time he was working as an usher at Maple Leaf Gardens between 1969 and 1988. Everyone is now asking, “What is wrong with this picture?”

It gets worse. The original plan had been to move him back in with his mother until a death threat or two was left at the Scarborough parole office where he will be reporting. Consequently, Correctional Services Canada has since placed him in a secure location – whatever for, I’ll never know why. While I do not by any means advocate any such action, I can honestly say without either shame or regret that if one of Stuckless’ victims were able to get off a well-placed shot and nail him between the eyes, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Why do I say that you may ask? Simple. In my 25 years of experience in the legal profession, both in the military as a legal chief and in private practice as a paralegal, I have learned one inescapable truth, and that is Pedophilia defies rehabilitation. I have yet to see one change their stripes, nor do I expect to either in my lifetime or that of my children.

Gordon Stuckless

For those unfamiliar with the case, allow me to go into a little detail. There was a pedophile sex ring at the Maple Leaf Gardens between 1969 and 1988 involving three men who preyed on little boys. In addition to Stuckless (pictured, right), there was John Paul Roby and George Hannah that were the other molesters. This behavior went on for almost 20 years and officials from the Toronto Maple Leafs were oblivious to it – says something for an organization’s ability to oversee its employees, doesn’t it? Again, we ask, “What is wrong with this picture?”

In 1997, Martin Kruze, one of the victims in the case, came forward and blew the lid off on the Maple Leaf Gardens scandal. When the police rounded up the perps, they found that George Hannah had died in 1985, and so John Paul Roby and Gordon Stuckless were taken into custody. Roby was convicted on more than half of the 57 charges against him and was declared a “dangerous offender”. What that means to my American friends is that Roby will never see the outside of prison walls again. It is a designation saved only for the worst of the bad apples in Canadian society – not even those convicted of Murder 1 get that kind of sentence without extenuating circumstances. Stuckless himself was charged with 572 (yes, you read correctly) – 572 counts of molestation and he received two years minus one day, to be served in a provincial jail rather than a federal prison where those with sentences over two years are incarcerated.

Martin Kruze

Martin Kruze

On finding out that Stuckless was serving less than two years in jail and not prison for destroying not only the lives of 24 boys but also their families and other loved ones as well, Martin Kruze (pictured, left) went to Toronto’s most well-known suicide spot and did a two-and-a-half off the Bloor Street viaduct. On appeal from the Crown and in light of the suicide of Mr. Kruze, Stuckless had his sentence extended to five years. Again, we ask, “What is wrong with this picture?”

I think I may have figured out one answer to this question. It seems that we have a number of problems - both in the United States and Canada – when it comes to prosecution for this crime - pedophilia. One of the main problems is that we do not have the death penalty for this crime in the United States, as well as for Rape, Kidnapping and Murder 1. I enthusiastically support the death penalty subject to a fair and just appeals process that does not keep these scumbags on death row for 20+ years.

As for Canada – which has been my home for eight years now, I think it is high time they put the issue of capital punishment before the people in the form of a binding national referendum and to heck with what the European Community may think. Unlike the United States, which is not a democracy, but a representative constitutional republic, Canada is a democracy and the people should be able to implement their own laws over the objections of their bleeding heart Liberal Members of Parliament.

The people who commit the crimes just mentioned are beyond scum; they are incorrigibly evil – the worst apples in a bad barrel. They should not be afforded free room and board, free clothing, free medical, dental and optical, nor they should they get free cable television. The taxpayers should not have to pay to keep these animals in their cages. Just as you put a rabid dog down (usually by shooting it from a distance lest you get infected), so should these rabid cancers of society be put down and destroyed lest they destroy the remaining fabric of society that is composed of decent and honorable law-abiding people.

As to Gordon Stuckless: What if some citizen took matters into their own hands and blew the guy away? Do you think the police would really make an all-out effort into getting the person who did society a favor? I highly doubt it. Like rapper Tupac Shakur whose music advocated the killing of police officers, when he was shot five times in New York, the NYPD never made any headway in solving that crime. When Shakur was shot 19 times and killed just over a year later in Las Vegas, Metropolitan Police never really made any overt efforts to solve the case either – hey, let’s face it, some people just aren’t going to be missed as much as others.

If there is anything positive to be gained from either the suicide of Martin Kruze or the release – period – of Gordon Stuckless, it is that we need to fire a shar across the bow of the judicial system to ensure that the citizenry is protected from scum the likes of Stuckless. This is particularly true with our children, society’s most innocent victims and those least able to defend themselves. ***

Photo of Gordon Stuckless courtesy of The Toronto Sun
Photo of Martin Kruze courtesy of CBC News
With files from the CTV News Website