This letter may be republished in its totality without prior consent.
TO:
The Government of
Canada c/o
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
John Baird, Foreign Affairs Minister
Bob Paulson, RCMP Commissioner
Peter MacKay, Attorney General
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
John Baird, Foreign Affairs Minister
Bob Paulson, RCMP Commissioner
Peter MacKay, Attorney General
The Government of
Dominica c/o
Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister
Evelina Baptiste, Director of Public Prosecutions
Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister
Evelina Baptiste, Director of Public Prosecutions
FROM:
Dennis Augustine
RE:
A CALL TO JUSTICE FOR
RACHAEL VIGILANT
AUGUSTINE AND SOPHIA VIGILANT AUGUSTINE
I am writing today to call upon the governments of Canada
and Dominica to honor their roles as guardians of justice and the lives of
their citizens by bringing my sister, Canadian Citizen, Sarah Lynn Augustine,
to stand trial for the September 16, 2010 murder of her two children, Canadian
Citizens, Rachael Vigilant Augustine (five years old) and Sophia Vigilant Augustine (two months old) in Mahaut,
Dominica.
Sarah was arrested for these crimes in
Dominica in 2010. At the time she was
suicidal and showed signs of having experienced a postpartum psychotic
episode. Recognizing how ill Sarah was,
the former DPP of Dominica was keen to see her repatriated to Canada for
treatment since it soon became apparent that Dominica was ill-equipped to treat
her but wanted some assurance that she would in-fact be treated in Canada and
eventually returned when she was fit enough to stand trial.
My family worked tirelessly to try to make that happen. We thought that surely the Canadian and
Dominican governments would work something out but Foreign Affairs on both
sides indicated that they could do nothing since there was no extradition treaty
between the two countries. My attempts
to involve the Canadian Attorney General and the RCMP similarly fell on deaf
ears. “These crimes happened in another country. It’s not our jurisdiction”
they said. I was in shock. I explained that the murderer and the victims were
all Canadian citizens. How could it be that a Canadian could murder others and
Canadians could be murdered in a foreign country and the Canadian government
was not interested?
When it became evident that no deal would be brokered the
Dominican DPP simply discontinued Sarah’s trial and released her into my hands
to be repatriated and treated in Canada.
While we were glad that Sarah would be treated (I doubt she would have
lived much longer had she stayed in prison in Dominica given her condition) we
were not pleased that upon arrival in Canada she would have no official restrictions
placed on her whatsoever but we had little choice and only a brief window of
time to get her out of Dominica.
I personally brought Sarah back to Canada in January of 2012
and delivered her to the CAMH in Toronto where she voluntarily committed
herself for treatment. The fine folk at
CAMH did everything in their power under the law to treat Sarah. She eventually
was declared well enough to make her own medical decisions and was released
into the community. I do not know if she continues to receive treatment of any
sort and to the best of my knowledge she has not restrictions or public record of any sort relating to the murder. I ask you, is this compassionate, just or in the public interest? I think not.
While I do not regret my role in helping to save my sister’s
life by getting her repatriated for treatment and would like nothing more than to see her returned to health and living a happy prosperous life, I do deeply regret the fact that
she has not been made to stand trial for my niece’s murders. While it’s clear to me that my sister was not
well at the time she brutally stabbed these precious children to death, I
nonetheless believe that it is a disgrace to their memory not to have this matter
settled in a court of law and therefore I call on you to act.
I want to make it clear that I do not necessarily speak for
my family. I have consulted no one but my conscience. I speak as
a citizen of Canada and of Dominica who is ashamed that his governments would
abdicate their responsibility to safeguard life and justice. I speak as a
brother who knows a few months in care is not enough to return my sister to
health. I speak as the uncle of two lovely children who were born into my
hands, whom I helped name and raise, children cannot speak for themselves,
whose blood cries out from a hillside grave in Dominica. In their names I demand
a response. What do you intend to do?
Respectfully,
Dennis Augustine