Susan Long Corkum, supported by her friends Chancey Millner and Donna Saulnier, brought this photo of Wayne Doucette to court. Jonathan Riley photo
Protesters want changes to youth justice
Crown will apply to sentence as adult
By Jonathan Riley
DIGBY COURIER
NovaNewsNow.com
Friends of Wayne Doucette want changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
“The age needs to be lowered and the punishment needs to (be harsher.) They are doing adult crimes, they should do adult time,” said Susan Corkum Long outside the Digby courthouse on Monday, Sept.17.
Corkum and about 60 other “friends of Wayne Doucette” had also gathered outside the courthouse the night before.
“It was all peaceful. We aren’t a lynch mob. We just want to people to realize we need to make changes to the Young Offenders Act.”
Doucette was discovered dead at his Doucetteville residence on Saturday, Sept. 1. One of three people charged in his death is a 17 year-old girl whose identity cannot be revealed.
“In cases like murder we should be able to see their faces, we should be able to know her name,” says Corkum Long.
Crown prosecutor Rosalind Michie was asked outside the Digby courthouse whether the girl would be punished as an adult.
“If it gets to the point where she is convicted of murder, then we have notified the court that we will seek to have her sentenced as an adult.”
The crowd cheered and applauded that news.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act replaced the Young Offenders act in 2002 and allows a youth’s identity to be revealed if she is convicted of a serious or “presumptive” crime such as murder.
Corkum Long and other friends of Wayne Doucette carried signs asking for changes to the act. They started a petition on Thursday, Sept. 13 asking that the girl “be tried and sentenced as an adult.”
They had around 800 signatures as of early Monday afternoon, Sept. 17.
Corkum Long carried a picture of Wayne Doucette, which she tried to show the three accused as they entered court separately Monday.
She describes her friend as “a good man” who liked cars and playing music.
“He’d been down that road of trouble and he liked to help anyone he saw going that way. He liked to help people and he didn’t deserve to die like this.”
The two male accused will return to Digby court on Oct. 11. The girl will return on Nov. 1.
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Linda Warren
Comment online since September 19th 2007There are so many rumors circulating that are fueling the fire. Hopefully, the true story will come out in the trial. There is more to Wayne Doucette's personal history than is stated in the papers. The youth's history also complicates the situation. People need to calmly reserve judgement until all the actual facts are revealed under oath. I doubt that it will be clearly a one sided situation.
The youth offender's act is a concern to so many of us. If more people were aware of the demonstration, I am sure that the crowd would have been much larger. However, let's keep the two matters separate and continue to pressure the government for changes to the act.