Mailley Family Tragedy

http://mensnewsdaily.com/2006/04/08/...amily-tragedy/

Mailley Family Tragedy
April 08, 2006
Vox Populi, NewsLog
Canada Court Watch-Fathers Rights Activists ask..
Is this dead family yet another victim of Ontario's "Zero Tolerance"
domestic violence policy?
By Mike March,

Justice Reporter, Canada Court Watch

In the past few days there has been a flurry of reports in the national
media of what would appear to be yet another tragic murder-suicide involving
an Ontario couple in the midst of family difficulties.

On April 2, 2006, a 40-year-old Ontario Father, Frank Mailly, killed
himself, his wife and their three children by blowing up their family home
in the Ottawa region of Ontario. All family members perished as result of
the blast.

Yet from information given by close family members, he was a hard working,
loving and devoted father and husband and was very protective of his
children.

Smith Falls OPP confirmed to Court Watch that there was a restraining order
against Mr. Mailly and that part of the conditions of his release was that
he not to have any contact with his wife.

Strangely, just days earlier, on March 30, Ms. Mailly went to court with her
husband to apply for a variance to his release conditions which would have
allowed the family to live back together.

Ms. Mailly had already voluntarily moved back with her husband on March 10
in violation of her husband's release conditions and it appeared that the
couple was managing to keep their family together.

However, the court refused to grant Ms. Mailly's simple request to allow her
and the children to be together with her husband in the family home. This is
when things seemed to turn for the worse for the family.

The court's refusal forced Ms. Mailly to have to separate from her husband
and to take the children away.

In effect, the burden of separation and all of the economic and emotional
problems which go along with trying to parent and support three kids in two
homes were being forced upon the couple contrary to what the couple had felt
on their own was in the best interest of themselves and their children at
the time.

Many who are familiar with the domestic violence court system would say that
the refusal of the court to grant the couple's simple and reasonable request
to allow them to work things out between themselves may have been the straw
that broke the camel's back and set the stage for the tragic event which
occurred just three days later. The timing of the court's refusal and the
tragic event which snuffed out this entire family are just too close
together to be just merely a coincidence.

It would seem that in spite of Ontario's oppressive and draconian "zero
tolerance" domestic violence laws, Ontario's get tough approach to domestic
violence is not working with this recent tragedy being evidence of that.

In fact, many on the street say that Ontario's zero tolerance domestic
violence laws and the way in which they are being brutally enforced by
police, Crown Attorneys and the courts is the cause of escalating family
violence.

At the time of this tragedy, Frank Mailly was likely in utter despair of the
thoughts of seeing his family taken away from him. Both he and his wife were
likely feeling dejected for being snubbed by the court and told that they
must break up. Their wishes and pleas were ignored by authorities.

Based on reports from many other mothers and fathers in Ontario who have
been experienced the domestic court system, the Mailly couple were was
likely facing and endless gauntlet of overzealous Crown Attorneys, criminal
lawyers, domestic violence courts, probation officers, anger management
courses as well as the Children's Aid Society.

Ms. Mailly was likely being told that if she did not testify against her
husband and help the Crown convict her husband and criminalize him, that she
would be charged or have her children taken away from her by the CAS for not
being cooperative. Other Ontario mothers have reported being threatened by
authorities in this manner.

The "domestic violence" enforcement authorities may have taken the first
step to push this man over the edge by imposing the condition that he have
no contact with his wife in spite of his wife's wishes to the contrary.

It would be reasonable to concluded that Ms. Mailly and the children would
likely still be alive today, had the courts granted the couple's simple
request to give them the opportunity to have some say in dealing with their
own problems. Some counselling and family support would have likely have
been much more successful.

After being dealt the first bitter blow from Ontario's draconian and
uncaring domestic violence system, the couple was likely told that if they
did not separate, then further charges would be laid against both of them
for just being together as a family.

The couple had likely also come to the realization that the legal
proceedings before trial would be very expensive and likely put severe
financial pressure on the family.

Even at the best of times, legal proceedings often end up bankrupting
families. Many citizens in Ontario refer to the domestic violence courts as
kangaroo courts designed to punish the accused and to utterly destroy and
humiliate them after removing them from their homes and families.

Legal Aid lawyers often put liens on people's homes which in some cases
totally eat up the family's equity in their home which they may have spent
many years building up for the future of their children.

Zero tolerance is basically intended to punish and oppress without any
concern as to the consequences in human lives. After all, zero tolerance
means NO tolerance.

With charges and court appearance pending, in all likelihood, Mr. Mailly
came to the realization as to what was in store for him and his family down
the road so he decided to end his life and to take his family with him as
his final act of desperation and revenge against his wife whose earlier
affair with another man may have been yet another factor which contributed
to this tragedy.

Ralph Hadley was another Ontario father who also killed his wife and then
took his own life. His case was the subject of a public inquiry just a few
short years ago.

Prior to his death, Hadley had been relentlessly punished, vilified and
beaten down into the ground by a ruthless domestic violence system geared to
humiliate and destroy men, including good and loving father and husbands.
His wife was cheating on him as well.

He too, had been forced out of his home and away from his children by the
same uncaring zero tolerance domestic violence court system as was Mr.
Mailly.

Walter Fox, the well-respected and highly experienced criminal lawyer who
represented Fathers Are Capable Too at the Hadley Murder-Suicide inquest
stated afterwards, "we all know what they do to men in family and domestic
violence courts" and that Ralph had nowhere to go for help.

Events which unfolded at the Hadley inquest revealed that the inquest was
being used as a political staging ground to divert hundreds of millions of
tax dollars to special interest groups and organizations involved with
domestic violence relating initiatives.

False and misleading statistics were presented at the inquest by domestic
violence advocates in an effort to convince jurors that all men were a bunch
of violent evil-doers and that Ontario must divert millions more of its tax
dollars into programs designed to benefit women only and to punish men for
the smallest thing.

Many would argue that Ontario's zero tolerance domestic violence laws only
increase the likelihood of violence because it often places huge emotional
stress on all family members. The parents who get charged are often put in a
hopeless situations with Crown Prosecutors and Courts usually keeping those
charged from seeing their children and disrupting their lives so badly that
many of those who are charged see no light at the end of the tunnel.

Over-zealous Prosecutors make life a living hell for most of those accused
in an effort to force the accused to plead guilty under duress. Many times
this strategy works but in some case, like in the Mailly and Hadley cases,
it backfires with tragic results.

To help put an end to some of these senseless tragedies, it could be
reasonably argued that Ontario would do better to end the practice of zero
tolerance in domestic violence situations where conflict was a first time
occurrence and relatively minor in nature. Such situations would be when
spouses push or shove each other or make threatening but baseless, threats
to each other in the heat of a quarrel.

For situations involving real harm to a partner, arrest and jail would still
be an option.

Just like gun control legislation has been an utter failure and a waste of
taxpayer's money, Ontario's zero tolerance domestic violence policy is
failing with tragic costs in human and economic costs.

Compassion, help and involvement of the community is what is needed most to
help families, especially for those families who have children. Lawyers,
courts and police are not the answer and will only escalate conflict and the
potential for violence in most situations.

Using restorative justice processes in minor cases will give those involved
a chance to separate, to cool off and to get their heads clear. Couples
should be given a reasonable chance to work things out before being thrown
into a feeding frenzy of lawyers and courts. Currently, in the vast majority
of minor domestic cases, both parents and the children end up being
victimized by the domestic violence courts in one way or another.

Until domestic violence is dealt with in a more humane and logical manner,
there will be an increase in the number of men and women killing their
partners and/or children after being sucked into the bottomless black hole
of the domestic violence court system under Ontario's "Zero Tolerance"
domestic violence policies.

New innovative programs which use collaborative and restorative justice
practices must be introduced. Not only will such programs save the Province
of Ontario hundreds of millions in tax dollars, but likely the lives of many
mothers, fathers and their children will be saved. Many marriages will
likely be salvaged as well.

If anything, it's time to apply a zero tolerance policy to those in the
domestic violence industry whose real agenda is to pad their pockets with
taxpayer's monies and to maintain an industry where lawyers and women's
programs benefit off the pain and suffering of children and families forced
to run the gauntlet of the domestic violence system.

Ontario's zero tolerance laws are not about saving lives or even about
justice. They are about destroying parents and families and are a by-product
of those radical feminist organizations which benefit the most from the
millions of tax dollars they receive as a result of the promotion of zero
tolerance domestic violence policies.

Ontario's elected officials must wake up to the carnage being caused by the
province's domestic violence policy and to put an end to this politically
motivated social experiment gone mad before any more families are destroyed
or killed. The Mailly family died because of these harsh government polices.

It's time to put an end to Ontario's draconian "Zero Tolerance" domestic
violence laws once and for all.

Mike March is a freelance writer and may be reached by e mail at: