Too little, too f**king late!

This is not a sincere apology and only slightly, a recognition of responsibility. It smacks of a CYA attempt by RCMP lawyers to head off litigation as damning details keep tumbling out, in spite of officials' attempts to do damage control.

The RCMP issued a public apology Friday to the families of the women murdered by Robert “Willie” Pickton, admitting the “RCMP did not do more” in the investigation before he was charged.

The prepared formal apology came after days of testimony at the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, in which the way that the RCMP and Vancouver police handled the investigation into the murders of six women Pickton was convicted for -- as well as the disappearances many other women -- has been challenged.

According to this revelation, the RCMP tipped Pickton off; they let him know that he was a target of their investigation - a "known subject".

Incompetence and malfeasance, that's what it appears to me. Isn't it obvious - particularly in light of allegations that women working for the organization suffered systemic discrimination and ongoing, unofficially sanctioned, sexual harassment at the hands of fellow male RCMP officers.

Convicted rapist doesn't need to do jail time says judge.

From sister blogger Luna we learn that Fernando Manuel Alves, a bartender and former owner of a pub in Burnaby British Columbia has been handed a nine-month conditional sentence after pleading guilty to sexual assault.

... in October 2006, a woman in her 30s woke up in Alves's bed, bruised and bleeding after an evening at a downtown Vancouver nightclub. The married woman — who cannot be identified — said she had no recollection of meeting Alves the night before.

Medical testing confirmed she had had sexual intercourse and found traces of alcohol and sedatives in her system. ... In sentencing, the provincial court judge said Alves was not pathologically dangerous but had committed a crime of opportunity. [He] ordered that Alves be placed on the sex-offender registry for the next 20 years but that he not spend time in jail.

A "crime of opportunity" - is that new-speak for "lady, if you hadn't been in that bar you wouldn't have gotten yourself raped"?

When charges were laid against Alves two years ago, he stood accused of sexually assaulting 3 other women as well, by using the same M.O. Those charges were later dropped, which often happens when cases like this drag on, witnesses move away and are no longer available to provide testimony. It took Alves quite awhile to plead guilty, probably on the advice of his lawyer to avoid trial. Was he hoping his victim would slash her wrists and thus the last inconvenient witness to this serial rapist's crimes would no longer be available to testify in court?

ADDED: Have a look at the guy.