S31 E3: Seeking justice | The Banned Teacher
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What is the story of Canada's deadliest assassin?
In 1977, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club opened up a chapter in Montreal. Their enforcer was a man named Yves Trudeau. And over the course of his criminal career, Trudeau would murder no fewer than 43 people. And he would only spend seven years in prison. I'm Kathleen Goldhar, and this week on Crime Story, the sordid tale of Canada's deadliest assassin. Find Crime Story wherever you get your podcasts.
This is a CBC Podcast.
I'm Detective Yarmuluk, badge number 813. We're in 55 Division in the interview room. And I am with, could you just state your name for the camera?
Anne-Marie Robinson.
That camera is perched high in the corner of a small square room. It's inside a Toronto police station.
This is being videotaped and audiotaped. Do you have no problem with that? No, not at all.
Anne-Marie's hair is pulled back. Bangs characteristically fall onto her face. She sits across the table from the detective. She's dressed smartly in wool dress pants and a little jacket.
You've come in today from Ottawa in relation to an occurrence. It's a historical sexual assault. Is that right?
I phoned on February 4th.
Okay. Oh, you remember that?
That's my birthday.
Oh, really? Okay. Okay. So then you provided a statement, and I have reviewed that statement.
There's a small desk in the corner with a computer, a phone, and a roll of toilet paper, presumably in case she tears up. But I know she won't. She's in robot mode, unemotional, detached. I think she has to be to get through this.
What do you think was the trigger that led you in this direction?
When I saw him, I saw him 36, 35, 36 years after. Okay. And it just, I don't know.
I know it's in your other statement too. Could you just briefly describe that again?
Well, when I first saw him, I thought, I guess I wanted reconciliation. When you're a child victim, you feel shame and remorse right you feel I felt it was my fault even though I knew better and so it was just easier to leave it buried sure but when I actually physically came in contact with him purely by accident yeah then I just I couldn't breathe I couldn't yeah I just couldn't the band teacher
I'm Julie Ireton. This is season two of The Band Played On. Anne-Marie Robinson is putting her faith in the criminal justice system, but it will be a difficult, lonely battle involving old sexist laws. We reenact what takes place in court.
I'm going to suggest to you, Ms. Robinson, that there was active participation in the intercourse. Is that correct?
The argument, ultimately, from me, will be that there was not consent.
It was my way of finally telling the world what had happened to me.
But will the antiquated sex crime laws of the 1970s be able to deliver the justice she seeks? Sexual assault convictions are tough to win at any time. And a historical case involving just one victim is even tougher to prosecute. Episode 3, Seeking Justice There's a large police file in front of Anne-Marie. She ordered it shortly after we got back from our trip to Toronto. She initially went to the police a few years before she first contacted me. So she's catching me up. The police file includes that videotaped police interview. There's also a pile of documents chronicling her interaction with detectives over the years. The first page is on Toronto Police Service letterhead. The file starts with her first call to police on her birthday in February 2017.
It was a birthday gift to myself. First of all, so I would remember the day the case moved very slowly. So in hindsight, that was a smart move. It was easy to recall when her interaction with the police started. They did see what had happened to me as something that was terribly problematic. Despite that, it took three months before a detective was assigned. It took about a year for the police to start consulting with a Crown lawyer, the Canadian equivalent of a district attorney.
I do understand that historic cases may not be their top priority.
Okay, it's roughly two...
Back in that tiny interview room at the Toronto Police Station, it's more than two years into the process. Anne-Marie traveled there from Ottawa to get an update, to meet the detective in person. She wanted to know if they were seriously pursuing her case.
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