sniffy
Senior Reporter
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePr.../28/605621.html
CAMBRIDGE -- A Cambridge woman who was found guilty of pushing a Toronto minister preparing to marry same-sex couples said yesterday she is the victim of a "miscarriage of justice." Erika Kubassek was found guilty by the Ontario Court of Appeal of assaulting Rev. Brent Hawkes during a service at the Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto on Jan. 14, 2001, shortly before Hawkes was scheduled to marry two same-sex couples.
Though she was handed an absolute discharge, Kubassek said the guilty verdict was unjust.
"I was disappointed and I was shocked," she said. "It was a miscarriage of justice."
Kubassek, known for her bullhorn protests against what she calls anti-Christian behav
iour, said she had received a message from God telling her to go to the church and speak out
against homosexuality.
Once there, she went to the front and began shouting Scripture and denouncing homosexuality.
The court heard earlier Kubassek pushed Hawkes after he tried to quiet her.
Kubassek said yesterday she pushed Hawkes only after he put his hand on her shoulder and yelled at her.
"It was a reaction to what he was doing to me," she said.
Two lower courts had found Kubassek not guilty on the basis of the old legal principle of the law not concerning itself with trifles.
But the three-judge panel at the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled applying the label "trifling" to Kubassek's conduct amounted to an error of law.
"It'
s unbelievable that out of a trifling little matter they're making it into a big thing," Kubassek said.
She called the assault a "little accidental thing" and compared herself
to prophets who were wrongly punished for things they didn't do.
"They persecuted those who were sent with the truth," she said.
Ann Moser of the Tri-Pride Com
munity Association said it's about time Kubassek was found guilty, but said the sentence is "a step back" for the gay community.
The absolute discharge is equivalent to saying, "It didn't happen," Moser said.
"It's frustrating. It's not a very good message we're giving out."
CAMBRIDGE -- A Cambridge woman who was found guilty of pushing a Toronto minister preparing to marry same-sex couples said yesterday she is the victim of a "miscarriage of justice." Erika Kubassek was found guilty by the Ontario Court of Appeal of assaulting Rev. Brent Hawkes during a service at the Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto on Jan. 14, 2001, shortly before Hawkes was scheduled to marry two same-sex couples.
Though she was handed an absolute discharge, Kubassek said the guilty verdict was unjust.
"I was disappointed and I was shocked," she said. "It was a miscarriage of justice."
Kubassek, known for her bullhorn protests against what she calls anti-Christian behav
iour, said she had received a message from God telling her to go to the church and speak out
against homosexuality.
Once there, she went to the front and began shouting Scripture and denouncing homosexuality.
The court heard earlier Kubassek pushed Hawkes after he tried to quiet her.
Kubassek said yesterday she pushed Hawkes only after he put his hand on her shoulder and yelled at her.
"It was a reaction to what he was doing to me," she said.
Two lower courts had found Kubassek not guilty on the basis of the old legal principle of the law not concerning itself with trifles.
But the three-judge panel at the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled applying the label "trifling" to Kubassek's conduct amounted to an error of law.
"It'
s unbelievable that out of a trifling little matter they're making it into a big thing," Kubassek said.
She called the assault a "little accidental thing" and compared herself
to prophets who were wrongly punished for things they didn't do.
"They persecuted those who were sent with the truth," she said.
Ann Moser of the Tri-Pride Com
munity Association said it's about time Kubassek was found guilty, but said the sentence is "a step back" for the gay community.
The absolute discharge is equivalent to saying, "It didn't happen," Moser said.
"It's frustrating. It's not a very good message we're giving out."