Family of paralyzed man speaks out

The family of a man left paraplegic by an alleged aggravated assault in a bar last year was very visible during the first part of the trial of the accused last week.

The Kim Madsen trial was scheduled for two days November 29 and 30, but has now been extended for two more days December 28 and 29 with a further continuation day February 1 in case it is not concluded this year. For trial coverage, see story on Page A1-A2.

During the first two trial days, at least a dozen family members and supporters of Dennis Peepeetch, many wearing “Justice for Dennis” t-shirts, showed up to listen to Crown’s case against Madsen.

Peepeetch’s mother, Vicky Wapemoose, and sister Tamara Peepeetch talked to Yorkton This Week after court on Wednesday. None of the following allegations have been proven in a court of law.

Wapemoose, Peepeetch’s mother, explained what “Justice for Dennis” means to her.

“That [Madsen] is sent to prison for what he did,” she said. “I’ve researched aggravated assault and you can get up to 14 years. I want the maximum, because right to this point in time I don’t feel that Dennis has been treated fairly. This happened over a year ago. This should have already been dealt with; everything should have been done. He’s been free all this time. He’s had four breaches; he’s still free. It’s my son that’s serving a life sentence right now, my son is paralyzed from the chest down, he will never walk again, he’s in pain 24-hours-a-day, he needs 24-hours-a-day care.”

Tamara was more specific about the impact she hopes the outcome will have on the accused.

“I really hope that Mr. Madsen gets a sentence that every day he has to think about what he’s done, that he has sleepless nights like we do, his stress levels are brought up like we do, he hurts like we do,” she said. “And I hope that this doesn’t just get let go because I grew up here, I know the justice that’s served in Yorkton and I’m trying to be as positive as possible in regards to this matter and I hope that in the end that the truth brings that justice.”

Wapemoose was grateful for the show of support, but her pain and anger is never far from the surface.

“I want to thank all the family and friends who have been here to support Dennis ever since he got hurt a year-and-a-half ago,” she said. “They have helped us immensely. This is something very hard to deal with. Being the mother, I haven’t slept through the night since this happened to my son. I can’t sleep right and now I know tonight I won’t sleep because today was the first time I watched that video and to see my son tossed around like a rag doll, now I know why he’s in the nursing home the way he is and nobody should be allowed to do that to anybody.

“I don’t care if they hit you, I don’t care if they swore at you, you do not have the right to take somebody’s life away from them and that’s what [Madsen] did. My son lies in a hospital bed 22 hours a day. He can only be in his wheelchair two hours a day. He has to be turned every two hours around the clock. That’s no life for anybody and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, so all I’m asking for is for justice to be served and for Kim to be held accountable for his actions. We all have to accept responsibility for whatever we do in life; everyone does.”

Tamara has been traveling back and forth from North Vancouver for the trial. For her, it is not just pain and anger that keeps her up at night.

“Even before any of this happened, me and Dennis were very close,” she said. “He was the one person I could always go and talk to; he was the one person anybody could always go and talk to. I haven’t watched the video, and just to think that somebody could do that, with just the bits and pieces I’ve been hearing, is unimaginable, that somebody could bring themselves to do that to him. Being so far away, my boyfriend Chris helps me a lot and it’s really difficult. I have the same thing. I have sleepless nights and I have ‘what if.’ What if I was there? What if I hadn’t moved here? Maybe this wouldn’t have happened to him; he wouldn’t have gone out without me. There’s that guilt. There’s always those questions.”

There’s also fear of the future, she explained.

“I think the worst part is, I’ve flown down four times to go to the court proceedings, to be with Dennis in ICU, Wascana [Rehabilitation Centre in Regina,” she said. “I’ve been there every step of the way and to think that at the end of all of this, if it comes down in February and the verdict is not guilty, I’m not going to be able to fly down and be there to break the news to [Dennis]. It’s wondering why. It’s wondering how and when this is going to be over. Is it ever going to be over? Those are the questions that keep you up at night. You think it’s a dream. You think that this didn’t happen and there’s no way this could happen to my brother.”

While hopeful, Wapemoose is also critical of a system she believes operates on a double standard.

“I have friends and I know of their friends and different people that have been through the court system and have gotten conditions, they break their conditions once and they’re sent to jail and this guy, he broke his conditions four times and he’s still free,” she said. “To me, there’s two different justice systems, there’s one for Caucasians and there’s one for Aboriginals, because in my eyes, if the tables were reversed in this case, my son would have been in jail right from the time this happened because he’s Indian, the trial would be done and he’d be serving his sentence right now.”

But Wapemoose says she will not accept a verdict of not guilty or guilty of a lesser included offence, such as assault causing bodily harm or common assault.

“I would do everything in my power to overturn that,” she asserted. “I don’t know what I would have to do, but I have friends in different places that could help me. I would get FSIN involved, I would get APTN involved, I would get the chiefs from the different areas involved and I would fight this and if I have to got to the Supreme Court to get this overturned I will do it. I will fight every step of the way until my son gets justice. I will do it to my last breath.”