Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Monday, May 21, 2007

Rae-Edzo - The victim of sexual assault case lashed out against MLA Jackson Lafferty and Behchoko chief Leon Lafferty for submitting letters of support for Jonas Bouvier.

Jackson Lafferty submitted a letter to the court May 8 requesting house arrest for Bouvier, or that he serve his time over the weekends so that he could continue to support his family.

"This will allow him to continue working and provide for his family during these critical times," wrote Jackson Lafferty.

Behchoko Chief Leon Lafferty also submitted a letter of support, requesting house arrest or probation. He also referred the dependency of Bouvier's family, and spoke for Bouvier's character.

"I have never seem him to show anger or to be mean to another person," he wrote.

A handful of other community members also wrote letters of support, including Sister Diane Naud and Rev. David Shed of the Tlicho Baptist Church.

Bouvier was convicted and sentenced to five months in Jail.

The letters were meant to illustrate why Bouvier is needed by his family at home.

According to Bouvier's sister Suzanne Dryneck, his two parents have fallen ill as his mother is nearly paralyzed from rheumatoid arthritis while his father is recovering from a stroke.

His brother Christopher Dryneck suffers from a vision impairment, his other two brothers Gary and Gabriel Dryneck are both too ill to hunt, going in and out of the hospital.

Bouvier has been the primary provider for both households, filling the fridge with caribou meat, fish, duck and other traditional foods, Dryneck added.

"To this day I still struggle to cope with what happened," the woman wrote in a victim impact statement.

"I used to enjoy life, I used to laugh and joke aroundÖ This has left me feeling anxious and depressed," she wrote.