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Thousands of people have signed a petition to get a repeat child molester out of a Brantford halfway house, where he is spending the last of his 30-year sentence for the sexual assault of six children, aged seven to 14. When convicted in Hamilton in 1993, James Cooper was considered one of the worst sex offenders in Canada’s history. Cooper is now 78 and uses a wheelchair. But reports issued to the parole board show his behaviour isn’t likely to change from that of 20 years ago.
Lisa McDonald has been writing letters and talking to politicians about Cooper. The convicted pedophile has served two-thirds of his 30-year sentence, and has been released into a halfway house. Sources say he’s in the federal inmate section of this Salvation Army building in downtown Brantford. “He was going to be released in Hamilton and Hamilton denied him and they dumped him on our doorstep. We have Harmony Square which is located just a few blocks away which is housing high-risk offenders. This is a place children go and congregate. They have skating and other events. We also have schools in the area.”
This man lives near the halfway house. His daughter called him from Cambridge when she read about Cooper on Facebook: “Having 3 grandchildren, we felt it was best not to bring the little three-year old grandson over to see me”
Parole documents say Cooper is still focussed on sex and he is considered a moderate to high risk to reoffend. When he was released in 2008, he did breach his conditions and was sent back to jail.
Lisa says: “I understand the man is older, in a wheelchair and ill. That doesn’t change the fact that he’s mentally ill.”
Canadian law says inmates are to be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence, called statutory release. Corrections Canada can deny release if children are at risk, but the department won’t comment on why it didn’t step in for James Cooper.
When news broke that James Cooper had been released into Brantford, Brantford police got several calls from concerned residents. But police say those fears are unrealistic, because pedophiles are everywhere, and parents should always be vigilant. But last year, police also added an investigator whose job is to liase with federal corrections officers to help manage repeat and high risk offenders who are out on statutory release.
A petition to kick Cooper out of Brantford has more than 17 hundred supporters, and local MP Phil McColeman brought the issue to the House of Commons Monday: “Shockingly, this repeat sex offender is being released into my community. This horrific case demonstrates the need for tougher the penalties for Child Predators Act.”
McColeman says he’s had hundred’s of people contact him about this issue. He said the Tories have two pieces of legislation, at least, on the table that would change the situation in this case. It calls for tougher penalties in the Child Predators Act, sentences for the worst offenders would be consecutive, not concurrent. Cooper is recognized as being worst of worst, sentenced for 30 years with seven different convictions. Despite being a repeat offender, it was bases on one occurrence and he serves the rest of his sentences concurrently. Remember the Prime Minister saying ‘Life means Life’. Another Conservative item is public access to a DNA sexual predators database where all the information will be public and a person could go online and find out information like where the offender is living.”
