A search for justice that lasted 25 years has finally led to a heinous crime being solved in Belleville.
William Dale pled guilty to sexual assault and assault yesterday at the Quinte Consolidated Courthouse in connection with a brutal attack on a total stranger in the pool area of the Ramada Inn back in 2000.
The trail of the perpetrator went cold shortly after the investigation began, but they never gave up, and more than two decades later, a new technology known as Investigative Genetic Genealogy (or IGG for short) finally put some DNA samples taken from the scene in proper perspective.
My thanks to everyone involved in the process for helping to solve the crime, put the person responsible behind bars, and bring some measure of closure to the victim and her family.
It was anything but easy getting from that terrible night in 2000 to the final gavel yesterday in Belleville.
I have it on good authority that Inspector Jeremy Ashley of the Belleville Police Service persisted in getting this IGG project to move forward, working with the Ministry’s IGG working group, Jeremy Tatum and Louise Tansey.
The efforts to the original investigative team, including (now retired) Sgt. Grant Boulay, who collected the items that contained Mr. Dale’s DNA, and the current investigative team, led by Sgt. Boulay’s daughter Det. Cst. Andrea Boulay were instrumental in bringing this prosecution to a successful conclusion.
Justice delayed is often justice denied, but in this case it just needed technology to catch up to the dogged determination of those who would not let it fall by the wayside no matter how many years had passed.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.
(PAUL MARTIN)
