Surrey residents are planning a major rally this weekend saying they want to take their city back.
A citizens’ rally is planned on Sunday to give everyone a chance to voice their concerns in the wake of the murder of a Surrey teen that shook the community to its core.
The body of 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch was found last Tuesday along the train tracks near 146th Street and 66th Avenue.
Serena was last seen when she got off the bus and headed home along her regular route.
Investigators said she was murdered moments later in a random attack.
“We want to give residents an opportunity to voice their concerns about the increase in crime,” says Surrey resident and rally organizer Naida Robinson.
She says the rally is an attempt to raise questions about why Surrey is becoming a magnet for crime.
The mother of five was horrified to hear about Vermeersch’s murder, especially because it comes just nine months after the brutal beating death of another Surrey resident and hockey mom Julie Paskall.
Robinson says when police distributed a public warning about where the two murders took place, both crime maps had her house in them.
“That is a sickening feeling,” says Robinson. “Just the fact that it was in my city, but when it is right here, so close. The place I walk by every single day.”
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Vermeersch’s alleged killer is 43-year-old Raymond Lee Caissie, a convicted sex offender who was considered high risk to re-offend when he was released in June 2013.
Caissie was released after serving 22 years for a violent sexual assault.
At the time, Justice Stuart Leggatt sentenced Caissie to two concurrent terms of 12 years each for sexual assault. He also got 10 years in jail for robbery and forcible confinement.
According to media reports at the time, as Caissie was being led away to serve his sentence, he said “I’ll see you in 22 years.“
He has a long history of violent sexual crimes, including two counts of sexual assault with a weapon, theft, possession of stolen property, and two counts of forcible confinement and robbery.
Caissie had been denied parole several times and was constantly considered a high risk to re-offend.
When he was released after serving his full sentence, the Ministry of Justice, Corrections Branch, released a public warning outlining a number of conditions for his bail, including no contact, direct or indirect, with any of the victims of offences for which he has been convicted or any known members of their immediate families.
WATCH: Who is Raymond Lee Caissie?
At the time, Surrey mayor Dianne Watts raised the alarm about Caissie’s release, saying “he has been let loose in our community to victimize one of our residents.”
Robinson says she was sick, but not surprised to find out Raymond Lee Caissie was out and about in her community before allegedly killing Vermeersch.
She says they get regular warnings about offenders being set free and residing in their neighbourhood.
“We are being told to be careful, but what does that mean? Does it mean if we see him, we cross the street? Does it mean we move because he has moved in? How do you deal with him as a resident?”
Robinson says she thinks police are doing everything they can with the resources they have.
“But Surrey is known for being a very underfunded police department with our rising population. We should be getting two new officers every three months if we keep up with just the growth, but we are already behind.”
She says with a municipal election around the corner, the onus is on politicians to facilitate any changes.
I don’t have all the answers, I am just a mom, local resident and taxpayer that has questions, and we elect people to come up with solutions. We have had enough. All I am asking is if you are tired of it Surrey, come and join us. This is the place and the time.
Meanwhile, a number of politicians is calling for the way the justice system handles prolific sex offenders to be re-examined in light of Vermeersch’s murder.
“There are certain types of individuals who are dangerous offenders likely to repeat, particularly sexual predators,” NDP critic Mike Farnworth told Global News on Tuesday. “We need to make sure we have all the tools in place that we can keep them off the street. Because if they are at a high risk to reoffend, then why are they getting out?”
Former B.C. Solicitor Kash Heed told Global News the system failed Serena.
“You have to look at who has failed her: has society at large failed her, have the police failed her or has our justice system failed her?” says Heed.
He says keeping surveillance on offenders like Caissie 24/7 is not sustainable.
“To incapacitate this individual, to keep him locked up for an extended period of time is the only option,” says Heed. “Fifteen months of surveillance on an individual would be insurmountable for law enforcement to accomplish.”
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