LOWER SACKVILLE, N.S. – More than 30 people gathered in front of the RCMP station in Lower Sackville Sunday morning to support Nichele Benn.
The 26-year-old woman was born with right-sided cerebral palsy, epilepsy and an organic brain disorder that causes periodic episodes of aggressive behaviour.
She was going into the RCMP station to submit her fingerprints.
“It’s not something that any of you want to experience,” said Benn’s mother, Brenda Hardiman, to the crowd demonstrating outside.
Hardiman says her daughter isn’t a criminal and shouldn’t be treated like one.
She explains her daughter is being charged with assault and assault with a weapon because she bit a staff member and then threw objects at another at the Quest Regional Rehabilitation Centre, where she’s staying, during one of her violent outbursts.
“They’re not criminals, there’s no intent,” she said. “Our government needs to look at how they’re dealing with this, they really do, it’s horrific.”
Hardiman says the province’s Department of Community Services is criminalizing special needs by turning health issues into legal issues. She worries her daughter could now be heading down the same road Ashley Smith did.
“Her behaviours will not change if she’s incarcerated, and if she assaults somebody while she’s in jail her time will be extended, just like Ashley Smith’s was, and that’s a huge concern,” she said.
In a statement sent to Global News, Elizabeth MacDonald with the province’s Community Services Department wrote:
“We do know that care-giving facilities for persons with disabilities rarely have to call police for assistance. Most times intervention plans – which are developed with the client and their family – work. Police are only called as a last resort in situations of imminent danger when other less intrusive interventions fail.”
Similar demonstrations were held simultaneously in New Minas, Truro, Windsor and Yarmouth.
Comments