WATCH: The murder of Surrey teen has become a national issue with many people wondering why Raymond Lee Caissie, a convicted felon and high-risk offender, was walking the streets in the first place. Randene Neill reports.
An NDP critic says the way convicted sex offenders are currently handled by the justice system needs to be re-examined in light of a deadly attack on a Surrey teen last week.
Mike Farnworth calls the murder of 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch an awful crime. Her body was found last Tuesday night near train tracks on 146th Street and 66th Avenue in Surrey. She got off the bus and was heading home, but never made it.
Global News has learned the suspect in Vermeersch‘s death is 43-year-old Raymond Caissie, a convicted sex offender who was considered high risk to re-offend when he was released in June 2013.
Caissie 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.
In 1991, Caissie was accused and convicted of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in Abbotsford. He was sentenced to, and served, 22 years in jail.
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.“
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.
The fact that Cassie was being released in Surrey infuriated Mayor Dianne Watts, who said at the time Caissie has “been let loose in our community to victimize one of our residents.”
Caissie was arrested and charged with second degree murder in Vermeersch’s death on Monday.
An initial publication ban was imposed on his name. Mayor Watts demanded the ban be lifted Tweeting, “protect the innocent, not the criminal.”
Meanwhile, the RCMP issued a statement, saying Caissie was not in breach of any of his release conditions before Serena Vermeersch was reported missing.
High risk sex offenders are subject to regular monitoring, reporting, ongoing threat risk assessments and compliance checks. This responsibility falls to numerous agencies in our communities, in addition to the police.
Whenever information is received, or there is reason to suspect that an individual has breached their conditions, or is at risk to violate their conditions, resources are prioritized and deployed accordingly. We have no information to suggest he was in breach of the Section 810 peace bond condition prior to Vermeersch being reported missing.
We have a unique provincial unit in the Integrated Sexual Predator Observation Team (ISPOT) as well as RCMP Detachment high risk target teams that assist ISPOT’s mandate. They are structured and deploy every day based on priorities, intelligence and information sharing with other partners in community safety. However, their efforts will always strive to find the balance between the demands and capacity.
Today, Mayor Watts called on members of the community to support Bill C-26 that focuses on tougher penalties for child predators.
Today, MacKay said the government is looking at ways in which they can toughen parole provisions.
WATCH: The death of Serena Vermeersch has a number of BC politicians calling for Ottawa to act on proposed changes to the Sexual Predators Act. Ted Chernecki explains.
“But also we are looking at ways in which the very worst, those who are most violent, those who have committed murder in concert with other violent offences against the public and the individual, that they are never released,” he said.
Farnworth says if Caissie is found guilty, he hopes he spends the rest of his life behind bars.
“There are certain types of individuals who are dangerous offenders likely to repeat, particularly sexual predators. 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?” he says.
It is clear the protocols in place did not work in Caissie’s case, says Farnsworth.
“We need to go back and make sure that we have protocols in place that do work. If that means ensuring someone that we know is a high risk to reoffend is kept behind bars for as long as possible, then that is what we do.”
He wants to see the federal government step up its game and hopes B.C. takes on a leadership role as well.
“It is a societal thing. There is nothing more important than protecting our children. Public safety must come first.”
Serena’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral costs. If you would like to contribute, click here.
With files from Amy Judd
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