Dundas shooting highlights emotion of custody
battles, 2005-01-28
2005-01-28 Dundas shooting highlights emotion of custody
battles
 Divorce
and custody arrangements have to be handled much differently,
several observers say, to avoid the kind of conflict that led
Ruth-Anne Willis, 39 <poor thing> to shoot her ex-husband Russell Bailey to death
outside his Dundas home.
Ms. Willis was sentenced to life in prison,
with no possibility of parole for 13 years, last week. She had
been convicted by a jury of second degree murder a couple of
months earlier. Her attack concluded a bitter custody dispute
which had reached an all new level of tension.
 Larissa Fedak, a Dundas resident and lawyer who handles both
criminal and family law cases, followed the Willis case fairly
closely. She said it was an unusual story, but reinforces the
need for partners to seek counselling.
“The problem I see in family law cases is that in some cases the
parents forget to love their kids more than they hate their
ex-partner,” Ms. Fedak said.
“It’s hard to legislate mature responsible
behavior. It’s
hard to legislate and implement a method to help the parents
focus on what’s best for their children, because the parents get
so wrapped up in themselves and their personal hurt.” <BALONEY
see Equal
Parenting How-To's>
Like Ms. Fedak, Brian Jenkins of the non-custodial parents
support group Father’s are Capable Too, believes mediation and
communication must take precedence over court dates.
“These types of things happen all the time, unfortunately, in
divorces.
That’s typical,” Mr. Jenkins said. “But it’s not typical to
shoot somebody.
The whole issue of custody and ownership creates unreasonable
expectations. It’s a winner-take-all system, where emotion has
really gotten to be a problem.” He agreed with Ms. Fedak
in finding the 13-year parole ineligibility acceptable.
Mr. Jenkins said mediation is preferable to a system where
the lines of communication between parents and children are not
open.
People get so upset about going back to court, they resort to
getting a gun and shooting someone.
“I’m being denied access to my daughter. I need access to my
daughter,” Ms.Willis could be heard yelling in the background of
a 911 call.
It was her ex-husband, Russell Bailey, who made the call. He
was speaking to operator Jennifer Moreton at exactly 11:57 a.m.,
Aug. 21, 2002, from the front lawn of his home at 63 Watson’s
Lane.
“I have an ex-wife who’s really creating a disturbance,” he
said.
“Your ex-wife and you are arguing?” Ms. Moreton responded.
“Oh, yep. She’s trying to break into the house.”
Ms. Willis can be heard in the background saying: “I am not.”
The operator asks Mr. Bailey if his ex-wife is carrying any
weapons, and if she’s been drinking.
“No,” he answered. “She just wants to see her daughter.”
“Does she have conditions not to?”
“No. It’s just that her daughter doesn’t want to see her.”
“What’s your name?”
“Russell.”
“Russell...what?”
“Yeah.”
With the sound of two gunshots, the line went dead. It was
11:59 a.m.
Ms. Willis had retrieved the gun from the Ruffin’s Pet Store
truck, parked in her ex-husband’s Watson’s Lane driveway. She
had not carried it to the door, moments earlier, when she began
banging on the door and demanding to talk to 14-year-old Torri,
the youngest of two daughters she shared with Mr. Bailey.
In her arms. Ms. Willis carried a 15-month old baby, fathered
by her new husband Glen Willis of Crapaud, P.E.I.
Ms. Willis drove the truck, all the way from the tiny
Atlantic town, when she learned Torri was about to be in
enrolled in Oakville’s Appleby College - against her mother’s
wishes.
While Mr. Bailey spoke to the 911 operator, assuring her Ms.
Willis had no weapon, she strapped the infant into a car seat,
picked up the semi-automatic pistol loaded with nine shells and
approached her ex-husband.
She fired eight times, hitting Mr. Bailey five times in the
chest, twice in the neck, and once in the head as he lay on the
ground. On the ninth shot, the gun did not fire.
Const. Jeff Wood was assigned to clear 63 Watson’s Lane. He
entered the home to be sure the shooter - or any other victims -
were not inside.
“When I arrive in the basement, I found the children in a
room,” Const. Wood said.
Torri, the 14-year-old daughter of Mr. Bailey and Ms. Willis
hid in the basement with her two step-sisters and one
step-brother, when her mother began banging on the door that
morning.
“I had a lot of conversation with Torri Bailey,” Const. Wood
said. “She gave me a lot of information about her mother.”
Torri gave the officer information about her mother’s truck,
her licence plate and the address of her grandfather’s Milton
home - where Ms. Willis was staying. Const. Wood relayed the
details to the police dispatcher.
“She mentioned that her mother was mad. She was upset about
some things... that (Torri) wasn’t returning to PEI,” Const.
Wood said.
“I got the opinion that she was torn between the two, but she
wanted to go to the private school. That she was looking forward
to going, if she could.”
Russell and Ruth Anne were married in March 1982. They
separated 10 years later. Their final divorce agreement was
filed with the court in July 1996. She was granted sole custody
of their two daughters, while Mr. Bailey was guaranteed access
every second weekend and one evening each week. Spousal support
was waived, as both parents were self-supporting. Mr. Bailey
paid $1,100 a month in child support.
The divorce agreement included a Parenting Plan which stated:
“They agree both parents must have access to children and be
involved in their lives.” There also was a relocation clause
which required Ms. Willis to give 60 days notice to her
ex-husband if she moved the girls’ primary residence outside of
Halton or Hamilton-Wentworth.
There was some confusion whether or not that notification
actually took place. But Ms. Willis did successfully relocate
her daughters to Crapaud, P.E.I. with her new husband, Glen, in
the summer of 2001.
“Before graduating from Grade 8, Torri told her mother she
wanted to return to Ontario and attend Appleby College,” Justice
John Cavarzan said before announcing the sentence last week.
“Ruth Anne was adamantly opposed to private school
education.”
Mr. Bailey’s father offered to send all his grandchildren to
Appleby College. Torri’s older sister, who passed on Appleby due
to her mother’s opposition, relocated to Ontario and prepared to
enter university.
Ms. Willis travelled from P.E.I. to her father’s home in
Milton, afraid Torri might not return to the small east coast
town.
While here, Ms. Willis was notified of a custody hearing to
take place on Aug. 22. Mr. Bailey applied for full custody, with
his daughter’s support.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 21, Ms. Willis loaded her
father’s gun and travelled to 63 Watson’s Lane. She entered the
home and stole a phone, and purse belonging to Judith Bailey,
Russell’s new wife.
Ms. Willis returned less than eight hours later to confront
her ex-husband.
According to Crown attorney Joe Nadel: “She wanted to kill
him to prevent him from having more influence on her daughter’s
life. She hated this man.
“She knew her husband was going to get custody and she killed
him to prevent him from getting custody.”
Larissa Fedak has been involved in several divorce and
custody cases. She says the threat of violence is usually
directed from a man to a woman, and usually the super-charged
emotion subsides as time passes.
But in the Willis-Bailey case, she observed, the
irrationality and hostility only seemed to increase as time
passed.
“The parents hated each other more than they loved their kids
and again this is unusual,” Ms. Fedak said.
Despite relocation being one of the most difficult areas of
family law, she noted that Ms. Willis was able to move the two
girls far away from their father - who shared very open custody
agreement with is ex-wife.
“The larger the role in the children’s lives of the other
parent, the harder it is to move.”
But Ms. Fedak pointed out that custody is never final. And as
the girls got older, their wishes would be taken more seriously
by the courts and a court would probably have looked favourably
on Torri’s interest in leaving PEI and attending Appleby
College.
“To me, this is not a choice between the two parents
anymore,” Ms. Fedak said. “Both parents would have to let go,
little by little as their kids got older.”
She explained the family law process worked effectively for
Ms. Willis. She mitigated, litigated and negotiated. She was
successful in applying family law to her case. But that changed.
“When she anticipated the family law would no longer assist,
she took matters into her own hands. And guess what, Torri still
went to Appleby College.”
But Sally Palmer, professor emeritus of McMaster University’s
social work program, doesn’t think the custody fight caused
murder.
“The seeds for the murder are in the violent relationship
that started long before the custody issue, and it’s really
impossible for us to know whether one parent contributed more to
this than the other,” Ms. Palmer said.
“But they were both guilty of putting their own needs before
those of their two daughters by engaging in mutual violence.”
The Bailey-Willis case is still far from over.
Jeff Manishen, Ms. Willis’ defence attorney, expects appeals
of both the second degree murder conviction, and the 13-year
parole ineligibility sentence.
The Crown is satisfied with the decision, though Mr. Nadel
requested a 17-year wait for parole eligibility. Mr. Manishen
requested a 10-year wait, and still feels he presented case law
that supported that.
 But Mr. Manishen figures there’s enough basis for a new trial
for Ruth Anne Willis. And he believes that with the extra
evidence, a jury might lower the conviction to manslaughter. The
previous jury found her not guilty of first degree murder. |
"There
were quite a few," she said. "It was repetitive, like one right
after another over and over."
