Rape Victim Made To Testify In Shackles, Share Van With Rapist

Angela Cardinal, a 28-year-old aboriginal woman from Canada, was forced to wear leg shackles while testifying against her rapist in court last year, say new reports. She had been stabbed and raped in Edmonton, Canada, in 2015. A year after the case, Cardinal was shot in an accidental shooting, and passed away.

She was attacked after she had fallen asleep on the stairwell of a building on June 16, 2015. Her rapist had held a knife to the side of her face, had dragged her into his apartment and raped her. She was able to call the police by dealing 911, and the police heard her being stabbed on audio.

She was held alongside her prisoner in the five days that she testified against him in court. They shared the same prison van to court, sitting alongside each other, and was made to wear leg shackles because the prosecutors were afraid she might not show up in court. They were held in cells which were nearly adjacent to each other.

Her rapist, Lance David Blanchard (59), was convicted, but the way the case was conducted was tragic.

Alberta’s Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley told reporters, “The facts of this case are disturbing and tragic, and when you add in the treatment of the victim in the system, they are almost incomprehensible.”

She had been homeless. She was a high school graduate who lived in an aboriginal community. “I was praying I would die before anything else happened,” she told the court, according to CBC.

Also Read: Woman Gangraped For Four Hours, Her Baby Choked To Death