Found Safe Canada - O’Driscoll-Zak sisters, 2 & 5, abduction by aunt & grandmother, Cochrane, 12 Mar 2021

[otto]

I think the abductors need some prison time to clearly communicate that abduction is not an option during custody decisions.

"In relation to the abduction of Leonine O'Driscoll-Zak and Wyatt O'Driscoll-Zak, Alison O'Driscoll (38) and Therese O'Driscoll (68) have been charged with:

• Forcible confinement contrary to section 279(2) of the Criminal Code
• Abduction of a person under the age of 14 contrary to section 281 of the Criminal Code
• Abduction in contravention of a parenting order contrary to section 282(1) of the Criminal Code
• Abduction contrary to section 283 of the Criminal Code

Currently, processes are underway to have both accused returned to Alberta."
​

Cochrane RCMP request assistance to locate two children and two adults – Update 5 – Charges laid | Royal Canadian Mounted Police

279(2) Every one who, without lawful authority, confines, imprisons or forcibly seizes another person is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months.

281Every one who, not being the parent, guardian or person having the lawful care or charge of a person under the age of fourteen years, unlawfully takes, entices away, conceals, detains, receives or harbours that person with intent to deprive a parent or guardian, or any other person who has the lawful care or charge of that person, of the possession of that person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.

282(1) Every one who, being the parent, guardian or person having the lawful care or charge of a person under the age of fourteen years, takes, entices away, conceals, detains, receives or harbours that person, in contravention of the custody provisions of a custody order in relation to that person made by a court anywhere in Canada, with intent to deprive a parent or guardian, or any other person who has the lawful care or charge of that person, of the possession of that person is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

283 Every one who, being the parent, guardian or person having the lawful care or charge of a person under the age of fourteen years, takes, entices away, conceals, detains, receives or harbours that person, whether or not there is a custody order in relation to that person made by a court anywhere in Canada, with intent to deprive a parent or guardian, or any other person who has the lawful care or charge of that person, of the possession of that person, is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

https://www.criminal-code.ca/criminal-code-of-canada-numerical-200-to-299.html

 

[Lexiintoronto]

I wonder what happened to the ‘security guard’ the O’Driscolls had.

 

[otto]

They sure made some poor choices to end up with the mess they're in. Two traumatized children, two charged with criminal offences, three family members being investigated for assisting with the abduction, and a father who very likely needs a lot of support to help his children.

 

[Seattle1]

April 16, 2021

Missing Cochrane girls located in B C & charges filed:

RCMP have charged two [unnamed] relatives with abduction in the case of two missing Cochrane girls, who were found in B.C. one month after disappearing.

Not to state the obvious -- but interesting RCMP will not confirm the identity of those charged.

Apr 16, 2021 • Updated 28 minutes ago

Rick Jané, with the Alberta RCMP Serious Crimes Unit, said the maternal grandmother and aunt of the children, ages two and five, were located and arrested on Wednesday evening.

[..]

“We really had to pursue lots of avenues — doing background checks, talking to neighbours, talking to people,” said Jané. “You never know which lead will yield fruit and, in this case, we had information that we gathered that led us to B.C.”

The grandmother and aunt were cooperative when law enforcement arrived at the residence, he said, and the girls are in good health.

Relatives charged with abduction in case of missing Cochrane girls | Calgary Herald
__________

Herald added more details but still excluded the names of the two women arrested.

 

[MistyWaters]

Just saw this article in the Calgary Herald - good news and confirms what we suspected.

Relatives charged with abduction in case of missing Cochrane girls | Calgary Herald

Great news! I trust the two won’t feel quite as smug riding to Calgary in the back of a paddy wagon as they did when they initially absconded with the children.

 

[MistyWaters]

From Global -

“The women were being brought back to Alberta from B.C. on Friday, Jané said, after being arrested “without incident” at a private home in the Columbia Valley......

......“No charges have been laid against anyone else, Jané said, but the “RCMP is continuing to investigate whether anyone else were a party to the offence, or contributed either by aiding, abetting or counselling the individuals who have been charged.”

He said the girls’ father didn’t know where they were in the month they were missing, but it’s still unknown whether their mother did.”

Aunt, grandmother of previously missing Alberta girls charged with abduction

 

[Ontario Mom]

From Global -

“The women were being brought back to Alberta from B.C. on Friday, Jané said, after being arrested “without incident” at a private home in the Columbia Valley......

......“No charges have been laid against anyone else, Jané said, but the “RCMP is continuing to investigate whether anyone else were a party to the offence, or contributed either by aiding, abetting or counselling the individuals who have been charged.”

He said the girls’ father didn’t know where they were in the month they were missing, but it’s still unknown whether their mother did.”

Aunt, grandmother of previously missing Alberta girls charged with abduction

I'm calling baloney on this one. She totally knew.

jmo

 

[MistyWaters]

I'm calling baloney on this one. She totally knew.

jmo

I’m sure she did as well but proving it may pose a challenge. Would her mother and sister implicate her in exchange for some sort of plea deal? I’d say that’s doubtful but who knows.

 

[everybodhi]

From Global -

“The women were being brought back to Alberta from B.C. on Friday, Jané said, after being arrested “without incident” at a private home in the Columbia Valley......

......“No charges have been laid against anyone else, Jané said, but the “RCMP is continuing to investigate whether anyone else were a party to the offence, or contributed either by aiding, abetting or counselling the individuals who have been charged.”

He said the girls’ father didn’t know where they were in the month they were missing, but it’s still unknown whether their mother did.”

Aunt, grandmother of previously missing Alberta girls charged with abduction

If they packed up for those girls, it’s hard to believe the mother wouldn’t know, besides needing lots of clothes while hiding out, little kids need a lot of stuff for a long car ride, including toys and food. JMO
They were last seen at 9:30 AM, the exact time of the start of mom’s video custody hearing from her home, for that story to work, they had to be already packed.
It’s my understanding they left their car in the driveway so someone had to assist them with transportation too.
Edited to add: car seats.
Then mom didn’t report anything, it was hours later they were reported missing when dad arrived to pick them up

 

[everybodhi]

I wonder what happened to the ‘security guard’ the O’Driscolls had.

None of this is funny but I still got a chuckle out of this.

 

[Seattle1]

It's one thing when young children have no family, guardians, or resources, and become wards of the system but when educated adults place children in such circumstances, it's difficult to comprehend. It's unforgivable to burden these girls with this memory. MOO

 

[MistyWaters]

If they packed up for those girls, it’s hard to believe the mother wouldn’t know, besides needing lots of clothes while hiding out, little kids need a lot of stuff for a long car ride, including toys and food. JMO
They were last seen at 9:30 AM, the exact time of the start of mom’s video custody hearing from her home, for that story to work, they had to be already packed.
It’s my understanding they left their car in the driveway so someone had to assist them with transportation too.

There could be others aside from the mother involved as well, as long as the RCMP are able to prove it. As you mention, did someone drive them there, who owned the residence in Columbia Valley and what do they know, the RCMP mentioned possible financial support and specifically there’s also a grandpa O’D who lives at the home as mentioned by CZ in the podcast.

Do we know JOZ attended the video custody hearing from her home or maybe she joined her attorneys at their office to appear uninvolved so after her children disappeared she could shrug her shoulders and say “I don’t know anything.”

I do wonder who was the last to claim to see the four at the home at 9:30am. IIRC it wasn’t until much later that evening after the children’s father came to pick up the (missing) children that the missing persons report was filed. If the four left earlier that day, apparently the mother or grandfather didn’t notice they’d disappeared until the children’s father arrived at the home accompanied by the RCMP.

 

[CanadianSleuther]

Something just doesn't sit well with me in this case. I really hope the two girls remain in family services custody until this is dealt with.

 

[Mystrywrtr62]

I expect the children will be returned to the father as per the court order. Child services would have to get a protective order from the court to supersede the existing court order.

 

[everybodhi]

Something just doesn't sit well with me in this case. I really hope the two girls remain in family services custody until this is dealt with.

One thing is for sure and I speak from experience, divorced parents will be a part of each other’s lives until their children come of age. No matter what.
It doesn’t matter if they don’t agree on parenting styles, dislike new romantic partners, disagree on religious beliefs, or just plain hate each other, barring criminal convictions directly related to the children that causes one to permanently lose parental rights, or abandonment, they have to learn to accept or even better, encourage each other, in their children’s lives.
Even incarcerated parents often get visitation.
Intentionally turning children against a parent hurts the children more than the parent, we all want to love our parents, despite their faults, and no parent is perfect. It’s not the job of an ex to spend their precious time with the children pointing out our faults.
If I believed my child was being sexually assaulted, the first thing I would do is find professional support, one thing I would never do is go online with the minor child’s picture detailing all my lurid accusations.
That doesn’t sit well with me.
The internet is forever.

(edited to add this is all just based on my opinion of hypothetical situations)

 

[MistyWaters]

I expect the children will be returned to the father as per the court order. Child services would have to get a protective order from the court to supersede the existing court order.

Imagine if the children were told during those 5 weeks they were hiding because their father is a bad man, so he can’t get them and hurt them. These children certainly weren’t abducted out of kindness and consideration toward him. In a hypothetical example such as that, immediately turning over the children to the father would be a recipe for disaster IMO.

 

[Inthedetails]

Imagine if the children were told during those 5 weeks they were hiding because their father is a bad man, so he can’t get them and hurt them. These children certainly weren’t abducted out of kindness and consideration toward him. In a hypothetical example such as that, immediately turning over the children to the father would be a recipe for disaster IMO.

But who decides that? The father has legal custody with no charges against him.

jmo

 

[MistyWaters]

But who decides that? The father has legal custody with no charges against him.

jmo

I think it’s not quite so black and white. Legal custody is not necessarily synonymous with physical custody. It gives him authority to make decisions in the children’s best interest utilizing available support services. That could mean he mutually works with Social Services if it’s beneficial for the children to be temporarily placed elsewhere giving him the opportunity to rebuild their trust of him, to begin to undo the poisonous damage that parental alienation has already caused.

Hypothetical example again - if a child were to say to the father “I hate you” because the mother has taught the child to hate, a typical response might be “well your mother is a crazy woman, don’t believe her!”. That’s parental alienation in the opposite direction. A neutral third party will be required to help these children work through all the vitriol they’ve already been exposed to and it’s not going to happen overnight.

This is also the reason I think the Judge determined custody needed to be revoked from the mother, as she was the cause of it, seemingly supported by her family as well considering the abduction.

JMO

 

[otto]

Imagine if the children were told during those 5 weeks they were hiding because their father is a bad man, so he can’t get them and hurt them. These children certainly weren’t abducted out of kindness and consideration toward him. In a hypothetical example such as that, immediately turning over the children to the father would be a recipe for disaster IMO.

I have the same concern - that the children have been poisoned regarding their father to the extent that they will be terrified to be alone with him. If so, extensive counselling and gradual re-introduction to their father will take time.

 

[otto]

But who decides that? The father has legal custody with no charges against him.

jmo

If the children are afraid of their father, I would expect that he will rely on professionals and therapists for gradual re-unification. He is aware of what has happened regarding parental alienation and will understand the risks associated with forcing the children into a situation that they believe is dangerous.