Mom Flees to Canada: Arrested at Gunpoint

Campaign to DA; Also: Pix & Video of California Protest

May 22, 2022

Sarah Marie did what countless mothers have done: she fled her home, seeking safety elsewhere after being unable to protect her children from an abusive father in the Family Court system.

Her older boy, 7 at the time, was refusing to go with his father on court-ordered visitation because the abuse was so bad. So she made the incredibly difficult gamble of fleeing to Canada, hoping for asylum, risking being caught, separated from her children and imprisoned.

Unfortunately, Sarah Marie lost the gamble.

Soon after arriving in Canada, police stormed into their Airbnb room in the middle of the night and arrested her at gunpoint.

With a loaded gun to my head and 3 others pointed at me, authorities screamed in French and I was subdued on the floor, my sleeping children only a few feet away.

Sarah’s children were taken from her in an unnecessarily violent fashion. They were forcibly removed while she was face to the ground with four men pointing guns at her—no goodbyes or hugs allowed.

Of course, the boys were returned to their patriarchally rightful owner, their father, with no consideration whatsoever by anyone in a position of power for the well-being of the boys.

Sarah was eventually granted asylum in Canada on the grounds of unjust persecution in the US, but if she accepted, she could not go to the US to continue her fight for her children. [Perhaps asylum was swiftly granted to aid the father in keeping her away??]

Sarah Marie, aware she was facing a kidnapping trial and long prison term if convicted, bravely waived asylum and went back to Maine. She hoped for at least supervised contact with her boys until the trial. But that was not to be.

CHARGED WITH KIDNAPPING

York County D.A. Kathryn Slattery charged Sarah Marie with 2 counts of “criminal restraint”, i.e. kidnapping, which carries a 5 year max sentence. Since she “kidnapped” two children, she is facing 10 years in prison.

Slattery ignored the abundant evidence of DV and child abuse and imposed exceedingly cruel bail conditions: Sarah Marie can have no contact with her children, cannot step foot into her home state of Maine—likely to prevent her from trying to see her children, and she must wear an ankle monitor, which, after more than a year, has led to painful and permanent nerve damage in her leg.

The criminal court judge purportedly does not want the case to go forward, but Slattery has insisted. This indicates possible collusion between the Family Court judge and her, a very common occurrence in the agenda to empower fathers and punish mothers who dare challenge male entitlement in the family.

The Women’s Coalition is initiating a campaign to DA Slattery for the dismissal the bogus charges. See below for info on how you can participate.

SEXIST JUDGE

Meanwhile, the Family Court custody case is before the notoriously sexist Judge Jeffrey Moskowitz. He has not allowed even supervised contact between Sarah and her boys.

Judge Moskowitz took another mother’s child away from her many years ago and gave sole custody to the molester father. She wrote this about him:

He appears to be a misogynist of the meanest kind, stripping mothers of their children and women of their wealth.
In the courtroom, Judge Moskowitz appears to take pleasure in causing women to suffer, smiling when women cry out in pain and outrage at his illegal and brutal judgements.
Lori

Sarah Marie has not seen her precious boys for 2 1/2 years; worse, the boys have not been able to see their loving mother, their primary attachment figure, the most important person in their lives.

The infliction of this tremendous mental/emotional pain of separation on the children and her meets the UN definition of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment, hence it violates a basic human right.

SHADES OF THE HANDMAID’S TALE

Sarah Marie compares her plight to that of June Osborne in Margaret Attwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale:

• June Osborne and I were both victims of a corrupt, patriarchal, and misogynistic
state where women are seen as fragile, tangible, and incapable of rational thought.
• Our abusers were both high ranking military officials who used their positions of power to dominate and exert their will.
• We were subjugated by our oppressors; our homes, careers, and lives were taken and given to those who abused us.
• We were forced to bear our violator’s names and give up our own identities.
• June and I were both forcefully raped and beaten for not obeying commands- violated by men and the assaulted women (like Aunt Lydia), who the men enlist to do their bidding.
• She and I both had our two children torn from our arms to never be seen of or heard from again; our parental rights unjustly extinguished.
• Our civil rights were violated. We were put in shackles, maimed, tortured, gagged, and banned from speaking the truth.
• Both June and I escaped into the safety of Canada to claim asylum and our freedom in the province of Ontario.
• We were both charged by our states for “crimes” committed in attempts to protect the children

CAMPAIGN TO D.A.

Please take just a minute to support Sarah Marie by contacting D.A. Slattery.

PHONE: 207-324-8001 [voicemail available anytime]

EMAIL: kmslattery@yorkcountymaine.gov

SAY/WRITE your own or use this script:

D.A. Slattery, I am with The Women’s Coalition and we are campaigning for you to dismiss the charges against Sarah Marie. She did not kidnap her children. She fled to protect them and it is unjust to prosecute her. Thank you.

LETTER TO THE DA FROM THE WOMEN’S COALITION

DA Slattery,

The Women's Coalition is campaigning for you to dismiss the unjust charges against Sarah Marie. She did not kidnap her children; she fled to protect them from their father because Family Court failed her. There is plenty of evidence of abuse to support that and no evidence supporting she had any malicious intent, which is an element of the crime that must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Mothers all over the country and world are unable to protect children from abusive fathers in the discriminatory Family Court system. We are demanding a new system in which women's right to due process and equal protection are actually upheld in custody cases.

In the meantime, please do the right thing and drop the charges. Women are watching.

Thank you

POSSIBLE PROTEST: If there are any mothers in the area who would like to protest this injustice at the DA/Court building in southern Maine, please contact WomensCoalitionIntl@gmail.com.

PROTEST IN CALIFORNIA

The protest in Los Angeles on Thursday turned out great!

A few of the women who attended the protest in LA Thursday

About 20 women showed up at the Biltmore Hotel to voice their outrage at Chief Justice Tani Sakauye receiving an award for pursuing justice for women—when she has failed an entire class of women who are unjustly losing custody and unable to protect their children in Family Court.

The Chief Justice was notified of the $500M discrimination class-action lawsuit naming her as one of the defendants.

We made waves! We stood at the parking entrance before the luncheon and around the corner at the parking exit after it to catch everyone who attended. And flyers were handed out to the public, educating them about the crisis.

This group of activists was very vocal with much loud chanting. The Chief Justice, the Women’s Law Center (giving the award) and their donors and entourage definitely got the message that women are unhappy with them!

Watch clips of the protest: https://bit.ly/ProtestInLA

Thanks to all who came to protest and supported us from afar!

Women's Coalition News & Views