Danger is a Definite

In 2004, Matthew Francis O’Quinn was 28 years old. His girlfriend was 15. She was probably not his first girlfriend, but she was the first to come forward with accusations against him of violence and confinement. Whether she is the first woman she treated that way, we’ll never know.

He took her into the woods and kept her in a tent. He beat her daily. When she tried to leave he threatened her family. “If you ever leave me I will kill your mother, and I will kill your brother,” he told her, according to a CBC news article on her attempts to alert the public to the danger he poses.

Her terror lasted a full month. And at the end, after she escaped, saving herself from his brutality, O’Quinn was arrested and went to jail.

But then he got out. In 2008, he did it all over again. Another young girlfriend, another remote location, more beatings, more threats. Back to jail.

And he got out again. In 2010,  another young woman, the same thing. In between dragging his girlfriends into the woods and beating them he got by by breaking into cabins and stealing the owner’s possessions.

And once again, O’Quinn was sentenced to a short two years – because apparently that’s all you get for terrorising, beating, threatening and confining a teenage girl or woman.

And now he’s been found guilty of the same thing again.

Except this time, he brought a gun along and held it to his victim’s face. His threats too, became more specific: he would cut up her young daughter if she tried to escape.

O’Quinn started out with a streak of violence that would rival most organised criminals’. And it’s been getting worse. Not only does he not show remorse, but the moment he gets out of jail he plans his next attack. Our courts have done nothing so far but throw him in jail for a couple of years and then let him out for a few months until he strikes again, dragging him back to court and jail again.

And in the meanwhile at least four women have had their lives irrevocably altered. They were terrorised in ways most of us can only imagine: taken away from human contact, confined in a remote location, beaten, threatened, in fear not only for themselves but their loved ones.

That each of these women managed to escape before he killed them speaks only to their strength and fortitude and reflects nothing of his abilities.

For its rather obvious that O’Quinn could easily kill a woman. Or a young girl. He’s made the threats, he’s used branches and fists then graduated to guns.

The most unnerving thing, though, is the way he takes his victims into remote areas. He removes them from any human contact, making escape harder, but also making covering-up easier for him. He is well-versed in woods survival and knows how to disappear.

Is this the kind of man who should be free to walk our streets? Or crawl about in our woods?

When he gets out of jail this time, where will he take his next victim and what will he do to her? Will the threats become reality? And is murder that much worse than what he’s already done, leaving four women to deal with the aftermath of his campaigns of terror?

O’Quinn has been found guilty of the latest charges for confining, beating and threatening a woman and his sentencing will take place in January. In a recent article on his hearing, CBC reported that “The Crown says it may apply to have O'Quinn declared a dangerous offender.”

It “may” apply? Our provincial courts and our prosecutors aren’t quite sure if he’s a dangerous offender or not? I’m sure. I’m pretty certain that my readers are sure too. I know his previous victims could make you sure.

It doesn’t take a law degree or training in social work or psychology to know that O’Quinn should never be allowed near another woman. And the only way to guarantee that is to make sure he is termed a dangerous offender and is imprisoned indefinitely. It saddens me to say that I consider another human being incapable of redemption, but it is an obvious fact given his actions and behaviours.

For the sake of our daughters, our sisters, our nieces, it is imperative that this man be dealt with properly by the courts. If you agree, please contact ourMinister of Justice, Hon. Darin King, to express your desire to see that “may” turn into a definite “will.”