The following is an update sent to a concerned person with respect to the death of Adam Cunningham. I received one a little later.
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Dear Mr. Murphy:
Thank you for your correspondence dated April 29, 2009, regarding the death of Mr. Adam Cunningham. I am responding on behalf of the Attorney General, and I apologize for the delay.
As Assistant Deputy Attorney General, I am responsible for the Criminal Justice Branch within the Ministry of Attorney General, including the conduct and supervision of all criminal prosecutions in British Columbia.
Charges of assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm have been laid against Ms. Elhan Cunningham. Ms. Cunningham is due to appear in court in July 2009, for an arraignment hearing.
It has not been determined that the injuries Mr. Cunningham sustained in the assault led to his death.
I cannot comment any further as this matter is now before the Court.
The public’s participation in the justice system is important. I appreciate hearing your views.
Yours truly,
Robert W. G. Gillen
Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Criminal Justice Branch
AG:EX <ADAG.Webfeedback@gov.bc.ca> a écrit :
De: AG CJB ADAG WebFeedback AG:EX <ADAG.Webfeedback@gov.bc.ca>
Objet: Reply to your e-mail dated April 29, 2009 (Log 364615)
À: alainroy_qc@yahoo.ca
Date: mercredi 10 Juin 2009, 13 h 47Dear Mr. Roy:
Thank you for your correspondence dated April 29, 2009, regarding the death of Mr. Adam Cunningham. I am responding on behalf of the Attorney General, and I apologize for the delay.As Assistant Deputy Attorney General, I am responsible for the Criminal Justice Branch within the Ministry of Attorney General, including the conduct and supervision of all criminal prosecutions in British Columbia.Charges of assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm have been laid against Ms. Elhan Cunningham. Ms. Cunningham is due to appear in court in July 2009, for an arraignment hearing.It has not been determined that the injuries Mr. Cunningham sustained in the assault led to his death.
I cannot comment any further as this matter is now before the Court.
The public’s participation in the justice system is important. I appreciate hearing your views.
Yours truly,Robert W. G. Gillen
Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Criminal Justice Branch
Honourable Wally Oppal
PO BOX 9044 STN PROV GOVT
VICTORIA BC
V8W 9E2
Telephone: 250 387-1866
Fax: 250 387-6411
Mr. Oppal:
Adam and Ellie Cunningham:
This seems only too typical by many police forces when a female commits Domestic Violence. In this case the assault lead to her husband's death. A similar death occurred in Edmonton and a big Gender Discount was given to the woman who committed the assualt leading to the death of her partner. It may not even turn up as DV in statistics reports further distorting the picture. The following is the obituary.
Adam Cunningham
CUNNINGHAM Adam It is with great sadness t hat we announce the sudden death of Adam. He was the sweetest soul and a loving husband. He was born on January 15, 1971 in Surrey, BC and was picked as God's favourite flower on April 8th, 2009 in White Rock. A celebration of life honoring him will take place at No. 97, 19551 66th Ave. Surrey, BC on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 5 :30pm. He will be missed terribly by his wife Ellie Cunningham.
Published in the Vancouver Sun and/or The Province on 4/19/2009
Please note the irony the violent wife will miss him terribly. If your officers do not pursue charges against this woman you will single handedly put the justice system into great disrepute. This is one of the most egregious oversights of jurisprudence and enforcement of laws I have ever seen. You have to ask yourself Mr. Oppal, if this were a man what would be happening.
In Canada and the United States Domestic Violence is pretty much equal between genders. In some studies, most notably one conducted by the Centre for Disease Control females were found to be the instigators in 71% of cases. I expect you to take action on this matter and I, and many others, will be monitoring your print media to en sure ourselves B.C. is not an oasis for females to kill men with impunity.
Mike Murphy
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| John Adam Cunningham CUNNINGHAM John Adam: With great sadness we announce the tragic and unnecessary death of Adam Cunningham. A life cut too short. Adam will be remembered as an avid reader, a writer and a lover of animals, travel and boating. He is survived by his mother Billie Cunningham, sisters Samantha Gustafson and Nikki Cunningham, and nieces and nephews: Sierra, Cheye, Jakob, Teagan and Colton. Adam was a kind, gentle, intelligent man with an incredible personality. He will be greatly missed by all whose lives he touched. The family asks his many friends and family members to join us in a memorial service on Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 2pm, where we can celebrate his life and send him off for his final journey in a way befitting to him. Services will be held at Beecher Place located on the beachfront at 12160 Beecher St. in Crescent beach. "Forever loved and never forgotten" In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Surrey SPCA in Adam's name. | ||
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Dear Mike:
TAKE ACTION NOW!!,
False allegations of abuse are something many of our readers deal with during their divorce and custody situations. The problem of false allegations of is becoming more widely known and acknowledged. In May of 2006 ACFC released a Family Violence Report authored by Dr. Stephen Baskerville.
ACFC has long maintained use of violence is an inappropriate response to the stressors of family life, whether the violence be female on male or vice versa. Unfortunately funding for domestic violence programs is typically one sided and does not address many of the root causes of the issue. See our comments in Congressional Quarterly after the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was signed by President Bush in 2006. VAWA will come up for renewal again next year.
Thanks to Jeremy Swanson for alerting us to this story. This past week in Canada a young man, Adam Cunningham, lost his life as a result of domestic violence apparently perpetrated by his wife. At the time of the initial incident she was charged with assault. Now that Adam is dead the Crown prosecutor declines to charge her further with manslaughter or homicide, and has told the family the assualt charges may be dropped as well, since the victim - who was also the only witness - has died.
See the news video here. (caution, the wounds are graphic)
Note in the obituary the comment that the wife will miss him. We can only imagine what that might mean.
http://www.legacy.com/can-
TAKE ACTION
We don't often ask our readers to get involved in individual cases, but in this instance we are asking you to take a stand. Please flood Attorney General Wally Oppal's office with calls and emails and demand prosecution.
The link below will take you to an email submission form for the AG's office. Ask them to take action. Or call AG Oppal at 250 387-1866 and express your opinion.
http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/
Then send us an email and let us know you acted and your thoughts on the subject.
Lastly, ACFC supports the work of Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting (RADAR). RADAR is leading the charge to improve domestic violence laws in America today. Their website is http://www.mediaradar.org/
Sincerely,
Mike McCormick, Exec. Dir.
Ellie had court dates on the 6th and 10th this month. It appears that her charge on ccc 266 has ended and there are now charges on ccc 267a and 267b. Can you explain what is going on, by chance? There is another date for Aug 27th.
Thank you for the information. It could be the Crown is laying the more serious charges under the Criminal Code of Canada (ccc) in sections 267A and 267b rather than common assault as in 266.
The relevant sections are as follows:
Assault 266. Every one who commits an assault is guilty of
(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or
(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 245; 1972, c. 13, s. 21; 1974-75-76, c. 93,
s. 22; 1980-81-82-83, c. 125, s. 19.
Assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm
267. Every one who, in committing an assault,
(a) carries, uses or threatens to use a weapon or an imitation thereof, or
(b) causes bodily harm to the complainant, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding eighteen months.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 267; 1994, c. 44, s. 17.