Three years after the shocking murder of high school student Serena Vermeersch by a lifetime criminal, he has finally pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Raymond Lee Caissie, 46, entered the plea on Thursday. His guilty plea may be the only decent thing he has done in the past 25 years.
Caissie was let out of jail in June 2013 after serving a 22-year sentence for raping a woman at knifepoint in 1991. It was a particularly brutal case.
He confronted her at a museum in Abbotsford, abducted her, sexually assaulted her and left her tied to a tree, but not before making her withdraw money at a bank machine. He also stole her car. Two days later, he robbed a woman pushing a two-year-old child in a stroller in a park.
Caissie had been in trouble before that. He was in and out of jail from the time he was 15.
He first got into trouble for assaulting his kindergarten teacher. When he was sentenced in 1992 for the Abbotsford rape, the court was told he had begun his sexual misconduct at age 12. He was only charged after he turned 18 in 1979.
Caissie was eventually let out of jail in June 2013 after serving his full sentence – a rarity in Canada.
At the time of his release, corrections officials issued a public warning, saying he was a likely risk to reoffend. Then-mayor (now-MP) Dianne Watts expressed concerns and said he was likely to reoffend.
Their predictions, sadly, came true. Within three months, he killed Vermeersch, a 17-year-old Sullivan Heights Secondary student. He left her body in a remote area not far from her school.
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Thankfully, most people who end up in prison for serious crimes do get help. When they are released, many are able to lead productive lives. Unfortunately, some do not.
In Caissie’s case, he was red-flagged by authorities. He had not responded to treatment.
When the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld his sentence for the Abbotsford rape, it stated he needed to be treated for his deeply rooted psychiatric problems.
“The sentencing principle of protection of the public is of overwhelming importance in this case,” Justice David Hinds said in 1993. “The general public, and particularly women, are entitled to be protected from the depredations of the appellant (Caissie).”
The trial judge, Justice Stuart Leggatt, said the pre-sentence report on Caissie by probation officials “was one of the most pessimistic pre-sentence reports I have read in my years on the bench.”
“He is a person unable to establish any insight into his behaviour… The offender presents a very serious danger to the public at large.”
There has been no evidence presented suggesting Caissie has somehow learned to live in the outside world. His record shows that shortly after he gets out of prison, he gets into serious trouble – each offence far worse than the last.
If ever there was a case for a person being designated a dangerous offender, it would seem Caissie fits the bill.
Frank Bucholtz writes Fridays for the Surrey Now-Leader. You can email Bucholtz at frank.bucholtz@gmail.com
