Sexual predator
out today
Offender has history of attacks on elderly women
By DAN ARSENAULT / Crime Reporter
The RCMP issued a provincewide warning Thursday about a soon-to-be released elderly prisoner with a history of violence, including sadistic sexual assaults against women in their 70s and 80s.
Burnley Lawrence Nickerson, 67, is being released from an unnamed institution today after serving a full four-year sentence for two counts of assault causing bodily harm. He's been professionally assessed as a high risk to reoffend in a sexual or violent manner. His history shows 30 years of criminal offences.
According to provincial RCMP spokesman Const. Joe Taplin, police believe Mr. Nickerson, formerly of Cape Sable Island in Shelburne County, will reside in Yarmouth.
Mr. Nickerson stands five-foot-three, weighs 150 pounds and has grey hair and blue eyes.
A National Parole Board review said Mr. Nickerson has been described as a "predator" who demonstrates violence in domestic relationships and "sexually violent behaviours towards partners and elderly defenceless ladies in their 70s and 80s."
The same documents reveal how he once used his hands to choke an elderly woman he was sexually assaulting until she lay unconscious on the floor and that he beat a man with a golf club when that person came to assist a woman he was verbally abusing.
He is also said to be indifferent to his victims and once nonchalantly told a widow he'd just sexually assaulted that he'd see her later.
The documents said he has difficulty controlling his "temper, jealousy of former partners and impulses for instant sexual gratification."
Psychological evaluations suggest he distorts and justifies his actions.
"You also voiced that women who go to bars and wear revealing clothes are asking to be raped and you automatically believe you have sexual entitlement on demand," the parole board reviews state.
A series of violent convictions, including an unprovoked attack that saw him club a former prison buddy over the head with a piece of wood in May 2000, led to his most recent sentence for four years and three months.
Using Section 810 of the Criminal Code, the RCMP requested that the Community Notification Advisory Committee look at Mr. Nickerson's record to allow police to notify the community of his release.
The committee is a provincial board made up of civilians, police, lawyers, health professionals, victims' services, parole and corrections officers that is administrated by the Justice Department.
(A group of Ontario lawyers also used Section 810 earlier this summer to place restrictions on Karla Homolka when she was released from prison in Quebec.)
Const. Taplin said the notification is simply meant to alert community members about the man and he warned people not to take justice into their own hands.
"This is a case that the members from Yarmouth RCMP and Corrections felt that there was a high likelihood that this individual would reoffend and we wanted to get out to the public the warning.
"People have to use their own judgment. We won't tolerate any vigilante justice towards the individual."
As part of the process, Mr. Nickerson is set to appear in Yarmouth court today to sign an order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, report to police weekly and not possess any weapons for a period not to exceed 12 months.
Yarmouth Mayor Charles Crosby hopes citizens keep their guard up but let police handle the matter.
"I think people should be cautious when they are around this person.
"He served his time, and until he offends again, there's nothing you can do except, knowing he's in the community, pay attention to what you're doing and where you are."
He agrees with the RCMP that people shouldn't attempt any vigilante justice.
"That's what we have police for, and that's what the courts are for."
the story is here:
www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2005/08/12/f198.raw.html
