We warn listeners/readers this story contains graphic sexual content and details of sexual assault
A man who apologized after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman was given a warning by Victoria Police and allowed back to work with no reprimand because the victim did not want to press charges.
More than a year after a complaint was filed with VicPD, a social media post calling the man out brought three other women forward anonymously online accusing him of sexually assaulting them in a similar way, and others who accused him of inappropriate touching.
But why was he still at work?
The issue surrounds something called trauma-informed policing, which gives control to the victim. It’s designed to make the police process better for those who have experienced sexual violence. However, in this case, it may also have allowed an alleged abuser to return to the public to offend again.
In this special report from CFAX 1070, we look at the complex issues surrounding this procedure and why it is used.
What happened with Dave Hadden?
In June, Victoria tattoo artist Dave Hadden was called out in an Instagram post for allegedly inserting his fingers inside an 18 year old woman while tattooing her.
His place of work, Carne Tattoo, responded with their own post, saying they were shocked by the allegations and that he was being fired.
But it was not the first time that Carne had heard a similar story; a woman who we call ‘Sarah,’ to protect her identity, went to Carne and the VicPD over a year before accusing Hadden of sexually assaulting her during an appointment by penetrating her with his fingers. From the original social media page, three more women posted accusing Hadden of a similar sexual assault. According to Sarah, a group chat for victims formed which had more women that accused him of some form of “uncomfortable touching” during tattoo appointments.
After receiving public backlash on their Instagram post announcing Hadden’s termination, Carne Tattoo issued another statement admitting that a customer had told them about a similar incident in 2019.
“In retrospect, we should have terminated this employee immediately as this disgusting behaviour has no home in our industry or our shop and our failure to immediately act upheld a system that protects aggressors and continues the cycle of victimization,” they wrote.
Though she filed a report to police, Sarah said she did not want to follow through with charges because Hadden had apologized to her in an email and she believed the incident was a “one time thing.” A VicPD officer concluded the file there, telling Sarah he had spoken to Hadden as well.
“He told me his side,” said the officer in an email to Sarah. “I gave him a warning about behaviour, talked about conversations regarding consent in the future, and how this file could be opened again if you decided so. I agree with you, he does seem sincere and that was a huge mistake of misreading the situation.”
Hadden was allowed to continue working.
“Trauma-informed”
VicPD spokesperson Bowen Osoko said police are not allowed to comment on ongoing investigations, therefore, he could not confirm nor deny any specific questions regarding this file. He was able to speak hypothetically about how police conduct investigations in matters like these.
The form of policing VicPD uses for sexual assault, called ‘victim-centred’ or ‘trauma-informed,’ puts Sarah at the head of the investigation. It means that if survivors don’t want to press charges, the police will not recommend charges to Crown Counsel or continue an investigation into the accused.
“There is a history in Canada, in British Columbia, in our city, where people have felt as though they haven’t been heard. And they have felt as though they haven’t been served well by the court process and by police when it comes to reporting sexualized violence,” said Osoko, on why the trauma informed policing model was implemented.
In an exclusive interview with CFAX 1070, Sarah said she didn’t want to press charges because she felt she was too old to be considered attractive to Hadden and was afraid she would endure abuse from the tattoo community - not because he wasn’t guilty.
While admitting that it's not a perfect system, the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre agrees with the policing model for a number of reasons.
"From our standpoint, it’s important to take the lead of the survivor because a main component about sexual assault is lack of power. So it’s important to then go to the survivor and say, we are going to take the lead from you and what you want," said Elijah Zimmerman, spokesperson for the Centre.
“It’s important that the survivor be in the driver’s seat, the survivor gets to decide their course of healing regarding their trauma. It’s not fair to ask a survivor who is dealing with so much for themselves personally, having experienced a trauma, to then be responsible for what happens moving forward in a business with other people.”
There are other situations in B.C. where the victim is not expected to lead an investigation. In cases of domestic violence, police are required to recommend charges, meaning that conditions can be placed on the alleged offender that may stop them from reoffending.
“In B.C. the Attorney General’s Guidelines on Domestic Violence mean that all domestic violence files are submitted to the Crown – even when that victim does not wish officers to proceed with charge approval. These are unique files in BC’s system and provide for no contact and other conditions under the 810 application scheme,” said Osoko.
How often does this happen?
Neither VicPD nor the department dealing with information requests were willing to provide data on how often they see cases like Sarah's; where an investigation is not pursued because a victim did not want to press charges. Both said the job was too big for their department, given that they would have to look through the files individually.
According to VicPD, in 2019, they received 137 reports of sexual assault.
Of those reports, only 43 have a “charged or chargeable entity carded on file.” Only a fraction of that number were files where VicPD is recommending charges, but they won’t specify how many.
That means from just last year, there were at least 94 complaints of sexual assault where the alleged perpetrator, like Hadden, has no restrictions or conditions put on them by police.
Osoko says some of those reports are still under investigation, as it can take months or sometimes years for police to recommend charges to the Crown.
The court of public opinion
It was through social media backlash that Hadden was removed from working intimately with women’s bodies. He was fired and publicly chastised within 24 hours of being accused of sexual assault in an Instagram post, though both police and his employer knew about accusations against him for over a year.
After news reports about his termination went public, VicPD said victims should provide their statements to police before speaking to the media.
“It is best that you provide your statement to the police prior to speaking to any media outlets or posting details of your story publicly on social media. This is to ensure that your statement belongs to you and you only,” VicPD said in a media release.
On August 20th, VicPD announced that they had arrested and charged Dave Samuel Hadden with five counts of sexual assault stemming from multiple victims, though they would not confirm how many were involved.
As part of those charges, 17 months after the original complaint, Hadden is no longer legally allowed to tattoo on women.