P.E.I. rapist about to be released
He's still working with police on where he will live
Ken Meaney, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Police do not yet know where a P.E.I. man who served 14 years for a violent rape will go upon his release from prison Friday.

But people who work with ex-cons say no matter where Thane Moore ends up, without counselling he is certain to reoffend.

Moore will be released Friday from Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick where he served 14 years for sexually assaulting a young Prince Edward Island woman in 1993. Moore beat and repeatedly choked the woman into unconsciousness, attempted to push a tree branch down her throat and left her for dead.

Because he served the full sentence, he is not under any form of supervision upon his release. Moore, who has refused prison rehabilitation services and who the parole board considers a high risk to reoffend, is not required to undergo any rehabilitation.

Last week, Moore agreed to nearly a dozen conditions on his release, including that he not move to Whitehorse in the Yukon, consume alcohol, possess weapons, and that he report to police weekly.

But his subsequent decision to move to Dawson City alarmed many in the community of 1,200.

Dawson City Mayor John Steins says he wrote to Moore asking him to rethink the decision, and Moore agreed he would go elsewhere.

Steins says it's not a case of not-in-my-backyard --though that accusation has been raised. He says his town just doesn't have the rehabilitative services to support Moore, and it was not practical to ban him from Whitehorse 500 kilometres away because Whitehorse "is the central community where everybody goes for services -- hospital, dentistry, shopping."

But if Moore is not wanted in Yukon, the question is where will he go?

Ron Fitzpatrick, executive director of Turnings, a counselling and support service for ex-convicts in St. John's, deals with many high-profile sex offenders like Moore.

Fitzpatrick says in a case like Moore's there should be a mandatory-treatment program imposed upon his release.

"He might go in kicking and screaming, but after a year or two he might see the benefit of it," he said.

Without a relapse-prevention program, someone in Moore's position is "an accident waiting to happen," Fitzpatrick said. "If he goes underground and everybody turns their back on him, well, he's definitely going to reoffend."

RCMP spokesman Denis Morin said P.E.I. police are still discussing with Moore where he will live. Police will escort him to where he wants to go, but it's not known if there will be public notification of his whereabouts.

Fitzpatrick says wherever Moore goes, he's going to have problems.

"He's going to find it extremely hard to find lodging, he's probably going to be living on the streets, he's going to be hungry. He's not going to have any friends," he said.

"A regular con is not going to have anything to do with him. If they see him on the street, they're going to be jumping him and beating him. If he takes up with anybody, it's going to be a stranger, or another sex offender like himself."