Monday 10 December 2007

Michele Mandel

Kudos to veteran Toronto Sun columnist Michele Mandel for her coverage of the Robert Pickton summations and verdict, an assignment we wouldn't wish on anyone.

Hollywood gore flicks like Hostel and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were picnics compared to the reality of stomach churning evidence accumulated at Pickton's pig farm.

Journalists covering the trial also provided readers with profiles of the six victims, making them women with families and lives lived, not just detached names on a list of murder victims.

Readers had the option of not reading the gory details, but Michele, along with fellow journalists, jurors and others in the courtroom absorbed those horrific details day after day.

Police and court reporters witness more than they sometimes care to in their careers and while descriptions and images fade with time, they never leave you.

The chamber of horrors described during the lengthy Pickton trial and summations should earn all of the reporters involved a week or two of R 'n R on the beaches of Hawaii.

If 20 more charges in the Pickton pig farm casualty count go to trial, Canadian journalists will once again be called upon to witness more of the same depths of depravity.

All Canadians can hope for is Pickton will never again be a free man.

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