Terry Tremaine Has Some Interesting Friends

The blog is always a little slow during the summer as people are off on vacation or just enjoying the weather. Sure, we could post something about the latest Aryan Guard/W.E.B. online spat, but even we're a little bored with that (one can only make fun of the same thing for so long before becoming a bit stale). Instead, many of us who are holding down the fort are using this bit of downtime to work with our friends in British Columbia on gathering and organizing our collective intel into something that will be less fragmented.

Still, we do continue to receive information from our dear readers. Recently a news article was sent to us that has nothing to do with what we cover on this blog, however a person of significant interest is mentioned in the story in relation to a convicted serial stalker:

Convicted stalker Gerald Klein banished from Regina for a year

By JANA G. PRUDEN, Leader-Post August 10, 2010 8:28 AM

REGINA — A man who has stalked a woman for 35 years has three weeks to get out of Regina, after being banished from the city for a year by a Regina judge.

"The world's a large place," Judge Dennis Fenwick said in imposing the rare order on Gerald Klein Monday afternoon. "There's lots of places for Mr. Klein to go."

It is an unusual decision befitting an extremely unusual case.

Klein, 63, has been stalking Cathy Kaip since the two were briefly acquainted in 1974.

In his sternly worded decision, Fenwick called Kaip "a shattered woman," and likened Klein to "a toxic gas swirling around Ms. Kaip's shrunken world," looking for ways to get into her life no matter what she does.

Klein's harassment of Kaip has lasted decades and spanned several cities, and has included stalking and unwanted phone calls, flowers, letters and gifts. Klein has also launched several nuisance lawsuits against Kaip, including one for failing to marry him.

After years of lesser sanctions, Klein served a three-year prison sentence after being convicted of criminal harassment in 2003. After the prison term, the Crown obtained a peace bond barring Klein from having any contact with Kaip or members of her family, or being in the area around her home. The order expired two years ago, and the Crown then applied for another, which Klein fought at a hearing last month.

The matter had been adjourned until Monday for Fenwick's decision on whether to impose another peace bond.

After reviewing some of the history of the case, Fenwick opted to impose a new order, but he questioned whether the conditions requested by the Crown went far enough.

He noted that Klein has been able to skirt along the fringes of previous orders, and Fenwick wondered aloud whether it is fair that Kaip should continue to live in fear, unable to move about the city without being afraid of running into her stalker.

"Hasn't the time come that the worry should fall on him and not her?" Fenwick asked. "That's really the question here, isn't it?"

He noted that, "When Mr. Klein loses, he still wins."

Fenwick said Klein has conditioned Kaip to fear routine parts of everyday life, such as the ringing of the telephone, a knock at the door or a trip out of the house

"Sadly, 3 1/2 decades of abuse have allowed Mr. Klein to put Ms. Kaip in fear, even when he does nothing," Fenwick said.

He also noted that Klein continues to believe that it is he who has been wronged by the situation.

Klein sat listening to Fenwick's comments with his lips pursed and downturned, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. He was joined in court by his son and Terrence Tremaine, a Regina man who is facing his own charges for spreading hate on the Internet.

Fenwick said there is legal precedent for banishing someone from their home community, though he did acknowledge that it is rare, and should be approached with caution.

He asked defence lawyer Brad Tilling how it would harm Klein to be banned from Regina, noting that Klein is unemployed, has no property, and has no one willing to act as a surety for him.

"I have no idea where he would go, where he would stay..." Tilling said. "I don't know what would happen to him."

But it was not enough to convince Fenwick, who said he is "thoroughly satisfied" that Kaip is not only entitled to the unusual level of protection — but needs it.

"He's a cunning, resourceful man," Fenwick said. "I'm satisfied he can establish himself outside the city of Regina."

Although Klein originally indicated he may not sign the order — in which case he would have been jailed for up to a year or until he signed — he eventually consented.

He now has three weeks to leave the city and cannot return for a year after that, except in the case of a medical emergency.

"I don't doubt that it will be difficult for Mr. Klein ... but that's because for 3 1/2 decades, for 13,000 days, he has caused problems for Ms. Kaip," Fenwick said. "She can have Regina and he can have the rest of the world."

jpruden@leaderpost.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post

Tremaine's name is what piqued our interest initially, but on the whole this was a facinating, though sad, story. Ms. Kaip has had to endure Mr. Klein for three and a half decades. Mr. Klein seems to be in obvious needs access to a mental health professional.

We're interested in knowing what Klein's relationship to Tremaine is, but in reality this blog post is simply a story we thought our readers might find interesting.

Other links:

• Longtime stalker thinks he's the victim (article from 2006)
  
• Another peace bond considered for stalker Gerald Klein