The woman who married former colonel and convicted sex killer Russell Williams is “yet another victim” of his depravity, but there is no legal basis for wrapping a cloak of secrecy around her divorce file, Ontario’s highest court said Tuesday.
The Ontario Court of Appeal has set aside a sweeping series of publication bans and sealing orders that were imposed by an Ottawa family court judge last April.
While the decision would normally take effect immediately, the court is holding its ruling in abeyance for 14 days to give Williams’ wife an opportunity to consider “what steps, if any” she will take to challenge it, said Justice David Doherty, who wrote Tuesday’s judgment on behalf of a 3-0 appeal panel.
That means that for the time being, the bans will remain in effect and Williams’ spouse — whose identity and occupation were widely reported in the aftermath of his February 2010 arrest on two counts of murder and multiple counts of sexual assault, forcible confinement and breaking-and-entering — will remain known as M.E.H.
In seeking the bans last year, M.E.H. said she dreads the divorce proceedings will bring even more attention on her than did her husband’s criminal trial.
But in its strongly worded decision Tuesday, the appeal court made perfectly clear that courts do not impose publication bans or seal court files to prevent personal embarrassment to someone involved in a legal action.
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