David Ho, sex workers, and the Vancouver Police Foundation
Thursday, February 2, 2012 by David Eby
The David Ho case illuminates the challenges sex workers face in going to police, including during the period of the Pickton case, and well after. Well, it illuminates a lot of things actually, some of which raise serious questions that go beyond even the traditional barriers to sex worker reports of violence.
In a nutshell, David Ho pled guilty to an incident that involved him breaking the ankle of a sex trade worker who was trying to get away from him. He is a billionaire that lives in Vancouver. The woman escaped by scaling a 2.5m fence in only her underwear. Please note, this incident took place in late December, 2008, more than three years ago.
Merry Christmas.
Police appear to have declined to recommend charges against Ho in relation to an earlier, and undated, incident where he allegedly repeated the same behaviour with another sex worker, according to the Province newspaper, as described by David Ho himself:
“In one of the incidents, police were called to his downtown suite on Seymour Street. A woman was in his apartment. She had called police and said Ho was holding her.”
I imagine she may have a more detailed version of events.
Here’s the big question, and it’s one of the big questions of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry. Why is it that predators appear to be given a free pass on allegations made by sex workers against them? Pickton stabbed and almost killed a sex worker, but walked free.
Ho refused to let a woman leave his home on even his own version of events (he was trying to convince her to get help), but no charges were recommended. So then, apparently, he did it again, but this time he broke the woman’s ankle. What else was planned for her if she hadn’t managed to escape?
Layering this case with complexity is the fact that David Ho is a former Police Board member, a contributor to the Vancouver Police Foundation and the Odd Squad (VPD video production team).
Will this guilty plea cause speculation, (as it has for me) about whether or not the police were reluctant to recommend charges in the original incident, and possibly other incidents, because Ho was such a powerful person, closely tied to the Police Board and Police Foundation? That the nine month delay between the December 28, 2008 incident and the September 29, 2009 charges was related to Ho’s status in relation to the police department as a donor, and the sex worker’s, well, non-existent status as a donor to the Police Foundation? Probably.
Will this revelation lead to the suspension of a dubious program in which police solicit donations from private citizens raising concerns exactly like this? Hopefully, but unlikely.
In a nutshell, David Ho pled guilty to an incident that involved him breaking the ankle of a sex trade worker who was trying to get away from him. He is a billionaire that lives in Vancouver. The woman escaped by scaling a 2.5m fence in only her underwear. Please note, this incident took place in late December, 2008, more than three years ago.
Merry Christmas.
Police appear to have declined to recommend charges against Ho in relation to an earlier, and undated, incident where he allegedly repeated the same behaviour with another sex worker, according to the Province newspaper, as described by David Ho himself:
“In one of the incidents, police were called to his downtown suite on Seymour Street. A woman was in his apartment. She had called police and said Ho was holding her.”
I imagine she may have a more detailed version of events.
Here’s the big question, and it’s one of the big questions of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry. Why is it that predators appear to be given a free pass on allegations made by sex workers against them? Pickton stabbed and almost killed a sex worker, but walked free.
Ho refused to let a woman leave his home on even his own version of events (he was trying to convince her to get help), but no charges were recommended. So then, apparently, he did it again, but this time he broke the woman’s ankle. What else was planned for her if she hadn’t managed to escape?
Layering this case with complexity is the fact that David Ho is a former Police Board member, a contributor to the Vancouver Police Foundation and the Odd Squad (VPD video production team).
Will this guilty plea cause speculation, (as it has for me) about whether or not the police were reluctant to recommend charges in the original incident, and possibly other incidents, because Ho was such a powerful person, closely tied to the Police Board and Police Foundation? That the nine month delay between the December 28, 2008 incident and the September 29, 2009 charges was related to Ho’s status in relation to the police department as a donor, and the sex worker’s, well, non-existent status as a donor to the Police Foundation? Probably.
Will this revelation lead to the suspension of a dubious program in which police solicit donations from private citizens raising concerns exactly like this? Hopefully, but unlikely.
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