'My final years poisoned': Court hears 90-year-old rape victim's powerful statement written before her death
Duran Ross Buffalo, 41, facing dangerous offender designation
WARNING:
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Buffalo → poison → designation
This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
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who → affect → it
After 90-year-old Mary was raped, she got herself to a hospital, only to be “turned away with a pat on the head,” her son told a courtroom as he read aloud his victim impact statement at a hearing for the man who violently attacked his mother.
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who → rap → mother
Mary is not the victim’s real name; it is a pseudonym CBC News has used in order to respect a publication ban protecting her identity.
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News → use → identity
A dangerous offender and sentencing hearing is underway in Calgary for Duran Ross Buffalo, 41, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and break-and-enter to commit sexual assault by a jury last year.
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who → convict → jury
Prosecutors are trying to have Buffalo designated as a dangerous offender and handed an indeterminate sentence.
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Buffalo → try → sentence
Before she died in 2024, Mary learned that her rapist had been caught and charged, and she wrote a powerful victim impact statement that was read aloud by her daughter on Friday morning.
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that → die → morning
The assault, said Mary, “ruined the life that day; destroyed it.”
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Mary → say → it
For more than a decade before the assault, Mary had been living in a secure assisted living apartment building in Calgary where residents would leave their doors ajar so that home care workers could let themselves in.
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workers → live → themselves
On Jan. 1, 2021, Buffalo broke into the apartment building and staff called police.
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staff → break → police
Officers searched the building for about 20 minutes before assuming he had left.
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he → search → minutes
In reality, Buffalo was hiding in the storage room of Mary's apartment.
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Buffalo → hide → apartment
“I was awakened later sensing someone in my room and opened my eyes to see this man at the end of my bed,” wrote Mary.
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Mary → awaken → bed
“I tried desperately to fight him, but he was too strong for me.”
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he → try → me
Mary said she weighed less than 100 pounds at the time and was under five feet tall.
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she → say → time
She described Buffalo holding her down with his hand over her mouth to muffle her screams.
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Buffalo → describe → screams
“When it was over, I could hardly believe I was alive,” she said.
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she → believe → ?
Home alone in a taxi
Mary got herself to a hospital, where she said medical staff believed her early-stage dementia was to blame for her story.
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dementia → get → story
Around 5 a.m., hours after being raped, Mary took a taxi back to her apartment.
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Mary → rap → apartment
She wrote that she was “distraught, and not believed.
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she → write → ?
I felt so helpless.”
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I → feel → ?
Her daughter arrived from Edmonton that morning and discovered Buffalo’s shirt in her mother’s apartment.
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daughter → arrive → apartment
They called police, and officers took Mary for a rape kit at a nearby urgent care centre.
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officers → call → centre
'He stole my peace of mind'
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He → steal → mind
“I agreed to do this because I wanted people to understand this assault really happened to me,” she wrote.
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she → agree → me
In the aftermath, Mary said she felt “traumatized, cold, violated and scared that this could happen again to me.”
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this → say → me
She ended up leaving Calgary, where her husband is buried, so that she could live with her daughter in Edmonton.
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she → end → Edmonton
“This man stole my home from me; he stole my peace of mind,” said Mary.
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Mary → steal → mind
“To have my final years poisoned … left me sad and weary and lonesome.”
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years → poison → me
'Still bruised'
Buffalo’s dangerous offender hearing continues next week.
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hearing → continue → ?
Court of King’s Bench Justice Michele Hollins has already heard evidence presented by prosecutors Matt Dalidowicz and Stephanie Morton that Buffalo is in the highest risk category for reoffending.
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Buffalo → hear → reoffending
He has a 20-year history of sexual and violent offences, including crimes against children as young as four years old.
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He → have → children
Prosecutors say Buffalo’s risk to the community is unmanageable.
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risk → say → community
After his attack on Mary, her “health spiralled downhill immediately,” according to her son.
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health → spiral → son
She died in 2024.
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She → die → 2024
Before her death, Mary wrote that she was no longer able to look at herself in the mirror.
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she → write → mirror
“The outside bruises have now faded, but I am still bruised emotionally.”
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I → fade → ?
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