 Ed and Dawn Novak can't make sense of the second-degree murder conviction handed to the killer of their daughter, Natalie Novak. (Veronica Henri/SUN MEDIA)
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WINDERMERE -- "My birth was a blessing, sent to live and die on earth as a lesson."
-- Part of a poem written by slain Natalie Novak
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Before anybody tries to defend the justice system, or talks about the success rate of rehabilitation for cold-blooded killers, perhaps visit the devastated home of Ed and Dawn Novak.
You'll forgive them for being somewhat skeptical.
This warm home is where 20-year-old Natalie Novak was raised, but you won't find her here anymore -- thanks to a crazed murderer who stole her away from her loving family.
But you'll find lots of memories of the girl known in these parts simply as Nat -- including a cat named Obie she adopted.
It was an honour to be welcomed into their home at this difficult time. But for photographer Veronica Henri and I, it was not easy to witness their suffering.
Just 48 hours out of a courtroom that saw their beautiful daughter Natalie's murderer receive a reduced conviction of second-degree murder, you can just imagine the anger, outrage and disgust.
Nestled in the heart of Muskoka, their artsy country home is surrounded by so much beauty. Inside, there is so much pain.
"We feel betrayed," Ed says softly. "The system failed Natalie. And continues to fail her."
His wife, Dawn, nods. "He virtually got away with a planned and deliberate murder and got a slap on the hand."
Arssei Hindessa, Natalie's 32-year-old former boyfriend and relentless stalker, convinced a jury that his May 15, 2006, ruthless attack on the Ryerson hotel and tourism student wasn't premeditated.
For him it means he could be sentenced to life in prison with the eligibility of parole as early as after 10 years of incarceration, instead of the 25-year minimum that would have come with a first-degree conviction. For the Novaks, it means more torture.
"I couldn't believe my ears," Dawn says of Wednesday's verdict. "I could not hear anything after that. All I saw was mouths moving."
Adds Ed: "We were just destroyed. Angry, angry, angry. He, after all, carved her like a surgeon and intended to decapitate her."
And then they decided from this moment on, in their daughter's memory, they were going to do something about it.
"We are not out for blood," Ed says. "There has been enough spilled already."
But they're out for change -- change to make sure no other family has to go through what they and Natalie did -- and have created the Natalie Novak Fund for Muskoka women's shelters.
"Violence against women is preventable," Ed says. "We just have to get people to do their jobs better."
"Everyone wants it to stop," Dawn adds, citing a coroner's report into female murders that clearly offers a guideline for police and justice officials to apply when someone is being relentlessly harassed.
"There are real things that can be done to prevent it, but left hand doesn't know what right hand is doing," Dawn says.
This is a disgraceful and disturbing turn of events.
CHASING A DREAM
It starts when an 18-year-old Nat leaves the love, tranquillity and safety of the Bracebridge area to chase her dream of attending college at Ryerson.
There is a picture in their home of her at the family car -- packed to the rafters with her stuff and a smile on her face. Off to the big city.
And it went well for the first two years.
Then she met Hindessa, an Ethiopian refugee with whom she struck up a relationship.
The first months were fine, but then it resulted in her being beaten, bruised, cut, stalked and terrorized, and him being convicted of assault and given orders to stay away.
It never took.
"He breached his bail conditions at least 10 times," Ed says. "She could not get away from him. Natalie was left to look out for herself and there was no one in any system to serve and protect her."
After being told she absolutely would no longer see Hindessa any more, some 16 months after the first assault, court heard, he broke into her room and in essence slit her throat with a butcher knife -- leaving a pool of blood next to a slain girl who was just 20.
As colleague Sam Pazzano reported, Crown attorney Mary Humphrey in her closing address told the jury: "Hindessa is a liar and a manipulator ... The murder was about anger and control. He gave six different versions of what occurred."
At the 11th hour one of the jurors broke down and was dismissed. Soon after this shocking reduction of jury size came a reduction from first-degree murder to second.
If this dismissed-juror scenario had resulted in a first-degree conviction, you can be sure the defence would have used it as grounds for a new trial. A new trial -- with all of the despicable evidence -- would certainly be appropriate and in the interest of justice.
But this poor family isn't so sure they could go through such a thing again.
"There's just nothing like it," Ed explains of sitting in a courtroom and hearing about your daughter's murder while that man who's accused can get on the stand and talk about how tough his life has been.
So they bravely have chosen a different path.
"We are going to turn this horrible situation into something positive," Ed says. "There was no need for this to have happened and we want to make sure the system is doing its job so it does not happen again."
BREACHES OF BAIL
Examples of his frustration are all of the breaches of bail conditions, how Hindessa didn't show up to a bail hearing just four days before the murder, how a neighbour told him and his wife of his daughter's homicide, and how the media in his view didn't really cover this case in a big way.
Please tell me if you had heard the name Natalie Novak before?
"It was below the radar," Ed says of her case. "We think it was because this was labelled as a domestic case when it was anything but that."
It was a case of a kid who made a mistake taking up with a man who wouldn't let her go.
I feel compelled to call on our provincial and federal justice ministers and officials to commence an immediate investigation into this case and learn all we can from it.
This did happen and it's to our shame because it could have been prevented.
"The truth is, nobody knows what really happened here because there was not a lot of press in the trial to hear it," Ed says.
So he and his wife will introduce their Natalie to the public today and in the months and years ahead to try to save your daughter, mother, sister, aunt or grandmother.
"Natalie was full of spirit," her proud dad says as he looks at her smiling picture on the fridge. "She loved to ski, loved ballet, poetry, animals and the outdoors. She was a real care-giver and was known to take a homeless person into a restaurant for a meal. I think that is what she was doing, trying to help out a homeless guy from Ethiopia."
As a living person, Natalie won't get the chance to help out anybody else. Her family, though, is hoping her tragic death could as she said in her poem teach us a "lesson" and result in perhaps saving the life of some other young woman.
JOE.WARMINGTON@SUNMEDIA.CA
