Kelly Favro's Story—Part 1
Canadian True Crime
Kristi Lee
4.8 • 4.8K Ratings
🗓️ 6 March 2023
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Content warning: This series includes graphic descriptions of sexual violence. If you or anyone you know is experiencing sexual violence and abuse, help is available. Please see resources below.
Victoria, British Columbia
[Part 1 of 2] In this two-part series, we explore Kelly Favro's harrowing journey from surviving a two-hour sexual assault to becoming the first person in British Columbia to have a publication ban removed from her name - by herself.
Publication bans are routinely ordered to protect the privacy of vulnerable participants in the criminal justice system. But in the case of sexual assault complainants, what if they didn’t actually consent to the publication ban? What if they don’t want it?
What happens when publication bans backfire?
Along the way, Kelly met many other sexual assault survivors and learned that she was not alone. You’ll also hear the stories of Jade Neilson and Samantha Geiger, two survivors who discovered publication bans had been put on their names without their consent, and how it impacted them in completely separate but negative ways.
It all culminated in a trip to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to fight for changes.
--------------------------------
Special thanks to Kelly Favro.
Please help sexual assault survivors
Sign the petition now to give victim-complainants more agency and choice when it comes to publication bans on their names.
Eligibility: Citizens and residents of Canada are eligible to sign the petition
Deadline: 9am EST on March 10th, 2023
Follow on twitter: @AmendPubBanLaws
More information:
- See the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes
Resources for Sexual Violence and Abuse:
- REES Community - Canada Sexual Assault Centres by province or postal code
- Ending Violence Canada - Sexual Assault Centres, Crisis Lines and Support Services
Listen ad-free and early:
CTC premium feeds are available on Amazon Music - included with Prime, Apple Podcasts, Patreon and Supercast.
Credits:
Writing, research, sound design: Kristi Lee
Audio editing and production: We Talk of Dreams
Production assistance: Jesse Hawke
Script consulting: Carol Weinberg
Theme songs by We Talk of Dreams
Disclaimer voiced by Erik Krosby
For the full list of resources, information sources, and credits:
See the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Canadian True Crime is a completely independent production funded mainly through advertising. |
| 0:04.4 | You can listen to Canadian True Crime ad free and early on Amazon music included with Prime, |
| 0:09.5 | Apple Podcasts, Patreon and Supercast. |
| 0:12.6 | The podcast often has disturbing content and coarse language. |
| 0:16.3 | It's not for everyone. |
| 0:17.3 | Please take care when listening. |
| 0:20.0 | This is part one of a two-part series. |
| 0:23.4 | An additional content warning. |
| 0:25.8 | This series includes graphic details of sexual assault that might be difficult to listen to. |
| 0:31.8 | If you or anyone you know is experiencing sexual violence and |
| 0:35.6 | abuse, help is available. Please see the show notes for resources. |
| 0:45.0 | In 2019, a man from the Kitchener Waterloo area of Ontario was convicted of violent sexual assault. The survivor was his ex-wife. They were |
| 0:56.7 | embroiled in bitter divorce proceedings at the time and the attack happened as |
| 1:01.4 | their two children were sleeping nearby. |
| 1:04.8 | The trial judge pointed out the man's shocking sense of entitlement and lack of respect for the victim |
| 1:11.3 | and sentenced him to a year in jail. |
| 1:15.0 | After sentencing, the survivor, his ex-wife, |
| 1:19.0 | requested a transcript of the judge's reasons for conviction, which hadn't been made public. |
| 1:25.0 | When she received it, she forwarded it on to a small group of family members and friends to read. |
| 1:37.4 | The following month she was shocked to learn she'd been charged with violating a publication ban on her own name. She had no idea that one was even in place, let alone that there were serious |
| 1:47.1 | consequences for breaching it. Publication bands are a fairly unique feature of the Canadian criminal justice system. They prevent vulnerable people from suffering negative consequences as a result of being publicly identified in relation to a criminal case, |
| 2:06.0 | people like minors, witnesses who are afraid to testify, and sexual assault complainants. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kristi Lee, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Kristi Lee and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.