Dear editor:
I was very disturbed by your lengthy article about Bruce Gherbetti (New Westminster man's daughters abducted to radioactive Fukushima, The Record online, June 27) which touched on the serious issues of international child abduction and spousal assault.
These issues deserve a much higher level of investigative journalism than a shallow story taken entirely from one extremely subjective source.
I was left with a strong impression that I was not getting all the facts, and suspect that the truth is quite different than Mr. Gherbetti's version.
In our justice system, it is rare for a person charged with spousal assault to be remanded in custody until trial.
This would only happen in cases where there is compelling evidence of an exceptionally violent assault causing serious injuries, or a significant prior criminal record.
Mr. Gherbetti's preposterous reasons for pleading guilty, when he claims he was actually innocent, although possibly true, is nonsensical and requires considerably deeper treatment before it can be believed.
The reporter could easily have obtained the Crown's alleged evidence from the detailed particulars which would have been provided to Mr. Gherbetti. I suspect, if that material were disclosed, the sympathy your reporter was desperately trying to evoke in favour of Mr. Gherbetti may have quickly evaporated.
Smearing Mr. Gherbetti's wife, absent any attempt to uncover the other side of the story, creates a huge credibility gap, leading me to suspect that this woman was being victimized a second time.
Without any other evidence, I tend to believe that, right now, Japan is likely the safest place for her and her three children.
If I am wrong in this belief, then you have done a disservice to Mr. Gherbetti by telling his unbelievable story without corroborating it with any other source.
Those two pages of newsprint smell so bad I wouldn't wrap a rotting fish in it.
Terry J. Hewitt, New Westminster
