He wants to be called Amber

Brigitte Jobin had gathered all her courage on Thursday morning. Once again, she would face her executioner, in a courtroom at the Montreal courthouse.

Once again she would find herself in the same room as this former mixed martial arts fighter, a muscular, manipulative and controlling man, who beat her for months, who raped her at the point of a knife, which broke her ribs, which strangled her to the point of knocking her unconscious, which forced her to tattoo her name on her skin, as if to mark her, as if she belonged to her.

Even if this man has been languishing in prison for five years, Brigitte Jobin is still terribly afraid of him. It is understandable. And yet, when she saw him enter the courtroom, she restrained herself from…bursting out laughing. “He came to court wearing big Elton John glasses. I didn’t believe it at all! »

It’s that, you see, Jody Matthew Burke wants to avoid having the Tribunal attach a dangerous offender label to him.

He seems ready to do anything to avoid receiving an indeterminate sentence, one of the most severe in the Criminal Code, demanded by the Crown.

So now he wants to be called Amber¹.

Brigitte Jobin had to wait four years before her hyperviolent ex-spouse was finally convicted of eight counts, including armed sexual assault and death threats, in May 2021.

In four years of proceedings, Burke has mastered the art of dragging things out. He hired eight lawyers, before insisting on representing himself. He paraded 20 witnesses to the bar, all less relevant than the others. When he changed his defense strategy, the court gave him the opportunity to testify again.

Judge Jean-Jacques Gagné was patient. Very patient. In his decision, he notes all the same that all this was a “misuse of the resources” of the court…

Unfortunately, the waste is not over.

“The story of gender dysphoria, for real, I had not seen it coming,” says Brigitte Jobin. I had imagined a lot of scenarios that he could invent, but this one came out of nowhere, and it is the ultimate attempt “to obtain a less severe sentence, she believes.

Before Montreal, Jody Matthew Burke had been convicted of sex crimes in Vancouver and Ontario. Brigitte Jobin hopes that Judge Gagné will side with the arguments of the Crown and declare him a dangerous offender, to prevent him from making other victims.

For his part, Burke claims that he will not need to be controlled as much thanks to hormone therapy. It seems far-fetched like that, but a psychiatrist from the Pinel Institute testified that the risk of recidivism could actually be reduced if he became a woman.

It’s a big “if”. So far, Burke hasn’t started any hormone therapy.

“He says he’s going to be beaten and that he’s going to be ridiculed in prison if he feminizes,” says Brigitte Jobin, incredulous.

Not only has Burke not started his treatments, but to “keep in shape in detention”, he takes… testosterone!

This implausible story is all the more shocking because it risks fueling the discourse of those who suggest that trans people are not to be trusted – especially not when they interfere in women’s bathrooms or locker rooms. .

That would be distressing, but hardly surprising at a time when trans rights are under attack, sometimes fiercely, in the United States and elsewhere.

But that’s not the point here.

Here it’s about a predator, convicted of a series of serious crimes, who now claims to identify as a woman in hopes of winning clemency from a judge.

For Brigitte Jobin, it’s all sewn with white thread. Burke has lied to her too much, he has manipulated her too often for her to believe him. To trap her in a toxic relationship, he hid everything from her: his violent past, his sex crimes, even his real name.

It didn’t work out in court. “The defendant’s testimony is inherently improbable. Not only is it improbable, but it is sometimes fictional, ”said Judge Gagné in the May 2021 decision. Also: “He is absorbed in fantasies and has a completely unrealistic perception of events. And again: “He does not testify honestly and provides countless irrelevant details.” »

In short, Jody Matthew Burke very often tells nonsense.

Notice, maybe for a rare time he’s telling the truth. Maybe one day we’ll call her Amber. It doesn’t change the fact that he should be treated for what he is: a dangerous repeat offender.