How Carly Survived a Predator |8
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Hey, it's Nancy. Before we begin today, I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. A listener's note. The following episode contains coarse language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature and may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.

The fear of becoming a victim of crime is something that all people carry, regardless of gender. However, if you're a woman, you know that fear is real and the risk is likely higher. I have consciously thought about falling victim to a sexual predator as far back as I can remember. Scenarios play out in my mind of how I would react and what I would do.

The threat women face simply by being women has always weighed on me. As a journalist, I witness the aftermath of those crimes as I cover horrific sexual assault cases. My dad said, I'm going to call the police. And I said, no, you can't call the police. He said he's going to kill me. It is still the day my life changed. I will never look at the world the same way.

I'm Nancy Hixt, a crime reporter for Global News. And before I begin, I need to warn you, in this episode, you're going to hear extremely graphic and disturbing details of sexual assault. This case will shock you, and you won't believe the unsettling twist it took years later. This is the story of how Carly survived a predator.

In the spring of 2004, Carly was 17 years old. She was bright-eyed, bubbly, and had all the interests of a girl her age. Mostly like socializing, boys, one boy in particular, and just getting through school. I was definitely very outspoken, not particularly schoolastic, like more interested in the social aspect of high school.

Carly was just months away from finishing high school, so there was a mix of excitement and uncertainty about what the future held. But she was just focusing on living for the moment and making as many good memories as she could along the way. I think I was an oblivious, invincible, 17-year-old teenage girl.

This is the first time Carly has done an interview with a journalist. I think there's power in sharing your story. And I think that's probably why I share my story with pretty much everyone that I talk to. I just want to create awareness because I know that there are a lot of women and a lot of people in general that are quite naive to share.

The dangers that lurk out there, they will think like, well, it's a safe community or it's a busy day and there's lots of people going, walking by and it's sunny out. It's not even dark out. I just want everyone to be aware that it can happen to anyone. Also, Carly is not her real name. I'm protecting her identity for reasons that will become very clear when you hear what happened to her on March 26th, 2004. ♪

I just remember it being like a beautiful spring day, lots of people out and about. The school across from my house was very like bustling with lots of kids and people out. It was a Friday afternoon and on Fridays we got out early and normally I would have been

Carly said she'd never had that feeling before. A strange, nagging feeling like something wasn't right.

Like a premonition that something bad was about to happen. So I was kind of like going around the school, seeing what people were doing. My friends were preoccupied about going to a party. So finally I just gave up and I was like, okay, I'll just go home. My boyfriend at the time was golfing. So he would have often picked me up at school.

I just decided to walk home and I saw my sister at a coffee shop with some of her girlfriends. So I stopped and said hi and then continued walking home. Carly lived in downtown Calgary along with her younger sister and mother, just a few blocks from her high school. They had the main floor and basement of a townhouse. Her neighbors had the upper level. So there were two entrances, one into the building itself and one into their suite.

When she got home, she opened the first door into the foyer, then unlocked the second door into her place. So I had opened my door and then there was someone behind me. And I kind of feel like I had been taught, like in general, we're taught to be polite and hold the door open for people. So I was like, oh, left the door open for him because I could see who was coming in. And then I opened my door and I was standing at my door and he was just standing there looking at me.

And I'm like, what are you doing? And he's like, I'm waiting for your neighbor. Carly said she had never seen this man before. He was just like suddenly there. And there was, of course, I needed a key to get into the foyer. So I opened the door and then he was behind me. Your intuition screams at you. So I could feel that something wasn't right. But then there's that side of you that you're kind of pre-programmed to be polite and not like slam the door on someone's face.

So I could feel that it wasn't right, but by the time it kicked in, it was too late. Then that's when he knocked me out. And I don't know if he punched me in the face or if he like pushed the door. I think I went to slam my door shut and he pushed the door open and it hit me in the face and knocked me out. Then the next thing I know, I wake up in my bedroom, which is the first bedroom downstairs.

and I'm totally naked, and he has me bent over the foot of my bed. I believe he was trying to use some saliva, and he was trying to sodomize me.

Before that day, Carly, like most women, had thought about what she would do if she was ever attacked. I have always been full of piss and vinegar and I've always been the one that's like, if any guy tries to touch me, I'm going to like punch them in the balls and punch them in the face and I'm going to scream and I'm going to do this. But like when it actually happens, your body just dies.

does what it needs to survive. And it was totally like, it was like I was a different person. I was kind of, yeah, I guess trying to negotiate, trying to say like, my mom's going to be home any minute. Like you're going to get caught. I think it would have definitely been in vain for me to try to fight him off. He was like 220 pounds and six foot something. And I was barely a hundred pounds. So yeah,

It seemed like nothing she said was going to change his mind. And there was nothing she could do to stop it. He kind of put like my comforter over my head. He was pretty set on what his plan was. I think he already knew he was going to sodomize me. He already knew he was going to pull out and ejaculate. He had a paper towel to wipe off his semen. So he was quite prepared.

He became more and more violent. And again, I need to warn you that these details are very graphic.

I reached around and touched his penis to try to get God away from my rectum. And it was soft and flaccid at that point. And once he was trying to sodomize me and I was screaming and he was punching me, then he was able to do the deed or get off or be gratified sexually. So I think...

The type of sexual deviance that he has is definitely like a violent arousal, I guess. When he did finally get his penis into me, like I screamed because it was so painful. And then he was like punching the back of my head. Carly said the rape itself, while excruciating, was over quickly. Then he ejaculated on me and wiped it off with a paper towel.

He cleaned up the scene and then he said, don't tell anyone about this. I will kill you. I know where you live. I will kill your family. Count to 10 and then left. And I could hear because it was such an old building. I could hear like every step he was making. I could hear him walking. I heard him shut the first front door, walk through the foyer, shut the second front door. And as soon as he did that,

I ran upstairs and I ran outside to go try to look where he went. And I was totally naked in the middle of the day and bloody. She frantically called her boyfriend, her mom, then her dad. I was screaming. I was like, I was just raped. And they were like, by who? I was like, I don't know. My dad said, I'm going to call the police. And I said, no, you can't call the police. He said he's going to kill me. And that's just not rational thinking because like given...

me another hour, I would have, of course, been like, we have to call the police. My dad came first. I remember he like rang the doorbell and I jumped. And I think I may have called him first. I was like, is that you? And he's like, yes, it's me at the door. And he opened the door and like I gave him a hug and I got like blood all over him. Sorry. At this point in our interview, Carly needed a minute.

She's a very strong young woman. But as you might imagine, reliving this horror, particularly the impact on her family, is extremely difficult. My dad got there first, and then I think the police got there, and then my boyfriend got there. And they wouldn't let my boyfriend come in because they weren't sure that he wasn't the assailant.

So they had to make sure that he had nothing to do with it first. Carly was rushed to hospital. Her mother rode with her in the ambulance. The hospital, I was still in like adrenaline mode. I can't particularly remember the sequence of things, but I think the exam is what happened first and the nurses were lovely.

I believe there was two female nurses and they put out a tarp and had me undress on the tarp so that any DNA that happened to be in the clothing went onto the tarp. And then they used a black light to go over my body and see any bodily fluids and swabbed all of those. So I believe there would have been his saliva and his semen on me. So they did sort of a pap smear, a vaginal pap smear, and then they did...

I guess, an anal pap smear to try to get any DNA from there. They wanted to make sure that he didn't get me pregnant. So they gave me plan B. And then one of the scary parts was having to get tested for HIV, especially given he had caused trauma by sodomizing me. So they were thinking there would be a chance of contracting and dying.

So I had to get tested for HIV at three months and at six months. So that was kind of a looming cloud. At that point, Carly didn't even realize the extent of her injuries.

The first time I actually went to go use the restroom in the hospital and I saw in the mirror and I actually said, holy shit, so loud because I had no idea that my face had been like busted up. And so my lip was really swollen. My nose was swollen. My front tooth was loose. So that was like the first visual that I had seen. There was dried blood on my face.

So I can imagine it was quite shocking for my family to see me like covered in blood that way and I hadn't really realized it. She also had a dislocated shoulder, which she thinks happened when he dragged her from the doorway to her bedroom. The most serious physical injury is still there. I think when you are

being sodomized and your body is resisting that penetration it's going to cause pretty bad bodily harm and so yeah he did cause some damage to that area

Carly said she did several interviews with police, but she told me it wasn't until she watched the news that she learned she was attacked by a serial rapist. Details of Carly's assault were eerily similar to another violent sexual assault, but she

Six months earlier, a 19-year-old woman was also raped in the same area of the city. You'll recall that in Season 1 of Crime Beat, I shared the story of the Beltline Rapist in an episode titled, Surviving a Predator. In that episode, I spoke with a former staff sergeant of the Sex Crimes Unit,

He revealed police didn't fully believe the first victim when she said she was attacked by a stranger. We did do a press release after the first one, but it was very vague. It was a short description of the male. There was not a lot to go on at the time.

There was no questions whether it happened, but there may have been questions at the time whether it was a true sexual assault. She may have known the guy. There were some concerns raised based on not being well-trained and trauma-informed interviewing. Both the first victim and Carly were raped in the middle of the day. Both had their heads covered with a blanket while the offender beat, raped and threatened them.

DNA from the first victim came back as an unknown offender, meaning no convicted sex offender on file matched the DNA collected. Police also sent DNA for analysis in Carly's case. Forensic tests confirmed it was the same offender, now classified as a serial rapist.

Carly can't help but wonder what would have happened had the first victim been believed. Would there have been a bigger push by police to catch him before he raped her? When I heard that, I'm like, had they listened to her the first time, they could have saved me from being attacked. I think it's made it a lot easier to tell my story because I've never felt guilty.

Like people have questioned the legitimacy of it. It was only after Carly was violently attacked that this case became a police priority. I did not sleep alone one night while he was still out. I didn't really go back to my house until for a few weeks. But when I went back, it was all dusted with the fingerprint stuff. Like all the walls were black.

And my mom was still staying there. And I remember one day going back to my house and my mom had all the doors open and she had a knife and she was just hoping he would come back. Carly got a good look at her attacker and helped investigators create a sketch of the suspect. I feel like the sketcher did really good because that, like even the things he asked, it was like, I don't know how he did it. Amazing. Amazing.

I think it was just the way he posed the questions and he was asking very like specific questions about his eyes. And then also when I started, like when he let me look at it, he changed little things. He's like closer, farther apart, like darker, like eyebrows, this, that. So he was able to tweak it. And it's quite amazing how we got there. But no, it wasn't traumatic or anything like that.

And when I saw the sketch, it wasn't like it shocked me or it brought me back any memories. I was actually pretty pleased that we got something close to what he actually looked like.

Here's Monty Sparrow again to explain how police identified the offender. A tip that came in from one of our officers who had attended a call where an offender who matched the description perfectly had been in a domestic with his girlfriend. And she described to the officers sexual offenses that were similar to what he had done to these two girls.

That suspect looked exactly like the composite sketch of the predator they were looking for. Police set up an undercover sting operation to get a sample of that suspect's DNA to compare with the samples from the two sexual assault cases. An officer posed as a potential purchaser of the suspect's truck, which was for sale. They went for a test drive and stopped at a gas station to check the vehicle's fluids.

That's where another undercover officer approached them and asked if they wanted to participate in a gum survey. Basically, a gum taste test. The suspect agreed and sampled four pieces of gum, then spit out each into Dixie cups provided by that officer, under the guise of avoiding littering.

I should add, right before that gum taste test, in an impromptu move, the undercover officer offered the suspect a lollipop, which had been in her mouth. The suspect took it, put it in his mouth, then returned it to her. Police were able to obtain DNA from both the gum samples and the lollipop

and all came back as a match to the unknown male who raped both Carly and the first victim. Police moved quickly to arrest the Beltline rapist. His name, Wafid Dalla. If you haven't already, I recommend going back and listening to the first episode about this case.

In it, I go through the case through the eyes of the first victim's mother. All I can do today is to continue to embrace my daughter and offer her everything I have to help her face each new day as she continues to fight her way back.

knowing she will live the rest of her life with the scars of this nightmare. It was only after that episode was released that I was able to connect with Carly. She was 17 years old when this predator attacked her.

Now, 17 years later, not a day goes by that she doesn't think about what happened and the impact of this brutal crime. Every day since March 26, 2004 onwards, I have had a lack of the feeling of safety and security. I feel like he stole my right to feeling safe for the rest of my life. I covered this case from start to finish.

Carly has been through a lot.

She's since lost her mother and can't help but wonder if the extreme stress and heartbreak aren't at least partially to blame. It was very much like a domino effect. Like, I had been attacked, which I can only imagine what that would do to a mother. And then subsequently my mom lost her job, and then subsequently she was diagnosed with cancer. And so I feel like it was a domino effect for her, and it kind of just...

was the beginning of the end of her life. And then there's the stress of the unknown. Wafid Dalla, the Beltline Rapist, was convicted of a long string of offenses, including two counts of break and enter to commit sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. The prosecution fought to have Dalla declared a dangerous offender.

That classification is only given to the very worst criminals. In this case, the prosecution was successful. The judge noted he wouldn't gamble on the safety of women in the community. Dallà was given an indeterminate sentence, which means his sentence didn't have an end date.

These types of cases are reviewed by the Parole Board of Canada after seven years, and then every two years after that. Ten years after he was convicted, the Parole Board granted him day parole. But there was a catch. Dalla was not a Canadian citizen. He entered Canada illegally from Algeria in 1997.

So once he was given parole, that triggered his removal from Canada. He didn't fight the deportation. In fact, he told officials he welcomed it. Just days after his parole was granted, he was put on a plane and sent home to Algeria. Generally speaking, when I cover cases where offenders are deported, the public response is very much in favor of that action.

But in this case, it's left the victims and their families both frustrated and worried. I think he's a very angry and sick person. And yeah, I was not comfortable with the fact that he was up for parole. And even the fact that he's been deported, I still feel like he's a threat. He's just not a threat to Canada. Here's Lori, the first victim's mother. We were initially told he'd be under house arrest,

But we have no idea what happened from the moment he was dropped off in Algeria as far as we know, he has just disappeared into thin air. In a matter of days, he went from being in prison with the designation of dangerous offender to being completely off the radar.

And now, the victims have no way to know where Wafid Dalla is or if he's gone on to attack other women. And the fact that then they gave us that peace of mind with the dangerous offender designation and then said, well, he's been good enough, we'll send him back. I would have been happy as a taxpayer to

to let my taxes go to supporting him in jail for the rest of his days because it would have protected the world from his evil and his violence. After we released the previous episode, I heard from a number of listeners wanting to know more about what happens when a criminal like DeLaw is deported. Many found it hard to believe he would simply get to start fresh and live his life completely free.

To better explain the law, I turned to an expert in this field. My name is Raj Sharma. I'm a managing partner at Stuart Sharma Harshani. I've practiced law for about 17 years. I articled with the Federal Department of Justice and then I was a refugee protection officer with the Immigration and Refugee Board.

I've handled hundreds of immigration hearings and appeals and obviously a fair number of deportation and detention matters. I first met Sharma in the early 2000s. At that time, he represented Jackie Tran, a high-profile gang member who was fighting deportation. I was at the airport the day Tran boarded his flight for Vietnam.

Sharma said the rules when it comes to deportation are a bit complicated.

So back when we met, Jackie Tran had a right of appeal to the IAD and there was a lot of criticism there, but the maximum sentence he received was two years less a day. So at that time, the threshold was two years. Now, what happened as a result of Jackie Tran and the sort of multiple appeals is that Jason Kenney, then federal minister of immigration, ended up changing the law itself. So he changed it and is this atrociously entitled lawyer.

called Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act, and he lowered the threshold down to six months. So individuals can be removed from Canada, whether it's a white-collar offense, whether it involves violence, or whether it's a financial offense. It doesn't matter how long you've been in Canada, whether you've been a permanent resident in Canada for two years or 22 years. It all goes on the length of sentence. So the appeal rights are restricted based on the length of sentence imposed.

In this case, DeLaw made a refugee claim when he arrived in Canada. Due to criminal convictions in the late 90s, his permanent resident application was refused, but he stayed in Canada based on his status as a protected person.

But a protected person can't be deported unless there's a danger opinion. Now, a danger opinion basically indicates that while this person is a refugee, there's a risk to his life if he is sent back, but he poses a greater risk or danger to Canadians and Canadian society. And so in that balancing, if he's a greater danger than the risk to himself, he does get sent back. So there's an added layer of protection for those individuals.

Dalla's case is unique because of his dangerous offender status and indeterminate sentence. He stated the situation in his home country has changed since 1997 when he first claimed refugee status. He added he no longer feared a return to Algeria.

And Dalla also knew deportation meant freedom in Algeria. So he didn't fight it. He could have fought it. There's a danger up in it now. The allegations obviously involve violence and depravity. And so I think even if he fought it, he would have had an uphill battle because, you know, I suppose the proof is in the pudding. He's proven his danger to Canadians and Canadian society.

So while the victims hoped Dallà would stay in jail indefinitely, there were other issues at play. Just a very strange convergence of two pieces of legislation. One that deals with the criminal justice system and, of course, incarceration, and another which mandates the removal of such individuals. It's interesting, Nancy, because maybe

Many times when I was fighting against the deportation of individuals, I think public opinion was clear. Why does this individual get these appeals and deport this individual? A lot of the comments online were, you know, deport this guy and deport his lawyer too. So on the one hand, when we're faced with foreign nationals or individuals, you know, permanent residents that have been convicted or there's allegations of serious crimes,

criminal conduct against him. On the one hand, we have the public outcry for removal as soon as possible. This one is, on the other hand, here we want this individual not to be deported, to keep this individual in Canada, to keep him behind bars. And I suppose at a certain point, that may have been getting into...

As for being tracked or monitored in his home country of Algeria, Sharma told me that's not how it works. It's simply not...

In granting DeLaw day parole, the board noted his risk for reoffending sexually was at the high end of the moderate range.

If he does re-offend, wherever he happens to live now, Sharma said the punishment could be worse than being jailed indefinitely. Some of these countries, if he does commit an offense in some of these countries, they won't bother with the courts. So that is a distinct possibility that...

you know, such offenders tend to meet an untimely death in countries like Algeria. One of the reasons I wanted Sharma's input on this case is because he's really great at providing a perspective from both sides, the offenders and the victims.

I should add, he understands all too well what victims go through. Look, Nancy, I feel for this family. You know, my own uncle was killed in Marlborough in 1991. And, you know, it was an honour killing where someone wanted to...

kill or harm his sister for marrying against the family's wishes. That individual turned out was a permanent resident of Canada. And, you know, he has two first-degree murder convictions. He's got a second-degree murder conviction. I believe he's still in Canada serving out some kind of

or some such, but that individual too will be removed to India one day. So I feel for this family. It's very, very difficult. And these things stay with you for a very, very long time. So I am very much cognizant of victims' rights and the trauma that they're

that just never really goes away. And the only thing I can say as a lawyer and some sort of, and it's probably of little solace to anyone, it was that there are, of course, these laws and there's policy objectives in place. And I'm not sure whether I can characterize this as being a wrong policy,

It is the outcome, is the necessary outcome of our system of laws. Sharma also points out, we're in an age where it's becoming harder and harder to hide or start fresh, even in another country. This is a globalized world. And I suppose, you know, there is perhaps no more privacy.

His name or his actions, his activities in the past are no more than a Google search away. That being said, again, you could probably go underground or change your name or in a country like Algeria, I suppose.

Both Lori, the first victim's mother, and Carly have previously found DeLaw on social media. So when I was told that he was up for parole, I decided to randomly search his name on Facebook and saw that he had a Facebook account. And he had a couple status updates saying, like, I have had a great time in Canada, I've saved up retirement, and I've finished my education.

and he was trying to make it sound like Canada was a great success for him. Unfortunately, I mentioned it to the parole officer and she made sure that he got rid of Facebook because I honestly would have preferred to keep tabs on him. I worry that now that he's gone, we don't know where. And it frightens me. The face, the pictures, and to see him in court, I'll never forget that.

But a different name, a different demeanor, you add or take off weight, change hair, shave your head. There are so many ways to make yourself look different. And right now, everybody's wearing a mask, which makes it even harder to tell the difference between people. Since August of 2016, when Dilla was deported, neither has been able to find any information about him.

They've reached out to Calgary police to find out if they know where he is. But police here don't know. He's not tracked, not monitored. And if there was new information about Wafid Dalla, officials said it would be nearly impossible to access it. After he was sent back, there has been absolutely zero information about him.

After that, we've heard nothing. And now that there just seems to be, they can't find anything about him. It just seems like a dead end, which I understand is what's happened with you as well. I have tried for years now to find out where he is and what he's doing. I've gone through consulates and police agencies, and I've always come up empty. But I will continue my search.

While he's not allowed to return to Canada, he could really be anywhere else. He is, in fact, completely free. Wafid Dalla will forever haunt his two victims and their families. They will never forget or fully heal from what he did to them. It is still the day my life changed. I will never look at the world the same way.

It's a horrible feeling to know that somebody came so close to... We could have lost our daughter, I guess. We came so close to losing our daughter because of his vicious attack. And that was not... It should have never happened. I still... If I sit in a parking lot in a vehicle, my doors are locked. Always. I would have never thought to lock my doors in the middle of the day. The minute I'm left alone...

My doors are locked. My house is locked during the day when I'm home alone. That fear will never, ever leave me. After Carly left the hospital that spring day of March of 2004, she had her closest friends come over and she told them what happened. I think I'm very grateful for the way that I've

like the way I handled it, even from the beginning, just being like so open, like it helped me process it because people often try to say like, you need to deal with this trauma or they try to like peg me into a certain category. And I'm like, I have dealt with this trauma. Like I'm quite comfortable with it. Like it still affects me day, like day to day, but as best I could, I feel like I have dealt with it. I would never, I,

And that's how she's lived her life. Always open and honest about the trauma she's suffered. Because she knows she did nothing wrong and has nothing to be ashamed of.

And talking about issues like sexual assault is important not only for her healing, but also to raise awareness about predators like Wafi Dalla, who are always looking for their next victim. And I've encountered so many beautiful girls that are running the trails with their headphones in, and I love that for them. I just want them to be safe. Like, be aware of your surroundings, have one headphone out.

Just be careful because it's not worth it. The thing is, Carly still thinks about the dangers that lurk. I am a dog lover, but it's definitely the reason I have mastiffs. So they're big and they're protective. But yeah, anytime I'm walking to my car, it's gotten better, but I'm still very aware.

She's completed a course to become a sexual assault victims advocate and hopes one day she can offer advice and support to other victims. I think so. It would be good to volunteer because I can tell them I actually do know how you're feeling. Even though she's already survived a predator...

she still can't shake that fear that it could one day happen again. I don't want to be too public because I don't want him to find me, essentially. Even though I don't think he's looking for me, you just are always thinking in the back of your head, like, could he find me? Like, imagine getting a message from him or something. I just can't, cannot imagine that happening.

I think a lot of women do fear this happening to them. But when I was 17, I was probably a little bit naive at that point in my life. But now I certainly still envision it and still wonder, like, what would I do if something happened or someone came into my house? Thanks so much for joining me and for letting me share Carly's story.

In the interest of public safety, I will post the most recent photo I have of Wafid Dalla on my social media accounts. Maybe someone out there knows where he is or what he's doing right now. If you do, please reach out to me. I'll share my contact information in a minute, and you can also find it in the show notes.

Crime Beat is written and produced by me, Nancy Hixt, with producer Dila Velasquez. Audio editing and sound design is by Rob Johnston. Special thanks to photographer-editor Danny Lantella for his work on this episode. And thanks to Chris Bassett, the acting VP of National and Network News for Global News.

I would love to have you tell a friend about this podcast, and you can help me share these important stories by rating and reviewing Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can find me on Twitter at Nancy Hixt, on Facebook at Nancy Hixt Crime Beat, and I would love to have you join me for added content on Instagram at nancy.hixt. That's N-A-N-C-Y dot H-I-X-T.

Thanks again for listening. Please join me next time.