Sunday, October 24, 2010

Mrs. Russell Williams


"...wickedness is not something that replaces the goodness of a man, it is the staining ...of an innocence...

The Symbolism of Evil, Paul Racoeur, Beacon Press, 1967

 
A terrible criminal case came to a close this week in Canada. A high ranking, respected military officer, one who had evidently piloted the Queen around the country, was arrested and confessed to the rape, torture and murder of two young women. He assaulted and stalked other women and girls, some as young as nine.

He was sentenced to life in prison, twenty-five years without parole.



I saw one sickening image of Russell Williams posing in the undergarments of one of his victims. He was a stomach-turning parody of a woman.

It made me wonder where the real woman in his life is.

She did not attend the trial.

I must tell you, some things aren't sitting well with me about Mary Elizabeth Harriman, (aka Mrs. Russell Williams). She is now the sole owner of their $700,000 home in Ottawa, has a cottage in Tweed and she has returned to her high powered job. (Rosie DiManno, Toronto Star, Oct. 22, 2009, The Enigma of Mrs. Russell Williams)


What was she doing when he was out committing his unspeakable deeds? If his trophies were in bags that were strewn about the house, why didn't she notice?

Why isn't she being held accountable?



What am I missing here?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

times like this why did we ever get rid of the death penalty.

Mrs. Williams.....she was aware
I can't imagine how she could return to work.....she knew what was going on

Anonymous said...

anything like Holmolka.....she was involved.......did you watch W5
interview.....made ya just want to
VOMIT

The Dancing Crone said...

I wonder if she is a victim of abuse. If so she needs to come forward & help us understand.

Barb said...

~everyone that knew them said they had a amicable marriage ... appearances can be very deceiving ... especially where there is a psychopath involved ... that is how they go through life .... they are very good at acting and deceiving everyone they are involved with ... to everyone around them they are very amiable and good natured ... they deceive you and themselves
~ his wife however probably knew a much different person ... and denial became her way of self preservation ... she might have had a niggling feeling of some kind of deviant behaviour ... but i really don't believe she knew to what extreme it had evolved ... to acknowledge it would've meant a confrontation with him ... that takes a great amount of energy ... probably energy she needed to function doing her job and keeping up appearances ... they lived apart for most of the week ... that tells you something right there ... for him it was to hide his behaviour and she was probably glad for it too ... it got her away from him and helped with keeping up appearances of a happily married couple ... remember they both had very public jobs ... the worst thing for a psychopath is to loose that well acted appearance he has spent a lifetime creating ....
~ the one selfless act that he did for her was to sign over all their jointly owned property ... at some point in time he must have loved her ...OR most likely it is his way of making amends to her for what she now has to endure ..... psychopaths are virtually incapable of emotion and feeling ... what they show the public is a learned behaviour ... a well acted learned behaviour ...
~ so whatever she has gained financially could never be enough to compensate her for what she now has to live with for the rest of her life ... and good for her for going back to work ... our society looses sight of where ones boundaries are ... she is not her husband ... she was not at the trial ... it was a very telling statement (at least to me) that she wanted to show us that she did not condone his actions in any way

The Dancing Crone said...

Thanks for your thought provoking comment Barb. I think it is likely she was abused. Unfortunately the last time we ran into this was with with the tag team of Bernardo & Homolka. MEW seems to have more money and power than most of us, enough to be able to avoid the questions people are asking. It only leads to more questions and speculation.

Barb said...

~if you are married to a psychopath the abuse would be assumed ... you can not be involved with someone who is a psychopath even on a casual level and not be a victim to some degree ... most people would not recognize it ... for reasons stated in the other comment
~ there might not have been any physical abuse ... but for sure emotion and verbal would have been present with a huge dose of fear thrown in ....
~ so when i commented before i used the assumption that there was abuse ...

Anonymous said...

Let me state firstly: I did not see the W5 interview, so not sure with whom the interview was done. This couple owned 2 homes and as Barb pointed out, they often lived apart. Williams had much to lose, much was at stake. He was a highly intelligent person, functioning well in society to such an extent that even the psych testing that was an essential part of his military career failed to pick up ANY cause for alarm. Ever. I have no problem believing that it would be possible for his wife to be unaware of his activities, and his collection of lingerie. I don't blame her for staying away from the trial either. She has possibly been going through unbelievable emotional trauma. And let's not forget that he was arrested 7-8 months ago. Would you expect her to lock herself away indefinitely?
This past week, I was trying to find some information on her myself, and was pleasantly surprised to find only random comments, mostly repetitious mentions of her work. I hope that unless there is some proof of her knowledge/participation in this, she will be left some shred of dignity and privacy to give her the opportunity to rebuild her life.

The Dancing Crone said...

She is managing to do just that.