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Own the dream. Hello! Big news, everybody. The premiere episode of our new show, The Knife, a true crime podcast, is out now.
00:01:48
If you love deep dives, empathetic storytelling, and the cases that stay with you long after the episode ends,
00:01:54
this will be the true crime podcast for you. That's right. And now you're about to get an exclusive listen to their premiere episode.
00:02:01
Hosts Hannah Smith and Pasha Eaton take you inside the gripping story of Darune Henry,
00:02:06
whose routine morning run took a sudden and terrifying turn, altering the course of her life.
00:02:11
So sit back and enjoy the first episode of The Knife, the newest member of our Exactly Right family.
00:02:16
And don't forget, once you listen to this episode and you love it, head over to The Knife's feed in your podcast app to check out the next episode.
00:02:24
Trust us, you won't want to stop at just one. And while you're there, don't forget to follow, rate, and review. It really helps.
00:02:30
Goodbye. This story contains adult content and language. Listener discretion is advised.
00:02:40
So there was a silent moment between us where we were both trying to process what just happened.
00:02:46
After you punched him? Yeah, like just a still moment where I was like, oh my God, I just punched a human in the face.
00:03:12
Welcome to The Knife. I'm Pasha Eaton. I'm Hannah Smith. And this week, we speak with a woman named Darune Henry.
00:03:19
She is a personal trainer, influencer, and mother of two who lives in Toronto, Canada.
00:03:23
In September of 2021, Darune had just moved into a new home with her kids and then husband.
00:03:29
It was a nice, safe, family-friendly area of Toronto. And then on September 15th, she went for a jog at 11 a.m. in a park near her home
00:03:37
and experienced something terrifying. We speak with Darun about her experience and the lasting impact of what happened to her, including a video of the incident that went viral.
00:03:48
We will be back with you after the interview to give you some updates on Darun's story, which is still ongoing today.
00:03:55
As a note, this conversation with Darun happened on October 14th, 2024. Let's get into the interview.
00:04:01
you. Let's start off with you telling us a little bit about yourself and your background.
00:04:14
I'm Darune Henry. I am an online fitness coach. I'm a mother of two beautiful girls who are 13
00:04:23
and seven. And I'm just a very passionate entrepreneur. I had a very hard upbringing.
00:04:32
I was born in Iraq. I'm Kurdish. So I, not to like go too deep, but I lost my brother. My brother was
00:04:41
killed by a landmine when I was five. So, and then I was like a refugee until we came to Canada at
00:04:48
the age of seven or eight, so in 96. And so a lot of my conditioning was limiting beliefs.
00:04:57
I was very insecure because I didn't do too well in school. I never got my university degree. I
00:05:05
got pregnant at a young age. And so when I had my spiritual awakening and I was on my own personal
00:05:11
development journey and I discovered who I am and how powerful I am and how limitless I am,
00:05:19
I wanted to help women discover that part of themselves, regardless of what you've been
00:05:26
through, that you can become the best version of yourself. And so that's where my passion lies
00:05:31
right now. Right before the attack, I would say I was at the peak of my career. I was just
00:05:41
the happiest version of myself. In September of 2021, Daroon and her family had just moved
00:05:49
into a new home in Brampton a city in the greater Toronto area Daroon was delighted to find out that she was in walking distance to Massey Park which is a small park that sits in the middle of a heavily trafficked area but still feels remote due to the density of the trees
00:06:08
So she started to do her daily workouts at Massey Park. So it's September 15th, 2021. So school had
00:06:16
just started. Yeah, like I had taken the kids to school that day and I went for my jog around like
00:06:22
9.30. Being in the forest, I would often like do walking meditations. I'd connect with God. So
00:06:31
on that day, it was different because I needed more content. So that was the only day I had
00:06:38
taken my tripod because I do believe that having my tripod kind of saves me in a way that day.
00:06:45
I believe I got there around 9.50-ish. I shot content. I took pictures for about 20, 30 minutes.
00:06:54
I was getting the right shots. I had my jump rope with me that day. So I was jump roping.
00:07:00
So, you know, when is the first moment that you thought like something is wrong?
00:07:06
Yeah, so this was towards the end of my workout. So it was around 11 a.m. when I saw an elderly man who was maybe like 80 years old with a walker.
00:07:19
And I saw him walking very slowly. And I actually noticed a random person. I noticed he was walking very slowly behind the elderly man, like almost as if he was just like with him.
00:07:35
But you can tell they weren't together. I found him a little suspicious because he was dressed in all black, like black sweatpants, black sweater, a fitted hat, and he was wearing a mask.
00:07:49
It was a pretty warm day. It was September 15th. I was wearing shorts. So it was kind of like unusual to see somebody dressed like in a hoodie and like sweatpants and just fully covered and also like wearing a COVID mask.
00:08:06
Not a lot of people wore the masks outside in the parks. So I did. I noticed him immediately as he was walking.
00:08:16
I had his bike, but he wasn't on his bike. Like he wasn't riding his bike. He was walking.
00:08:23
They passed by, right? Like they left and I just continued doing what I was doing.
00:08:30
And then at this point I was stretching and looking at the sunshine, you know, shining through the leaves and just breathing and just I was stretching and I felt this like
00:08:43
immense pain in my hamstrings um and like something told me to bend over like to stretch
00:08:51
my hamstrings and when I bent over I literally saw him through my legs so I jumped and um I was
00:09:00
off to the side of the walking pad so that people can pass by me. And when I bent over, I saw him
00:09:10
like through my legs, literally. He was like right behind me, maybe eight feet away. And I jumped,
00:09:18
I turned around. I wasn't scared though. I just thought he was on a walk because-
00:09:22
I didn't know there was someone there. Yeah. Yeah. I had no idea. I was wearing these headphones, so I couldn't hear anything.
00:09:30
And when I turned around and he was right directly right behind me, my tripod was on
00:09:37
like it was on the ground. And I think that I don't think he was sure that like if it was recording or not, it wasn't
00:09:47
recording, but he did notice my tripod. And then when I turned around, I said, oh, I'm so sorry.
00:09:54
Like, I was just like, so sorry, I'm in your way. Right. Even though there's a huge walking pathway, like you could go around me, like you, there's
00:10:02
no reason you should be directly behind me. And so like, that's when I realized, oh, like he really was trying to get really close to
00:10:11
me, but I like caught him before he got too close. And as soon as I said, sorry to him, he was very strange.
00:10:20
He was just like, didn't say anything. And then looks at my tripod and was like asking me if I did YouTube.
00:10:30
He's like, oh, do you do YouTube? And I was like, no, I couldn't really hear him because he had his mask on.
00:10:38
So then I was like, what are you saying? And then he was like, do you do YouTube?
00:10:42
And then he took his mask off. So he put it down to below his chin. And he kept asking me if I did YouTube.
00:10:51
And I said, no, I don't do YouTube. He's like, are you a fitness instructor? I was like, yes, I'm a personal trainer.
00:10:59
And he's like, well, can I get your information? Like my Facebook or like my socials.
00:11:04
And I was like, no, like I only work with women. And then I just kind of like looked at him, like walk away, like go now.
00:11:14
And so like I was just getting annoyed of him. And like, it was the conversation probably took like 30 seconds.
00:11:22
And so I was waiting for him to walk off. And I was like, no, like I only work with women.
00:11:28
You can't have my information. And so he got the point and it was in that moment, like he didn't say anything more.
00:11:36
He just put his mask back on. And in this moment, I realized, oh my God, he is going to try and rape me because he looks around.
00:11:50
He looks in my eyes And in that moment I felt that realization like that moment where you like I in danger Like I something that is going to happen to me right now And like I have to like fight So I went into fight mode immediately
00:12:09
because he looked around, he put his mask back on and then he came to strangle me. So he came at me
00:12:16
with his hands to strangle me. But before he could get to me, I crossed him. So I punched him
00:12:25
with my right arm, my right fist. I punched him in his jaw. Like I just, I don't know. I don't
00:12:34
remember how hard it was. I mean, in that moment, I'm sure I punched him really, really hard.
00:12:40
not enough to knock him out, but he was shocked. So there was a silent moment between us where we
00:12:48
were both trying to process what just happened. After you punched him? Yeah. Like just a still
00:12:55
moment where I was like, oh my God, I just punched a human like in the face. Like I was taking boxing
00:13:05
lessons, but I always had gloves on. I never punched a human before, like flesh and bone.
00:13:12
So like there were so many thoughts running through my head, like, oh my God, he's going
00:13:17
to kill me. I just punched a man in the face and he's going to kill me. So because you say like, and you did this motion, which people can't see on the podcast,
00:13:27
but you're saying that he was coming at you with his hands out in a clear way that like he was
00:13:32
going for your throat. Yeah, he was coming for my throat. Yeah, like that was hands down the
00:13:38
scariest moment of my life. Just I didn't even react. Like I didn't even think I just reacted
00:13:45
and I punched him. And I honestly believe that like punching him in the face was the best thing
00:13:53
I could have ever done because it completely threw him off. And after I punched him, I did freeze
00:13:59
because I was like, at the end of the day, I'm 5'1 and he's really tall. He's, I don't know who he is, what he's capable of.
00:14:09
I don't know if he has a weapon on him. But then right after I punched him and we had that silent moment for maybe five seconds,
00:14:18
you know, it aggravated him. So he tried to take me down. And so I always mention that like my boxing lessons saved my life.
00:14:29
I was able to fight him. So I literally heard my coach, his name is Jerry. And I literally heard
00:14:37
Jerry in my head. I heard him say, put power behind it. Like as I was punching, because that
00:14:45
was something he'd often say to me, put power behind it. And it's that repetition of punching
00:14:51
over and over and over. And even, I don't know how it happened, but he was on the ground at one
00:14:59
point, I kicked him really hard in his ribs. I wish I had kicked him in his balls, but I kicked
00:15:07
him in his ribs. There was a point where he was looking for something on the ground. So he was
00:15:13
searching for something on the ground. And in that moment, I thought, oh my God, he's looking for a
00:15:19
rock to knock me out. That was my thought. It was like, he's looking for something to knock me out.
00:15:27
And that was the moment I remembered I had a voice because when you're fighting for your life, you don't remember. I didn't remember I was in a public park. In that moment, I remembered you're in a public park. There's people. Somebody's going to hear you.
00:15:51
So I literally started screaming bloody murder. I started screaming for help, like as loud as I could.
00:16:00
And yeah, that was something it's hard to relive. But yeah, like I thought like if like that was my last resort was just screaming for my life.
00:16:16
It was really, really scary. So, yeah. And then as soon as I started screaming for help, like his eyes bulged out and yeah. And then he ran away. But when he ran away, he ran towards the right side of the forest.
00:16:38
and then I think he got maybe 10 20 steps in and he stopped and he ran the opposite direction
00:16:48
and that's when I pulled out my phone and I started recording him because I needed evidence of him running away I needed evidence of like what he looked like what he was
00:17:03
wearing. Like I just needed something to show the police. I had no idea why he stopped and ran the
00:17:10
opposite direction. But then I realized when he picked up his bike that it was the same person
00:17:19
who had walked by me 10 minutes prior to. And I realized that he had hid his bike
00:17:27
and was watching me for about 10 minutes. Hey there, it's Ryan Seacrest for Safeway.
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And I really thought about it. I was like, no, at this point, it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the
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listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that deeply emotionally affected me.
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And I left it on the mic. That's great. because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the end.
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All of that available at MeaningfulBeauty.com. After Darun was able to fight off this attacker,
00:20:12
she somehow had the presence of mind to take out her phone and hit record, capturing him running into the woods.
00:20:20
Then a man in the park who had heard her scream showed up and called the police.
00:20:24
The following moments were a blur for Darune as multiple police officers and her husband
00:20:30
arrived at the park. When I had somebody there, like I was able to just kind of like break out of that shell
00:20:39
and I went into shock immediately. I just started wailing. Like I couldn't help it.
00:20:45
Like I just started screaming. There was a lot of police around and that police officer showed up within two minutes.
00:20:56
He was there. The search started immediately. They were looking for him because we gave a description.
00:21:04
But yeah, he got away with it. Yeah. And then I somehow walked back home. My street was filled with police cars and my neighbors had no idea what happened.
00:21:18
There was just a lot of police in the area and they kind of gave me a minute. And when I got home, that's when like the shock just kept getting worse.
00:21:30
When I was like, realized what just happened. The first thing I did was like go to the bathroom and puke.
00:21:38
I don't know how to describe it, but it felt like I puked, like this evil, like it just came out of
00:21:46
me and like it just, I puked and I was, I was messed up. I was really messed up because I kept
00:21:53
thinking like, oh my God, what if I didn't turn around? Like, what if he had just knocked me out
00:22:00
before I had turned around? There's obviously this range of emotions that you're then experiencing
00:22:05
directly following the attack. What do logistically the hours and the days following the attack look like?
00:22:12
Yeah, that was a huge ordeal. When we get into the police, there's a lot to say because, you know, I essentially risked my life
00:22:22
capturing that video because I should have been running to safety. But I took an extra 10, 15 seconds
00:22:33
just to get him on camera Yeah, I was very disappointed when they told me that they couldn't do anything with that evidence.
00:22:44
I had this fantasy that they were going to put it on the news that night and show the clip of him running through the woods and my neighborhood's going to be a safer place.
00:22:55
Maybe somebody can recognize him. And like, I was so disappointed and so shocked when the police were like, no, like we can't do anything with that evidence.
00:23:07
What was their reason when they said we can't do anything? Why? Well, because it's alleged. They can't prove what he did.
00:23:17
They just have a video of a guy running through the woods and it's an alleged attack.
00:23:22
And yeah, like they just don't do that. so I I was like okay well what what are you gonna do like there's a guy out there attacking women at
00:23:34
11 a.m he is one million percent gonna do it again and they're like yeah we we're gonna put it up on
00:23:41
our website and then I was angry I was like what fucking website are you talking about like I live
00:23:47
in this neighborhood I don't know about your website I doubt anyone here knows that you have
00:23:53
website or that anyone goes on there daily to check. They questioned me for about half an hour.
00:24:00
hour. And I was like, yeah, I was just messed up, right? Like they gave me maybe 10 minutes to
00:24:07
myself. And like during that 10 minutes, I was puking. Then we were talking and I was angry. I
00:24:13
was so angry. I was like, what do you mean you're not going to do anything? What do you mean you're
00:24:16
just going to put it on a website? Like what good is that? And they literally told me like,
00:24:23
like the best thing you could do is just not go back into the woods. And I was like,
00:24:28
I was like, are you fucking kidding me? Like, what am I, a caged up animal? I can't even go for a walk in my neighborhood in the park where I take my kids every day.
00:24:38
Like, I walk my kids to the park. Well, also, this is our advice to women on how to stay safe.
00:24:43
Don't leave your house. Yeah, exactly. According to Darune, the police said they would post the report on their website to alert the neighborhood.
00:24:54
But she didn't feel that this was good enough. After all, she lived in the neighborhood and she'd never heard of the website.
00:25:00
Darune has a significant following on social media. And so the next day, when the police report still wasn't up online,
00:25:07
Darune decided to post the video that she recorded in the park of her attacker. This is the first part of that video.
00:25:14
Darune screams as a blurry figure darts through the woods. Help me! Help me! This guy tries to attack me!
00:25:23
I have you on video, you piece of a f***. I just punched him in the f***ing face.
00:25:30
Yeah, you piece of a f***. The video then cuts from the park to Darune sitting on her front porch the following day,
00:25:38
speaking directly to her followers. I want to make this video for my predator. I want him to know that when I punched him in the face,
00:25:50
I wasn't scared at all I wasn't scared I'm crying because he fucking took my sanctuary from me
00:26:01
it went viral within hours and at one point it was at 30,000 views and it was at 300,000 views
00:26:09
and it was at 500,000 views and it was just like a snowball effect and it just kept getting bigger
00:26:17
and bigger. And that was extremely hard to navigate through as I'm trying to collect myself.
00:26:28
I was getting messages from all over the world. It went viral in India. It went viral in Europe.
00:26:35
It went viral in South America. For some people, it was like entertainment. I experienced a lot of
00:26:41
victim blaming. But I have to say, I did also feel like the support of the world behind me.
00:26:47
And they ended up posting the police report after it went viral. But I also felt like the system
00:26:58
really failed me because if they had just taken me seriously, if they had publicized my report,
00:27:05
then the second attack wouldn't have happened, which was just six days after mine.
00:27:11
Do you know what happened with that attack? And how did you learn about that attack?
00:27:15
I found out about the second attack through a follower. Somebody sent me the report. What
00:27:23
happened was literally the same exact scenario. He attacked her on a Tuesday, was around the same
00:27:31
exact time, like 11 a.m. It was in another nearby park. He was on a bike. Same thing. He was dressed
00:27:40
in sweats, but he had escalated it to, he had taken a knife, so a box cutter, to this next attack.
00:27:52
After the second attack, Darun was asked to come into the police station and look through a series
00:27:58
of photographs to identify the attacker. He was like the second last picture. So I had to like go
00:28:04
through all those pictures. But as soon as his picture came up and I looked at his eyes, this
00:28:09
energy rushed over me and like every cell in my body screamed and was like, that's him. Like I knew
00:28:18
it was him because of his eyes, because I can never forget that look he gave me right before he
00:28:26
came to strangle me. And, you know, even though it was a picture, I felt those emotions. And then
00:28:31
after they made me go through that, they were like, well, we have a disturbing question to ask
00:28:38
you. I was like, what? And they were like, did he steal anything from you? Like, does he,
00:28:44
are you missing anything? And I was like, no, no, I'm not missing anything. But when they told me,
00:28:51
They found him. He had a backpack on him and he had a bunch of women's items in there.
00:28:58
And they told me that he goes out there looking for the opportunity to attack. And then that he is also a trophy keeper.
00:29:08
So then he keeps something from his victims. And when they said that to me, I realized that when I thought he was looking for a rock to knock me out, he wasn't actually looking for a rock.
00:29:25
He was looking to steal something to keep as a trophy. 19-year-old Paul Youssef of Brampton was charged this week with assault.
00:29:35
Assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. in connection to two alleged incidents, Henry's and another that happened six days later,
00:29:44
that incident taking place at nearby Jayfield Park. Law enforcement was able to identify and
00:29:50
charge Paul Youssef We don have any information about the other victim as she was a minor at the time Paul Youssef was arrested on September 28th 2021 Darun now had a name for her attacker And while she waited to see what would happen to him
00:30:07
she tried to continue living her life. I didn't sleep for maybe two weeks. I just couldn't.
00:30:14
Although he wasn't successful, I went through a lot of the after effects. You know, it's interesting to use this word successful,
00:30:22
and I know what you mean by it, because he wasn't able to, you know, do what he planned to do,
00:30:27
which when you were in that moment was very clear to you. Looking in his eyes, you knew what he wanted to do.
00:30:34
It's still just like he still attacked you. You know, you still had to go through that experience.
00:30:40
He wasn't successful, but he was successful in breaking me and, you know, making me feel violated.
00:30:51
I still feel very violated. For the first two weeks before he was caught, I went through this intense PTSD where I felt like he was in my kitchen every night.
00:31:05
I couldn't even go downstairs to get a glass of water because I felt like he was just there.
00:31:12
There were many times where I would just be sitting on my front porch and a man would walk by and I thought that man was going to come attack me.
00:31:21
and I would just run back into my home. The PTSD was so intense that I literally jumped one day
00:31:30
and like almost freaked out on an elderly man at the beach. Something that's important to note,
00:31:38
in Canada, you are not allowed to carry a weapon or any tool that is specifically for the purpose of self-defense,
00:31:45
which would include pepper spray. It was difficult for Darun to feel safe out in the world,
00:31:51
even during the day. After all, she'd been attacked in a public park at 11 a.m. She feared
00:31:57
something like this would happen again, knowing her only recourse, if it ever did happen, would be
00:32:03
to fight. One of the triggers I have is that, like, when a man is walking towards me and making eye
00:32:11
contact, I get triggered. Or if there's somebody behind me, I will get triggered. And it will bring
00:32:20
back that moment and I'll go into like defense mode. Like I didn't want to be touched like even
00:32:27
by my husband. Like he couldn't even tap me on the shoulder without me jumping. I dressed in
00:32:34
baggy clothes for weeks. Like my body was, I felt so violated. There's a lot that victims go through
00:32:44
that is not talked about. Have you learned anything else about him throughout this process?
00:32:50
Like, what does he do for work? Oh, yeah. Like when we discovered who he was and it went public, I saw a few comments like, oh, I went to high school with this guy.
00:33:02
So I went and I like did my own research. I found out that he's Iraqi, which is crazy because I'm Iraqi.
00:33:12
I found out that he's my own people. And that was very disturbing. and that was one thing I found out about him.
00:33:21
A lot of the girls I spoke to from his high school, I think I spoke to like two or three of them,
00:33:28
all told me he was a creep and that like he didn't handle rejection very well. Darun waited in anticipation
00:33:38
to see what would happen to her attacker, Paul Youssef. The waiting, she said, was uncomfortable,
00:33:44
but it was also not a new feeling for her. This experience flooded her with memories
00:33:50
from a different incident that happened when she was a child. This is also not my first predator.
00:33:57
When I was 11, I was groomed by my teacher, my drama teacher. Like every kid wanted to be around him,
00:34:07
like, cause he was cool. And he was, you know, like if Mr. Talenko liked you, like you're cool.
00:34:14
And I didn't know he was grooming me until he made it so obvious. And he was like, well, I have a question for you.
00:34:22
Do you have pubic hair? I was like, whoa. And I was going through puberty. And like, I don't even talk about that stuff with my own parents.
00:34:32
So like for you to ask me as a teacher, I legitimately ran home that day. I think I answered him.
00:34:41
I have no idea what my reaction was. I just was like, what the fuck, dude? And I ran out of there.
00:34:47
Like I went home and then I just avoided him for the remainder of the year. You know, I noticed he always had like a favorite student that was always a female who was always
00:35:01
in grade six. And the reason he targeted grade six students, and this is just all my theory, was because
00:35:08
the year, like that was the last year of elementary. and then you go to middle school.
00:35:14
And so you can kind of get away with doing whatever. And then they were off to the next school,
00:35:19
which is exactly what happened with me. I just moved on and I went to the next school
00:35:24
and I forgot about it. Darun was clear that although her sixth grade teacher, Greg Tolenko, had not physically abused her,
00:35:32
his actions were harmful. He was a teacher, someone in a trusted position of authority,
00:35:38
and he'd used that power to manipulate her. At the time, Darune didn't know the term grooming, but she does now, and that is exactly what Greg
00:35:48
Talenko was doing. Darune listened to her instincts and distanced herself from Talenko,
00:35:54
never telling anyone what happened That is until two years later when she learned that she was not Talenko only target And then two years later it came up that like the after the year I left
00:36:09
there was like five girls that he was, you know, um, grooming and had invited back to his house
00:36:17
and shown them porn on his computer. He had shown them his privates and like he took it so far with those girls.
00:36:28
You know, they, I guess, thought it was a joke. They didn't realize what was happening.
00:36:36
And they told me, like we were on the bus going to school. Like they were in grade seven, I was in grade eight
00:36:43
and they were telling me all these stories. And I was like, you guys, like we have to come forward.
00:36:49
And it was my idea to come forward because I have a younger sister and he used to call
00:36:55
her little Darun. And I just knew that like she was his next target. So I really did it for my sister.
00:37:03
And yeah, at a young age, I had to get questioned. I felt like I was getting interrogated by the police.
00:37:12
There was like victim blaming involved at that time as well with the new teachers in grade eight.
00:37:19
Like I remember getting treated differently because of coming forward. And so, yeah, this cuts deep because I still have trauma from the age of 11, 12, 13.
00:37:35
Darun was in middle school, a time wrought with difficulties and insecurities for most of us.
00:37:40
But still, she decided to speak out and lead the charge in bringing Greg Tolanco's actions to light.
00:37:47
Darun's younger sister was going into sixth grade the next year, and she did not want her to have the same experiences with Tolanco.
00:37:55
As a result of Darun and others speaking out, in 2001, Greg Tolanco was arrested and charged with sexual assault, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference, and criminal harassment.
00:38:08
He had been teaching at Cedar Drive Public School for 12 years at that point. I was very afraid of coming out because as a child, you think that you did something wrong.
00:38:19
For the teacher to ask me a question like that, what did you do for him to ask you that?
00:38:25
That was how my mind worked. At the end of the day, I feel like my voice is there this time around.
00:38:34
I fought so hard because of little Daroon. because like little Daru never got justice.
00:38:40
Like I was just like, I'm just like a witness in all this, but really I was a victim and I was groomed
00:38:48
and my innocence was stolen, but I was okay with like not getting the justice as long as he was in trouble.
00:38:56
And as long as like there was other victims to help me prove that this guy was, shouldn't be a teacher,
00:39:04
shouldn't even be around kids. I asked Arun what she meant when she said she never got justice as a child.
00:39:12
And what came to light was that she felt she missed out on the process. She wasn't considered a main victim in the case, which she understands.
00:39:21
But as a result, her story wasn't part of the case, and she did not attend any of the hearings.
00:39:27
She didn't get to see it. She was just left to process what had happened to her alone.
00:39:33
As a result of this, even years later, she explained that she still has questions and she never really got closure.
00:39:41
And when she was attacked on September 15th, 2021 in Massey Park, suddenly this incident from middle school came back into her mind.
00:39:50
I actually thought about Mr. Tolanco on my walk back home. Like it happened immediately, like after the attack and I was walking back home.
00:40:01
I thought of him and I remembered that experience. It just came up and I was just so angry about the world.
00:40:12
Like I'm just, I was just so angry. It just, it just came up, I guess. It was just like that locked trauma that was still in there.
00:40:22
It all came up. Daroon spoke up in middle school. And again, as an adult, after she was attacked in Massey Park,
00:40:29
her motivation to warn others to advocate for victims, and perhaps to make a big deal about
00:40:37
something that is a big deal. Sometimes, though, you can do all the right things and still be let
00:40:43
down. When I first spoke with Darune in the fall of 2024, she told me that she was still waiting
00:40:50
to know the results of Paul Youssef's case. I decided to see what I could find out, so I called
00:40:57
the Peel Regional Police, and then they directed me to the Davis Courthouse in Brampton. We don't
00:41:03
directly talk about this in the interview, but what happened was I was emailed the case documents
00:41:08
the day before we recorded this interview with Darun. I found out that the sentencing hearing
00:41:14
had already happened. It happened in May of 2024. Paul Youssef was sentenced to four months of
00:41:21
conditional sentence, house arrest, and two years probation. I didn't want to spring this
00:41:27
information on Daroon during the recording, so I sent her an email the night before the interview
00:41:33
with the case information. She later told me that while she is glad to have this information,
00:41:39
it was also very difficult to receive, and it opened up a whole new set of worries for her.
00:41:44
I have been waiting for three years Nobody has updated me on anything He only got four months of house arrest He also lives in our neighborhood So he lives within five kilometers of us So that the other scary part is like yeah like he free now
00:42:10
And I had no idea. Yeah. I mean, I think it's pretty like ridiculous that they didn't update you on all of that.
00:42:17
Even just to keep you informed. I feel like that should have happened. I can't believe it.
00:42:23
I legitimately had a mental breakdown last night when I saw your message. I was like, what?
00:42:32
That is impossible. Like, how could they not tell me? I wasn't able to get a hold of anyone to ask them these questions, but it started, you know,
00:42:44
it was so shocking to me when I heard that because he attacked two people. Clearly he was past you, hid his bike, was watching you.
00:42:51
and maybe it goes back to this idea of was he quote unquote successful and if he you know because
00:42:58
he wasn't then he gets a lesser sentence but it really brings up this question of justice because
00:43:04
how is that justice yeah it's not it's a nightmare yeah like it's it's almost as if like you have to
00:43:16
end up like dead in the woods for them to actually care or like do anything and and that's truly how
00:43:24
I feel like oh you got attacked well shit happens every day Darun like move on right like that's
00:43:31
that's how I took it like well you're lucky enough you could fight and fight right like
00:43:36
you're lucky you got away like it's all luck it's like a game of luck okay I just kind of want to
00:43:43
reiterate my message to women um and it's that you have a voice right when like that you're powerful
00:43:52
and that um you're stronger than you believe to be and that you can also punch a man in the face
00:44:01
and survive and that it's okay to freeze i i think that was one thing that like i felt like a lot of
00:44:10
victims came forward and kept saying like, I wish I had your strength. I wish I had done something.
00:44:17
But I'm like, I want to remind women that I also froze in that moment, like right after I punched
00:44:22
him and like that it's a very natural reaction to have, but the more prepared you are, right?
00:44:30
Like, I just feel like I was prepared and that, you know, at the end of the day, I feel like,
00:44:38
You know, I was very successful, quote unquote, in getting him captured and, you know, all that stuff because it rarely goes that far.
00:44:51
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is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no, at this point, it would kind of be
00:46:05
betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through
00:46:12
it. But there's places in this book that deeply emotionally affected me, and I left it on the
00:46:18
mic. That's great. Because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the
00:46:23
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on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford, and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty.
00:46:36
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Meaningful Beauty. Confidence is beautiful. Learn more at MeaningfulBeauty.com Wow, that was an incredible interview.
00:47:11
I feel so lucky she shared her story with us. Me too. Yeah, it was really powerful.
00:47:17
And I'm so glad that she spoke with us. Going into these interviews, we have to do some level of prep.
00:47:23
And in this case, you discovered that Paul Youssef had already actually had his court proceedings.
00:47:29
So do you want to talk a little bit about how you navigated that going into the interview with Darun?
00:47:35
Yeah, it's not something I think I would have known how to do or felt comfortable doing before we started working and podcasting.
00:47:42
Because basically, I couldn't find any information about it online. Neither could Darun, which is why she believed that the case was still open.
00:47:52
And so I called the police station where the article I did find where he was arrested and then they told me the courthouse.
00:48:00
which was like in a different county. So then I called the courthouse and got a hold of them.
00:48:04
And then I was able to get the court documents. And I was really surprised to learn that the case was closed,
00:48:11
that his sentencing hearing had already happened like six months before. And I don't know exactly why he got a four-month conditional sentence and two years probation.
00:48:22
But the most shocking thing to me was that Darun had not been updated and had not been able to find this information.
00:48:30
And lived so close to him. Lived like a few miles away. I had no idea. Such a nightmare.
00:48:37
Okay, so this takes place in Canada, which is different than the U.S., and I'm not as familiar with the laws there.
00:48:43
It was difficult, honestly, even getting the court paperwork, much more difficult than I found in the U.S. when I've set out records.
00:48:50
So I reached out to a few different reporters. Essentially, I didn't get a clear answer on this, on what the process is, and also why a victim wouldn't be informed.
00:49:02
But you might have some information about this. Yeah, well, after we talked about this and came to this sort of realization that we weren't even clear on what Darun's rights were as a victim of someone who physically assaulted her, probably with the intent to sexually assault her.
00:49:18
You know, it was really alarming. And so I went ahead and contacted a victim advocacy group called the Canadian Resource Center for Victims of Crime. And I spoke with a representative there and she had some really interesting information. Essentially, in Canada, there exists the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights. And Darune had a lot more rights than I think were exercised. And probably that's because she didn't even know that she had those rights.
00:49:43
And it also goes back to, well, she's the victim of a crime. And so is the onus on the victim to go say, OK, what are my rights? Or is it on law enforcement to say, OK, here's your rights or connect you to someone who can make you aware so that you can stay safe throughout this ordeal?
00:50:02
And basically she has what called a right to information which is about the status of the investigation the alleged offense the location of proceedings available services right to protection right to participation which is conveying their views when decisions are made by authorities Well this is why I was shocked because so many cases we covered before victims will
00:50:25
get a chance to offer a victim impact statement at a sentencing hearing, which can influence
00:50:30
a sentence on someone, right? If a judge hears that this was incredibly emotionally traumatic or whatever, that could
00:50:36
be informative in sentencing. Well, if the victim is not informed about the sentencing hearing, they have no chance to offer a victim impact statement.
00:50:45
Right. And I think, you know, Druin put it so well in the interview when she was talking about how, you know, this person attacked her in broad daylight.
00:50:54
In broad daylight, I think it was 1130 a.m. She was like, of course he was going to do this again.
00:50:59
And she was right. And was keeping trophies. Was keeping trophies. Like he was not someone who was just going to be kind of come to the realization that he shouldn't be doing this. He's dangerous. And so it was really scary, I'm sure, for her to learn that he actually lives quite close and she had no idea what the status was of the case. No one told her. And she, it turns out, did have a right to that information.
00:51:25
Now, when I spoke to the representative from this advocacy group, they said that it's not
00:51:30
exactly clear whose job it is to say, here are your rights, but that if you are a victim
00:51:36
of a crime in Canada, especially a violent crime, you should be able to ask law enforcement,
00:51:42
what are some resources I can have access to? And they should be able to point you in this direction of either an advocacy group or paperwork
00:51:51
that outlines your rights for you. And it's unfortunate, but it sounds like you do have to do some self-advocating to get that information.
00:51:58
But it does exist. So, you know, it's not ideal, but I think that it's an important takeaway for anyone who might find themselves in an unfortunate situation like this.
00:52:08
Because I think had Darune known, she would have absolutely exercised those rights.
00:52:14
Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's a good practice to, if you find yourself in that situation, to ask that of law enforcement.
00:52:22
Who do I contact? What's the number? How often will I be updated? You know, ask all the questions.
00:52:28
It hard to also put that on a victim when hearing Daron story It like the shock even After this attack she doesn have the presence of mind to do that I sure But even to be able to reach out after you know one of the things that I feel like I learned
00:52:45
from trying to track information down, calling courthouses, calling police stations, is like,
00:52:51
you know, bureaucratic institutions are not just going to be like, here, let me help you and give
00:52:56
all this information. You just have to be like, okay, keep asking, keep asking. Okay, well,
00:53:02
you should contact this department. Cool. How do I do that? What would that website or that phone
00:53:06
number be? You just have to ask a ton of questions, which it's unfortunate that's the case.
00:53:11
But yeah, you have to be kind of a bulldog about it. I mean, you and I have been contacting
00:53:15
courthouses and looking for court records and reaching out to law enforcement for a long time
00:53:20
now, but still sometimes I have a really hard time figuring out how do I get to this person?
00:53:25
Oh, you have to go through this other person. And, you know, pretty soon you're following up three times.
00:53:31
And, you know, for us working in podcasting, obviously, that's a less important email than a victim.
00:53:38
But I think the same bureaucratic nightmare exists where you're like, OK, but who do I call?
00:53:43
What is the number? And they're like, let me look into that. Yeah. Well, that sounds like a really helpful organization.
00:53:49
We should put that in the show notes. Yeah, they're also, you know, there's no cost to utilizing their services.
00:53:56
Oh, that's fantastic. Do they serve all of Canada? I think they serve all of Canada, but I know they serve Ontario.
00:54:02
And they help people who have experienced violent crime. They have a homicide support group.
00:54:07
They really have a lot of resources that I didn't even know existed that are more specific.
00:54:13
So the Canadian Resource Center for Victims of Crime, I'm just reading from what it says on our website.
00:54:20
The CRCVC provides support, research, and education to survivors of serious crime and stakeholders in Canada.
00:54:26
So reach out to them if you need victim advocacy. I think that it was so easy for me to reach them and hop on a call.
00:54:34
I have no doubt that they would help point someone in the right direction. Love that.
00:54:37
So if anyone is interested in reaching out to the Canadian Resource Center for Victims of Crime, you can go to their website.
00:54:43
It's crcvc.ca. And there's a Contact Us link. And that is how I reach them and I heard back within a day Yeah amazing That was a great interview Fantastic We be back next week All right Looking forward to it
00:54:58
If you have a story for us, we would love to hear it. Our email is thenife at exactlyrightmedia.com.
00:55:04
Or you can follow us on Instagram at The Knife Podcast or Blue Sky at The Knife Podcast.
00:55:09
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00:55:13
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00:55:20
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00:55:25
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Goodbye. you