One Day After Sentencing, Ontario Prostitute's Killer Goes Free

There's no justice for prostitutes. I've said it before and I'm saying it again after hearing about a Canadian prostitute who was murdered. Her killer? A St. Catharines, Ontario man who frequented sex workers and had previously used drugs.

Wayne Ryczak, 55, admitted to killing 29-year-old Stephine Beck, but claimed it was in self-defense. After finding the woman inside his trailer, a struggle ensued that resulted in Beck's death. Ryczak then dumped her partly nude body in the snow on the side of a country road. After pleading guilty to manslaughter on Wednesday, he was released from jail the day after his sentencing.

According to the St. Catharines Standard, Beck's mother was stunned by the verdict:

“She had a heart of gold. Her lifestyle, to me right now, this whole thing has judged her on her lifestyle, not as a human being.”...

The judge emphasized the sentence was not a measure of the value of Beck’s life, but was determined based on the circumstances of the case.

But Deb Nanson, founder of a city sex-trade task force, gasped audibly when the sentence was read in court.

The sentence “just opened the door to murdering our most vulnerable population,” she said outside the courtroom.

Related articles:

• Prostitution and Sex Workers
• Judgment, Not Justice, For Prostitute Who is Raped
• Prostitution Statistics, Sex Worker Abuse, and the Case of Aileen Wuornos