The emotional wounds inflicted on the family of Kassidi Coyle after her sexual assault and subsequent suicide will be felt for the rest of their lives.
After the sentencing of Shawn Roy to 18 months in jail on Monday for sexual assault, Judi Coyle, Kassidi's mother, says the family is attempting to move forward now that the trial and sentencing are over.
“(My family) thinks that 18 months is a joke,” Judi says. “It’s certainly not enough to make up for the loss of Kassidi."
“I am (OK with it), because I know it’s the max,” she adds. “It’s good enough for me. He has to live with this for the rest of his life.”
During her victim impact statement read to the court in April, Melanie Smith, Kassidi’s sister, outlined her own struggles with mental health since Kassidi's death, including being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), severe anxiety attacks and having to take two sick leaves from her job due to the stress. Smith says she has suffered a financial impact as well.
On Monday, Smith returned to work, so she was unable to attend the sentencing in person. However, she says she had to leave work early due to the stress of the outcome.
“I’m not happy,” says Smith. “I don’t think it’s enough of a punishment considering we’ve lost our beautiful sister.”
Smith spoke fondly of Kassidi when reached by BarrieToday on Monday for an interview.
“(Kassidi) had a heart of gold. She would have given you the shirt off her back,” she says. “She would have bent over backwards to make sure you were happy and OK.”
When Smith thinks of what Kassidi would want going forward, she talks about family ties.
“(She would want) to make sure our family takes care of each other. I feel like she wants me to make sure everybody’s happy, that someone checks on mom, the way family is supposed to,” she says.
The hardest part for Smith is that she shares a physical likeness to Kassidi.
“People look at me and they say, ‘God, you remind me of Kassidi.’ I’m flattered, but I’m not her,” says Smith.
Chelsea Coyle, Kassidi’s sister, issued a statement Monday afternoon on Twitter.
“Justice was served and closure can finally begin,” she wrote. “In reality, no amount of time behind bars will make Kassidi come back. Although, knowing that (Roy) is now a registered sex offender and that will be with him for the rest of his life gives me satisfaction.”
The Kassidi’s Law Change.org petition was started by Chelsea nine months ago to try to draw attention to the need for increased support for sexual-assault survivors including free, timely counselling and legal advice. The petition also aims for sentencing that reflects the impact sexual assault has on survivors.
Since then, the petition has gathered nearly 158,000 signatures.
“We want to remind our politicians that concrete action needs to be taken to ensure no one else has to face what my sister endured,” reads the most recent update, posted by Chelsea.
Chelsea continued by outlining her reasons for starting the petition.
“My sister took her own life after being sexually assaulted, but her heartbreaking story can save other young women by prompting our government to act,” she wrote. “No one should have to wait four months for urgent mental-health services after being assaulted.”
Now that the sentencing is over, Judi is turning her attention back toward the petition and advocacy work to ensure these types of tragedies don’t keep occurring.
“We need to talk more (as a society) about suicide awareness. ... It’s really hard to get someone to pay attention to it,” she says. “Now that this is over, I’m going to start hounding my MP again.”
Chelsea had a baby last Wednesday. It was a girl, named Adalynn Maria Kassidi Gonzalez.
