'I've almost been waiting for this,' says attack victim as Obed faces new charges
Sem Obed punched Andrea Pardy at a Labrador bar in 2012. He is now charged with an attack in Halifax
Andrea Pardy was working the late shift at a bar in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L., when Sem Obed walked in and asked for a beer.
Pardy told him the empty bar was closed, but he entered anyway. "I knew with the look on his face that I was very much in trouble," she told CBC News at the time.
Obed walked behind the bar and cornered her. He punched her until she bit him and ran away. He chased her, but she escaped. Police caught Obed and he pleaded guilty to the assault. He served two years.
When he was released in 2014 and said he wanted to move to Halifax, Pardy tried to warn people in Nova Scotia.
On Monday, Obed was charged with aggravated sexual assault, choking to overcome resistance, uttering threats, break and enter, and two counts of breaching court orders.
The charges came after someone attacked a Halifax woman Friday afternoon. None of the current charges against Obed has been tested in court.
'I wasn't surprised'
"I wasn't surprised. Not at all," Pardy told the CBC's Tom Murphy Monday. "I've almost been waiting for this to happen for the last six years."
Speaking from Gander, she said Obed's long history of violence prompted her to speak out then and now. "He's got a very violent history. I know he didn't receive any treatment while he was incarcerated," she said. "I actually got out quite lucky."
Pardy said it baffled her that Obed kept getting released after racking up 30 convictions dating back to 1984. Those convictions included attempted murder, sexual assault and assault with a weapon.
Upon his release, officials deemed him a high risk to reoffend. Parole board documents noted that Obed's crimes revealed a history of brutality and said that he had become "desensitized" to using violence.
He's never been declared a dangerous offender. Such a designation could keep him in prison for life. If he is convicted of the Halifax attack, the Crown could ask for such a designation during sentencing.
"It just doesn't make any sense to me why the justice system would keep putting him back in public. Why put public safety at risk?" Pardy said.
She spoke to a woman he had assaulted 20 years ago. "This is my first time reliving it. Imagine all those other people who have been reliving it several times. It's a hard situation," Pardy said.
She said harsher sentences that include treatment before the person is released would help, as would closer monitoring of such people.
with files from Tom Murphy and Preston Mulligan