News TheReview Wednesday, January 22,1992 — A2 Childhood in the wild sparked Aitken’s adult arson’ by Valorie Lennox The Review Cornered by the world, Earl Aitken’s eyes flick from point to point. His voice is wispy, his words awkward, broken by long pauses. “I don’t know much words. If I did, 1 could talk more intelligent.” For much of his life he has chosen not to speak. But now he wants to go home. If he can force himself to speak, to explain what happened, he hopes he will be allowed to retum to Mayne Island. In June a court order banned him from the island — after he was arrested for setting fire to William Bender’s Mayne Island home. “I want people on Mayne Island to know why I set his house on fire. They don’t want me back there. It sounds like they’re all against me and they don’t even know why I did it.” In Sidney provincial court Nov. 13, Aitken plead guilty to arson. On Jan. 14 in Victoria provincial court, he was placed on three years’ probation — including restricted access to Mayne Island. Aitken’s brother still lives on Mayne. The island has been their refuge, the woods where they hid as children to escape an alcoholic father, the place where they ran after the family moved to Sidney. A pre-sentence report on Aitken reveals the eight children in the family grew up in an atmosphere of alcohol and abuse. Often locked in the home, they were told outsid- ers would harm them. In school, Aitken never went beyond Grade 3. He still cannot read and wnite. Close in age, Aitken and his younger brother Leonard turned to each other for support. Together they ran away and hid in the bush, creeping back to take food set out by an older brother. They spoke only to each other, in a sign language they devised as children. Elective mutism is what it was called by the psychologists who examined Aitken. He was captured by police and brought to the Eric Martin Pavilion after he and Leonard spent a year living in the bush on Mayne Island. “Tran away because I was afraid ARSONIST Continued from Page Al to jail. “Punishing him for being the way he is, is a bit like punish- ing a rock for being a rock.” Conditions of the probation include 100 hours community ser- vice work, writing a letter of apology to Bender, restricted access to Mayne Island and con- tinued counselling. of people,” he explained. His father had moved the family to Sidney after the death of their mother but Aitken — now a teenager — and Leonard returned to Mayne Island. They stole some plastic sheeting and made a shelter, then stole food from homes on the island. “The windows were unlocked and the doors were unlocked.” They also ate berries and sca- venged in garbage. “Mostly food was the biggest problem. We didn’t have enough food. “When it got really cold, we stole sleeping bags.” It is hard for him to admit the thefts. He forces the words out, Staring at the floor. He hates to steal. “It’s just not right and I don’t want to. I don’t want to do any- thing illegal but I did.” The two brothers managed to evade the police and island resi- dents for a year. “People were really mad about us going into houses stealing food and things we needed.” Finally, one of Earl’s older brothers tracked down the two boys. Police brought them to Vic- toria and to the Eric Martin Pavil- ion for psychological assessment. “T didn’t talk to any people at Enc Martin,” Aitken said. The pre-sentence report notes Aitken hid on top of a closet to avoid contact with people. Released from Eric Martin, he again ran away to Mayne Island. He and Leonard moved their camp. “We moved all over the place.” However they stopped stealing from homes, believing the police would not hunt them so diligently if there were no thefts. “After they released me from Eric Martin, I mostly got food from the garbage. There were ber- nies, so I ate berries. “We didn’t have much to eat. “T don’t think I broke into any houses except one — I aeaded food.” The police again found the brothers and returned them to Eric Martin. Aitken was sent to a training program for the mentally handi- capped, despite tests which show he has normal intelligence. “T kept escaping to go back to Mayne Island just to visit my brothers.” Through the Ministry of Social Services, counselor William Ben- der was hired for a year to work with Aitken — the first direct help Aitken received. Although taught from childhood not to trust people outside the family, Aitken slowly began to trust Bender. La-Z-Boy Recliners Choose from the largest selection a = Gila Boy reclina-rockers and \ reclina-way chairs on Vancouver Island. Hundreds in stock. Lifetime warranty on frame and mechanism. Sale Priced From ~ $397 00 | (As shown — choice of 3 colours) Lots of easy CALL TOLL FREE EE parking FREE DELIVERY ‘200-607-1314 FR AND SET UP AS FAR AS STANDARD Aor CAMPBELLRIVER EUBNITURE Segoe 655-1010 Bender, who continued to help Aitken long after the ministry contract was finished, said the family was shunned by most of the community, in part because of the thefts from homes. Aside from one nurse at the Eric Martin Pavilion, Bender suspects he was Aitken’s only friend. “He was trying to do something but he had problems,” Bender said. Aitken began drawing nature scenes and was able to sell a few. Among the buyers was Bender, who hung copies of Aitken’s art on the walls of his home. Then Aitken started to mistak- enly believe Bender was offering a relationship — that he and Bender would live together as a couple. Last spring, when Bender began seeing his present fiance, Aitken was devastated. He felt betrayed when Bender denied any relationship beyond friendship. “He denied everything that he promised me. He’s telling me that I'ma paranoid-schizo, that I was hallucinating.” Bender, disturbed by Aitken’s claims of a relationship, broke off the friendship. The night of the fire Aitken says he was drunk — his brother had given him a bottle of wine as a birthday present. He began thinking about Ben- der. Taking his artwork, Aitken left the house. “Just some of it burned. It just happened, I didn’t plan any of it.” Three days later, on June 4, Aitken was arrested by police. “All these things that this per- son told me and denied kept bothering me so I went to him just to talk about it. He wasn’t home.” He entered Bender’s home by smashing a window at the rear of the house. At first, Aitken said he only wanted to see if Bender had Register kept the art work. A cluster of Aitken’s favorite iz NOW flowers — columbine — were P placed in a vase in Bender’s for ee bedroom. “That really pissed me off.” Enraged, he threw a mattress, clothing. and books on the floor. He left the house briefly, then returned to set the books ablaze. In the living room, he crumpled some paper and started another WATER COLOUR CLASSES Beginners & Intermediate Tuesdays or Saturdays 6 WEEK COURSE fire. “The fire chief was saying that I Beginning in March used gas. I didn’t use anything. I just lit a match and set the books MOLLY WHITELAW REID on fire and left the crumpled paper 652-6714 on fire downstairs.” VideoS viDFO MOVIES & fatior), NOW OPEN OVER 4000 TITLES Biggest Video Store in Saanichton Nintendo, Super Nintendo Children’s Movies on Weekly Rental Pioneer Village Shopping Centre 7816 E. 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