Pat and the Elephant Driver pleads guilty to child abuse charges

Gillespie family gets support on Facebook

A Facebook group started two days ago in support of the mother and boy who was assaulted by a Pat and the Elephant driver has gained 80 + members.

Along with the comments on the CBC story, there is a lot of sympathy for the child and mother while some people are supporting the driver.

One person who is a school bus driver wrote “As a bus driver for the Eastern School Board, I think this man should NOT be allowed to drive this bus, or any other for the rest of his life. If society continues to turn a blind eye to the mistreatment of passengers on these and other forms of transportation, then this type of abuse will continue for decades to come.”

Related stories

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Video – Valerie Gillespie says Pat and the Elephant driver not safe
CBC: assault should cost driver his job says mother
Paratransit driver convicted assaulting child with disability

Another questioned if this was the first time a Pat and the Elephant driver had assaulted a passenger, alluding to prior sexual assaults. “When I started reading this I thought it was of an incident a few years back,,when one of the drivers where let go for sexually assaulting its occupants and numberous other children… I would like to know what screening goes on when hiring these drivers…”

There are some surprisingly insensitive comments that feel the mother can “train” the boy which in the case of someone with a developmental disability can be very difficult. People need to get over the fact that people with disabilities look different or act different from movie stars. People with disabilities are generally doing the best they can.

Anyone on Facebook can join