A story is developing in the Bahamas that, depending on the outcome, might flip the left’s narrative about green energy crusaders on its head.
We’re all familiar with the narrative, ingrained into us from our days of watching “Captain Planet” and “FernGully,” that environmental crusaders are the true heroes of our society, fighting against the evil forces of big business and, sometimes, the government.
But with a Canadian green energy professor being charged in the rape of an 80-year-old grandmother who has Alzheimer’s disease, that familiar narrative faces a formidable challenge.
Let’s back up and look at the facts of the case.
According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, Gordon Wilkie of New Waterford, Nova Scotia, is a professor at Nova Scotia Community College who specializes in renewable energy and runs a solar power installation company.
The outlet reported Saturday that the 61-year-old Wilkie is accused of abducting and raping an elderly woman on Jan. 28 while both were staying at the Warwick resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas.
According to the woman’s son, Canadian real estate agent David Ahrens, his mother was staying at the resort with his sister and met Wilkie when he invited himself into their conversation with Tom Justice, a special agent with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (more on him in a bit).
As Ahrens told the Daily Mail, after inviting himself to dinner with them (which they found “a little bit odd” but didn’t think much of since “everyone’s on vacation”), the professor entered the elevator with Ahrens’ mother and sister and nabbed his mother when his sister left the elevator and the doors closed on her.
“Then panic ensues,” Ahrens said. “They were looking for my mother and pleading with the front desk and security for help, which they didn’t do for more than half an hour.”
Thankfully, Justice joined the search with other hotel guests, calling the elderly woman’s name for a good 40 minutes before he received a text from the other guests informing him of the arrival of the Bahamian police.
He pressed the elevator button to head to the lobby and meet with the officers.
Ahrens’ description of what Justice said happened next is truly horrific.
“The elevator arrives and the doors open, and there’s my mother with the assailant,” he said.
“[Justice] saw him, and immediately at the same time he could see my mother holding her underwear. So he reacted right away, and he just went in the elevator and pinned him,” Ahrens said.
After a hospital evaluation confirmed Ahren’s mother had been sexually assaulted, Wilkie was arrested and charged, according to the Daily Mail. He was being held in a Bahamian prison without bail.
Of course, Wilkie is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law — but the evidence as reported does not look good for him.
Meanwhile, the hero of the story is Justice, who was in the right place at the right time and did the right thing.
In fact, the Homeland Security Investigations office in Charlotte, North Carolina — his home base — released a statement praising him.
If guilty, should Wilkie face the death penalty?
“HSI management is aware of the actions SA Justice undertook while on temporary duty and are proud of the way he went above and beyond to protect the welfare of others,” a spokesman told WSOC-TV in Charlotte. “His actions are in keeping with the highest standards of this agency.”
Justice might not be your everyday sort of police officer, but he is a member of law enforcement, and this case puts the lie to the standard leftist narrative that law enforcement is a net negative.
If Wilkie is indeed guilty of this heinous crime, this would be a complete reversal of the left’s narrative that cops are evil sadists and environmentalists are virtuous martyrs.
Obviously, not all, or even most, environmentalists are rapists, and there are some crooked cops out there.
Still, this case provides a lesson about the dangers of demonizing the police while deifying climate activists.
