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By KATHY YANCHUS Oakville Beaver Staff espite the excruciating priâ€" : vate anguish she endures, * Priscilla de Villiers has but one unselflsh goal: to protect Canadians. Her passion for painting has waned. She doesn‘t have the heart to pick up a paintbrush anymore. Every day she walks out the door of her home to face the enemy, the predator that is slowly creeping up on our children, our elderly, our society: crime. _ CAVEAT founder says system fails to protect Canadians from crime : On August 9, 1991, de Villiers‘ daughter Nina was found shot in the head and dumped in a river, the vicâ€" tim of a brutal abduction and murâ€" der. Her daughter‘s murderer had a history of violent behaviour and was out on bail. Nina disappeared on a warm summer night. She was waiting to play tennis with her father and decided to go jogging in the vicinity of a Burlington fitness centre. Hundreds of people saw her, said her mother, who addressed a hushed group of Appleby College parents this week. Cinemas across the street were changing shows. People were playing baseball and tennis,; people were out walking. "She was not doing something she shouldn‘t have been doing. She was not in an area she should not have been in," said de Villiers, a strong articulate woman, obviously 2 ConyrniEnt LocarTIONs TO SERVE YoU MILTON 555 Main St. E. RADIO TO REMEMBEER \'@ )Swmg“’“h C UNIROYAL TIRES ;. Loz Sponsors of the BIG BAND SOUND of 4 Saturday, June 25 at 7 p.m. â€" Bronte Road (South of Lakeshore) Despite the Priscilla de Villiers fact Nina‘s disâ€" appearance was out of character, police did nothing until foul play was suspected â€" "They get 850 false alarms each year" â€" so the family combed the streets around the club with the help of friends. TIRE _ SALES 338â€"5555 SERVICE (1T_ EL PUD #,9 45 . A BFGoodrich "When I talk to children...I tell OAKVILLE S Rd. Uni pained by the burden of the past three years. "She was wearâ€" ingâ€" a baggy sweatshirt...And she disappeared off the face of the earth." AT JD TIRE, WE Tires them for goodness sake, keep people informed as to where you are. It‘s not because you have to tell us but because you‘re protecting yourself," said de Villiers. Nina‘s headband was found under a willow tree at the edge of the club‘s parking lot "where we had stood and talked many times", and several days later, her body was disâ€" covered. "They say there is one victim of crime, but crime affects society, it affects countries, it changes the whole way we look at life, it changes the way you treat your chilâ€" dren," said deVilliers, who said Nina had been raised to believe she could do anything she chose to do. "If she Shopping Guide had lived, could I ever let her think that again? "No matter how many precauâ€" tions we take, there comes a time when society has to help us," said de Villiers. Throughout the inquest and the months that followed, the de Villiers family came to the shocking realizaâ€" tion that they were in conflict with the very system they expected would protect them. They felt comâ€" pelled to right the wrongs in the sysâ€" tem and were driven by the encourâ€" agement of Canadians across the country. People were fed up with a Canadian criminal justice system where the victim‘s rights are tramâ€" pled in favor of the criminal‘s, y [ DONT YOUMEAN where there is no communication or accountability among authorities, said de Villiers, who along with sevâ€" eral close friends, formed CAVEAT (Canadians Against Violence Everywhere, Advocating its Termination) the family‘s ‘official‘ voice launched in June of 1992. In her capacity as president of 2: CAVEAT, de Villiers has appeared before the Standing Committee on 2 Justice and the Solicitor General in 2 the House of Commons to make i‘ presentations on Bill Câ€"36 g (Corrections and Conditional * Release Act) and crime prevention. She has also spoken before the Senate Committee on Gun Control (See ‘Public‘ page 9) by Steve Nease