Canadian Shot Dead In Thailand By Canadian (update)

[sriracha john]

As an update to the closed threads:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=74720

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=88639

Trial date set for Victoria woman in Thailand

Charged in shooting death of common-law husband

Margaret Crane, a Victoria woman arrested in connection with the July 2, 2006, shooting death of Daniel George Dubie, will be tried in a Thai court in January 2008.

“At least we have a court date,” Margaret Crane’s oldest daughter, said Angel Crane. “I’ve been told she has two hours to plead her case.”

Although she never married or lived with him, Margaret, 48, had six children by Dubie, a cult-like figure who has been compared with Charles Manson and Jim Jones in various media and websites, including the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

Angel Crane and one of her five siblings will appear as witnesses at the trial in Chiang Mai next year. Margaret Crane, who has been officially charged with pre-meditated murder, will plead self-defence.

Crane sends her mother packages with chocolates and photographs of the children. Margaret sends handmade cards and crafts. Last month, Crane received a Valentine handkerchief from her mother.

“Dearest Angel Valentine, Our Hearts Are Eternally Joined. I love you,” Margaret embroidered on the hankie.

From the day Margaret was arrested, Crane has tried to keep her family together. Two days after the shooting, a family friend brought Margaret’s five youngest children, three girls and two boys, aged five to 15 years, to Victoria. The children were initially placed in a foster home. In August, Crane won custody of her brothers and sisters.

Six months later, the plucky 23-year-old said looking after five children gets a little easier every day.

The Ministry for Children and Families gives Crane a certain amount of money per child and pays health premiums for the children. She is able to rent a spacious house with assistance from B.C. Housing.

Every second week, Crane meets with a family care development worker.

Crane has also been offered six days of respite care a month. On respite days, the children return to their original foster home to give her a break.

She’ll be back in court on March 1 to assess how well the first six months have gone.

“We want that to continue for another six-month order, then try and make the custody arrangement more permanent,” Crane said.

Christmas was joyous, but also stressful for Crane, who played Santa Claus for the first time.

“I had to remember to bring in the reindeer food before morning,” she laughed.

The children received presents from parents and teachers at the school, a chiropractor’s office and from Saanich police, who have been incredibly supportive, Crane said.

“There was cheer and happiness and giving,” she said. “When I need help, someone just sort of pops up.”

- Victoria (BC) Times Colonist (Canada)

[MioBikerBoyz]

SSDD

[londonthai]

why it takes 1.5 years to wait for the trial?

surely it will be in all interest to speed up this

[Briggsy]

If you want things speeded up, you gotta grease the wheels.

[jayjayjayjay]

this is an interesting website for those in Chiangmai that know the background on this one:

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/annieduan&article_id=9224465

[hawaiianeyes]

this is an interesting website for those in Chiangmai that know the background on this one:

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/annieduan&article_id=9224465

That site makes me "wretch" I hope someone writes to that blogster to let her know the levels of fraud perpetrated by Daniel Dubie...

Another link:

An interesting new article from Canada can be found below

They describe the Crane woman as Dubie's biggest accomplice over the years.

'Bonnie' accused of killing her 'Clyde'

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;#entry1191491

And another blog with a very different tone than the www.wretch above:

http://hazel8500.wordpress.com/2006/08/03/...ge-in-thailand/

[hawaiianeyes]

For those with an interest in this case, there is another update:

This weird tale continues to unravel and it seems to be getting more creepy with regard to abuse/predation of women and children on in both US and Thailand.

"Daniel" Dubie (George Patrick Dubie,GPD) and Maggie (Margaret Jeane Crane,MJC) who shot and killed him (and still sits in Chiang Mai awaiting trial in Mar 2008 or later) are both being looked at carefully with regard to at least one missing woman case.

Many women have come forward that were approached by MJC in shopping malls with the come-on of posing for photos to be considered for a part in Daniel's "Production Company" . Some of these women then became ensnared in GPD's world for years and experienced various degrees of fraud, deception, and abuse.

America's Most Wanted is airing an episode featuring the story of missing girl Kristen Modafferi and the photos of GPD and MJC on Jan 8th, 2008 and Without a Trace in the end of November.

Also added to this tangle is the fact that Jon Onuma who called in a bogus tip to San Fransisco FBI about Kristen, spent time with Dubie in Thailand and Hawaii. Onuma acted as a part of a film crew in "Souls at Bay".

So if any kind reader has information to share that may assist in solving the case of Kristen or other victims of this trio please PM me or call SF FBI 510 627 4301.

As one victim of this guy, with first hand knowledge of child abuse by him, I sincerely hope that my call here will not be met with tirades from the wandering trolls to shut down the thread but just sincere responses those motivated by genuine willingness to help!

Aloha,

Hawaiianeyes

[hawaiianeyes]

For those that may be interested there was a recent Canadaian news story about Angel Crane and her young siblings that await the trial of Margaret Crane

http://backofthebook.ca/features/angel/200...t-her-that.html

[sriracha john]

Thanks for the update.... article posted below in its entirety:

You wouldn't know to look at her that Angel Crane is one of the bravest 23-year olds you'll ever meet. Sitting at a table in a Victoria Starbucks, sipping on a coffee and taking the occasional call on her pink cell phone, she could be just another University of Victoria student relaxing at the end of a full day of classes.

But this is no ordinary young woman, and she hasn't been since the summer day that altered her life forever. "I need new words," says Angel, her intelligent hazel eyes flashing. "People ask me if I'm 'overwhelmed.' 'Overwhelmed' doesn't begin to describe what I'm going through." She's talking not only of her father's shooting death, a crime with which her mother has been charged, but also of becoming the sole caregiver to her five younger brothers and sisters, ages five through 15.

Angel, however, isn't inclined to whine. It isn't her style. And her response to a series of events that very few people could handle with such strength and grace has earned her the admiration of an entire community.

Her saga began on July 1st, 2006 -- Canada Day. Angel and some friends had gone camping on Vancouver Island. On the way back to Victoria she checked the messages on her cell phone, and listened to a terse message from a Thai woman she'd never heard of: Margaret Crane, Angel's mother, was in jail, and the Thai woman had Angel's five siblings. "Please let this be a lie," Angel thought.

It wasn't. A day later, her mom called and confirmed Angel's worst nightmare. Her father, a cult leader, Daniel George Dubie, was dead -- shot and killed in a restaurant in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Her mother was accused of committing the murder, and, if convicted, could face a firing squad. The woman who had contacted Angel was a close, loyal friend of her mom, who'd recognized that the Canadian children would need to be returned to their relatives.

That day Angel sat in her housecoat working through the reality of her father's death, her mother's imprisonment, and her siblings' predicament. She thought of how things should be. "I had a ticket booked to go to Thailand four days later for a holiday," she says. "After I heard, I cancelled the ticket." Most of all, she thought about who would take care of her younger brothers and sisters. In her mother's absence, someone would have to become their caregiver. That someone, she knew, should be her.

Events leading up to this tragedy began with the meeting of 19-year old Margaret Crane and George Dubie in Hawaii 27 years ago. She was a single mom with a young daughter, Angel's older half-sister, and he was the charming, charismatic leader of a cult later named "Significance." Margaret joined the group of about 25 people living under Dubie's control, but sent her eldest daughter to live with her mother and father in Toronto.

According to a May 24th, 1983 article in the Honolulu Star, police investigations and "internal upheaval" in Dubie's cult resulted in theft ring charges against him, and a short jail term. In 1984, Margaret travelled to Toronto, where Angel was born and lived, mostly with her grandparents. When she was four, Margaret took Angel to Vancouver and, while there, asked a friend, "Can you take care of my daughter for a week?" He agreed. But a week stretched into months, and Margaret, working on movie sets, didn't return for her daughter.

Wondering where Angel was, her grandmother, by then living in Victoria, finally located her in Vancouver and brought her home with her. Eventually, when Angel was eight years old, Margaret also moved to Victoria but maintained her relationship with Dubie and had more children with him. Angel's grandmother continued to raise her and her half-sister, but Angel often stayed with her mother when Margaret was in Victoria, and helped to take care of her younger brothers and sisters, changing their diapers and feeding them. At 13, she chose to go with her mother and siblings when they moved to Puerto Rico. Even at that time, she referred to her brothers and sisters as "her kids."

When Angel was 16, the family moved to Hawaii, although Margaret and the kids lived on one side of the island and Dubie on the other. Angel decided to move in with her dad, to discover what he was really like. As she was in Hawaii illegally, she did office work for her father rather than attending school. At first the living arrangement worked well.

As time went on, however, Dubie began to manipulate her, telling her that everything he was doing was for a higher purpose. He gradually isolated Angel -- refusing to let phone her grandmother in Victoria, then cutting off contact with her mom and siblings. Angel had looked up to her father as a child; her mom spoke highly of him and, although he only visited for short periods of time, he looked like he "had it put together," she remembers. But now the truth came as a shock.

After her father had been gone a few days on a trip to Europe, she realized she felt trapped. Terrified of his return, she called her grandma in Victoria, who sent a plane ticket. Within the day, Angel packed her bag and caught a taxi to the airport. But her ordeal wasn't over yet.

Once she arrived in Vancouver, she stayed with her older half-sister, preparing to move back to her grandmother's in Victoria. But Margaret called repeatedly, begging her to come back. Then Dubie called, saying everything would change, that he was sorry. Confused and uncertain, Angel made the decision to return to Hawaii: "I had to know whether he could change. I had to figure out if he loved me." She agreed to return on condition that if he isolated her again or she was in any way unhappy, he would pay for her plane ticket back to Canada. He agreed, saying things would definitely be different.

They were different, for about two months. But, bit by bit, he started to cage her again: no phone calls, no visiting, no rights. Two more months passed and she knew she had to get out. Angel confronted Dubie, telling him, "You need to send me home right now." He refused. Instead, he sent Angel to live with her mother. On the other side of Hawaii, Angel's job description changed. Instead of following her father's orders, she became the de facto parent to her siblings, as her mother traveled weeks at a time without them.

Now 18, Angel knew she wanted to return to Victoria, back to her grandmother, back to complete her education and her own dreams. But her parents wouldn't listen. Finally, she spoke with a Hawaiian social worker who called a police officer. They listened intently as she explained she was being held against her will -- that, in fact, she and her family were living illegally in Hawaii, and that she wanted to return to Canada. Because she was a minor, the officer returned her to her mother, who was furious and contacted her father. He lectured her for an entire night: that he'd be sent to jail, or they'd be deported and none of them could ever step foot inside the United States again. She needed to make a new statement, her father said; she'd have to say she'd lied. In exchange, her dad would pay for all six siblings and their mother to return to Canada. Exhausted, Angel filed a new report the next morning and they returned to B.C., without their dad. After living with her family for a month in Ladysmith, she returned to her own life with her grandmother in Victoria.

She maintained contact with her mom and her "kids" because she loved them, visiting them on weekends. She even tried to remain in contact with her father, talking to him when he'd phone her mother, but he blamed her for the animosity between them, and refused to acknowledge he'd done anything wrong. Eventually he cut off all communication, never acknowledged her birthday, and made no effort to remain in contact: "He discarded me," Angel says.

Angel Crane

Margaret Crane

[hawaiianeyes]

thank you sriracha john, this is the rest of the article from the link..

Flash forward to July 1, 2006. According to the Chiang Mai newspaper, Margaret Crane and Daniel Dubie met at the Whole Earth Restaurant on Sri Don Chai Road. Witnesses told police the couple argued, and, once in the parking lot, Dubie threatened Crane with a pistol. She took the weapon, fired in his direction, got in a car, and drove away. Police saw her drive to Pa Tan Bridge and throw "what looked like a pistol into the river." They followed and arrested her. At first she denied everything, but eventually admitted "she committed the crime in a fit of fury." A witness at the scene identified Crane as the shooter.

Angel's brothers and sisters arrived in Victoria four days after their father's death. She had no place of her own, so they moved into a hotel together. A social worker appeared two days later. Despite the fact that Angel was of legal age and their sister, the Ministry of Children and Families became the younger children's guardian "until they could evaluate the situation," she explains. The two teenagers understood their mother was in jail, but it wasn't until the social worker returned to take them all to a foster home that the younger children found out why they'd been sent to Victoria. The social worker sat all the siblings down and told them, "Your dad's dead and your mom's in jail." The children stared at each other; the youngest started to cry. Later that day she began asking questions, and didn't stop asking for weeks: "Mommy's in jail? Daddy's dead? Mommy shot Daddy?" The first night in the foster home, Angel and the five children all slept in the same room because they "didn't want to be alone." Angel huddled with the girls on an air mattress on the floor while the boys slept in the bed.

Every night after work as a telephone solicitor at the Times Colonist newspaper, Angel returned to the foster home and tucked the younger children, ages five, nine, and 11, into bed. Each night she spoke with the older children, 13 and 15, as the death of their father and the uncertainty of their mother's situation began to sink in. Meanwhile, her own emotions remained buried. Determined to gain custody of all five of her brothers and sisters, so that their "whole world wasn't fallen apart," her life became a whirl of constant phone calls, talking with lawyers and social workers, working at her own job, reorganizing her life to include five traumatized siblings, and planning birthday parties, sometimes two at a time. "Everything had to be done right now and be done yesterday"; the pace was "enough to make the head explode."

The crying came and went. By the beginning of August, though, she couldn't keep a lid on her feelings any longer. A friend said Angel could use her computer in her apartment while she was at work, and Angel went there alone, able to leave the children in someone's care for a few hours. She'd "hysterically cry and make a phone call and hysterically cry again"; that was the cycle for a week. "No one direct emotion can explain it -- you are consumed. It's pain and suffering you can't put into words. Emotional, physical, mental pain." Eventually, she reached the point of choosing between whether to "cry or laugh hysterically" -- and found herself laughing a lot. There was simply too much to do to wallow.

In late August, 2006, Angel's efforts were successful, and she was awarded custody of her siblings. Soon after, thanks to B.C. Housing and Capital Region Housing, the children and she moved into a rental home. With assistance from the Ministry of Children and Families, and thanks to the organization of Kim Garnett (Angel's work colleague) and help from other supporters, the family now had a furnished house and bicycles for each of the kids. An article in the Times Colonist brought further attention to Angel's situation, and the family gratefully accepted food coupons and gift certificates (see endbar).

Their "family routine" was established within a few weeks. "Mornings are fun at my house," she says with a laugh. "I'm not a 'morning person,' but I'm learning." Despite attending new schools, the children settled in quickly; it helped that they had already spent some of their lives in Canada. Still, they missed their Thai friends and their mother. Because their dad had seldom been around -- and, when he was, fights were common -- he wasn't really missed. They cried for their mom, though, especially as the few calls they were allowed during the first month of her incarceration were reduced, by prison regulations, to a trickle of letters.

Still, stability has allowed the children to plug into their areas of strength inside and outside of school. The boys play soccer and basketball and the girls enjoy singing and dancing; two of the children play instruments. The family even discusses the possibility of making the story of their lives into a movie one day. Meanwhile, Angel runs her household with the understanding that "you lead by example." The older children tell and show the younger ones the way, and Angel, for her part, is determined to complete her high school degree one day. With just one math course to go, she has to graduate, she says, because her brothers and sisters are watching her. She doesn't want their role model to be a high school dropout.

She has already completed a six-month intensive post secondary program at the Victoria Motion Picture School, studying film acting, directing, and lighting. But for all the resiliency she's shown and all the support the family has received, it's hardly the life she once expected to lead. "I had my idea of my perfect world: I'd be a film actress, have lots of money, live in Kitsilano with the kids and Mom would be there: [we'd have] multiple houses, connecting or something.

"People with kids say to me, 'I don't know how you can do it, and I only have two kids.' And other parents say, 'I have a daughter your age and she'd never take care of five kids.' It's interesting to be doing what no person will do, and be what no one could be."

Nevertheless, she continues to take the world in hand; she is, after all, the girl who in grade seven wanted and got the part of King Midas in a school play because "it had the most lines," and despite the fact it was supposed to be a male part. She may not be living in Kitsilano, but by responding to her father's death and her mother's incarceration as she has, she's proven to herself that she's capable of more important things. "This is who I want to be," she says simply. And she knows that "keeping the kids together will hugely change their lives, and a whole other life comes out of that."

Their home life isn't perfect, of course; after all, they're siblings. At times she feels like she's constantly putting them in their corners, telling them to stop bugging each other. "It's busy, it's hectic. It's five kids to one adult. It's insanity. You have your hard days, your really hard days, and your really, really, really hard days. But there are moments that make it all worthwhile."

Moments like when she took the 11-year old boy out for some quality time, something she tries to do weekly with each child. He'd just won a soccer game, so they drove to a fast food restaurant for a treat. Sitting in the car, sipping his drink, he turned to Angel and said, "You're going to be a great mom, a terrific mom."

"Why? What makes you say that all of a sudden?"

"Because. Somehow you figured out how to take care of five kids and yourself."

Margaret Crane is still in a Thai jail, awaiting a trial that will take place in 2008. Communication is difficult; her lawyer speaks only Thai, although she does have a translator. Angel does her best to help from a distance, but already she has learned that, whether the government is Canadian or Thai, everything is a process.

Her faith supports her. "I'm a Christian," she says. "That first year I was very blessed in how everything came together. The survival mode was just that: every day was survival, hanging on by a thread, every day just getting from one task to the next task. Now I'm grounded and strengthened in my faith that everything is going to work out. I trust in God and Jesus. This is meant to be and this is all going to come together. The family's together, the kids are together. Now it's just a matter of keeping it [together], of making it happen. It's still very busy and stressful, but now I'm not surviving -- I'm living this way.

"In the beginning I had a lot of help from all sorts of places. God puts people where you need them to be when you need them to be. Now moving into the second year, close friends, a best friend, an older sister, and a grandma all help. It isn't so sporadic. It's turned into a real routine. These people who are close to me have been through it all. Some friends go on their way, some stay with you. Now I have continual help I can rely on. Not only have we made a new family, a new home: this is the way the kids are growing up -- now we have roots where we have close friends and a church family that support us for 'the long haul.'"

ENDBAR:

<snip>

Edited January 18, 2008 by Jai Dee
solicitation information removed from post

[Desertexile]

why it takes 1.5 years to wait for the trial?

Me not know, I sapeak wife me and ak her

[hawaiianeyes]

why it takes 1.5 years to wait for the trial?

Me not know, I sapeak wife me and ak her

Is there any way to find out when the trial will be? I had read over a year ago that it was to be in March 2008. Are court case schedules published or publically available in Thailand?

Thank you.

[hawaiianeyes]

Reuters India reports

THURSDAY, FEB. 14

CHIANG MAI, Thailand - Prosecution witnesses give testimony in murder trial of Canadian Margaret Crane, accused of killing her American lover/cult leader

Week ahead in Asia & Pacific from Feb 16

TUESDAY, FEB 19

CHIANG MAI, Thailand - Prosecution witnesses give testimony in murder trial of Canadian Margaret Crane, who is accused of killing her American partner, a Christian cult leader.

A Source fromChiang Mai has written to a Hawaii forum---

On Monday Mar 10 at 9.00am our time, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Margaret Crane will be sentenced for the murder of Hawaii based ‘cult’ figure Daniel Dubie.

Does anyone else know about progress in this case?

[Crow Boy]

There is a parallel thread in the CM subforum which is currently closed. After the verdict is delivered the result will be posted there and the thread updated with information as it occurs.

This thread is now closed and anyone interested is advised to follow the link Margaret Crane Court Case.

regards

CrowBoy

Moderating Team

Thai Visa