'I'll never forget his face'

Math professor Dorette Pronk. (Danny Abriel Photo)

It was a terrifying experience, but learning to forgive the man who abducted her is allowing Dorette Pronk to move on with her life.

“I was totally surprised at the affect that forgiveness had on me,” she says. “It’s given me peace.”

The Dalhousie mathematics professor was dropping an international student off at the airport when a man forced his way into her Dodge Intrepid and demanded she drive him away as fast as possible. During a two-and-a-half hour ordeal that is still coming back to her, she was instructed to drive him to an air strip, location unknown, while withdrawing money from bank accounts and credit cards at ATMs along the way.

“I’m not certain of what weapons he had, if any,” says Dr. Pronk, in her office in the Chase Building some three weeks later. “But he said he had a gun and explosives and said he wouldn’t hesitate to use them.”

As she drove at breakneck speed down the highway towards Truro, she tried to keep herself calm and ran through prayers in her head. But she became increasingly fearful for her life when told to drive down an overgrown back road. It was so rough that it ended up damaging the undercarriage, and smelling fuel, they exited the car.

“He took the keys and said, ‘get in the trunk,’” recalls Dr. Pronk, a Dutch citizen. “I thought to myself, ‘not in my lifetime’ and I ran as fast as I’ve ever run.” She found refuge in the first house she came to and called the police.

Ross Nelson Garland, age 50, was later arrested without incident in Moncton. Ordered by the court to undergo a psychiatric assessment, the Halifax man faces charges of forcible confinement, robbery and possessing a weapon related to the alleged abduction.

Dr. Pronk, meanwhile, is dealing with the aftermath: she’s had to replace her car, credit cards and passport—a task that required her to go to Ottawa to deal with in person.

And while she’ll never forget the fright of the experience or her captor’s face, she says support and understanding from her students, fellow professors in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and her church, All Nations Christian Reformed Church, is helping her cope. Getting back in the classroom was a good thing too, says Dr. Pronk, who teaches Life Sciences Calculus (MATH 1215) and Spectrum of Mathematics (MATH 1600). “For me, this is the way to tell myself that life is still normal.”

She tries not to plague herself about what she could have done to escape earlier, but says from now on, she’ll be more vigilant, by locking her car doors as soon as she gets in and looking into a self-defense class. In general, she says it’s important to take precautions and be aware of your surroundings—a timely reminder when the “sleepwatcher” is still at large.

“Yes, this is still friendly Halifax, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care.”

SEE STORY: Man accused in abduction fit to stand trial in The Chronicle Herald