durahregion.com This Week Thursday, April 21, 2022 | 8 Over 90 years of Service to our Community We offer Modern Amenities Together with Timeless Values of Trust and Caring Service. 110 Dundas Street E.,Whitby • 905-668-3410 wctownfuneralchapel.com A Whitby man is facing several sex assault charges, including luring a person under 14, in the Woodstock area. The Oxford detachment of the OPP laid the charges following an investigation, police said. Zubair Tanhim, 28, has been charged with sexual assault on a person under 16 years of age, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching under 16 years of age, luring a person under 14 years of age by means of telecommunication and possession of child pornography. No other details were released by the police. He is being held in custody awaiting a bail hearing before the Ontario Court of Justice in Woodstock. WHITBY MAN CHARGED IN SEX ASSAULT CRIME It was a harrowing incident that shocked Durham Region, but the couple at the centre of it are sharing their experience following a devastating attack. On July 28, 2020, at 8:15 p.m., Kimberley Black left her Whitby home to go for a walk. It didn't go as planned, as she was attacked, sexually assaulted and savagely beaten. Black and her husband Rob Tardik have turned the experience into B Positive, where they tell their story and hope it inspires others. During a luncheon hosted by the Whitby Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, April 13 at Deer Creek Golf and Banquet Facility in Ajax, Black and Tardik spoke to the audience of about 150 attendees about mental health and being resilient in the face of adversity. Tardik said that when Black didn't come home from her walk, he went searching for her. He also called the Durham Regional Police. She was found at 10:25 a.m. the next morning, lying half naked in a creek bed near Taunton Road East and Anderson Street. She was taken to St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, where she remained in a coma for two weeks. Her injuries included a fractured skull, broken jaw, front and back rib fractures that punctured a lung and mini fractures to her eye sockets. She said she still can't taste or smell, has facial numbness and can only raise one eyebrow. A neurosurgeon told Tardik after Black's first CT scan that she had brain damage and was "basically a vegetable," Black said. Black noted that two weeks before the attack, she had submitted her master's thesis in education. "You go from having a normal daily life, just doing your thing and life can change on an instant," Black said with a snap of her fingers. When asked what he's learned about himself through the experience, Tardik said, "You'd think, for a situation like this, the potential would be to withdraw and hide. There's shame at what happened to you. But I found the resilient strength. It's absolutely changed my life. So yeah, I'm stronger, I learned I'm a lot more resilient than I thought." "I can speak for both of us when I say this experience has brought us closer together. Our marriage and friendship has been stronger than it's ever been," Black said. When asked if they have or could forgive the perpetrator, Black said, "I don't really feel anything toward that person. I don't feel anger, I don't feel hatred. I don't want all of these terrible things to happen to that person. So, if that represents forgiveness, then maybe I have." She added, "I don't harbour any ill will toward that person. What I do want, what would be the most important outcome for me, is that person never has the opportunity, what he did to me, to do to someone else's daughter what he did to me." Tardik said forgiveness is "something I'll never have." "He needs to be away. We all have wives, mothers, daughters. They are not safe if this person is allowed to come out in 10, 15, 20 years. This is an evil person and I have no forgiveness for them at all," Tardik added. "I'm not happy he did this to me, but I am happy he didn't do this to someone else," Black said. "That could be someone who may have physical issues, someone who is young and have their whole life ahead of them, and now they are destroyed. Or someone who had mental health issues and now their spirit is completely crushed. "OK, I'll take one for the team, but don't let that guy do this to someone else's daughter, ever again," she added. WHITBY COUPLE RECOUNT ATTACK AND ONGOING JOURNEY Anthony Doiron-Francis is a suspect in relation to a vicious attack on a woman in Whitby in late July of 2020. He faces several charges, including attempted murder. Durham Regional Police photo KEITH GILLIGAN kgilligan@durhamregion.com NEWS FIND MORE LOCAL EVENTS AT DURHAMREGION.COM