For example, Maria Thomas, a 16-year-old Anglo-Cree Métis domestic servant, took her English Reverent employer to court for repeatedly raping her and subjecting her to illegal abortions. Thomas, in her testimony, used the laws in place to challenge her assaulter's actions. She suggested that British laws for British citizens abroad were not cohesive with his behaviour. She won the case; however, Reverent Owen Corbett was freed shortly after by a group of settler men. The courts did not challenge this, fearing insurrection, which demonstrates the weakness of colonial power despite the laws.