Latest news with #CalgaryCourtofJustice
Calgary Herald
21-07-2025
- Health
- Calgary Herald
In Calgary courts: Preliminary inquiry begins for Calgary doctor accused of billing $2.2 million for services not performed
Article content Evidence began Monday to determine if a Calgary doctor will stand trial for fraud over allegations she bilked taxpayers $2.2 million for work she never performed. Article content At the request of defence lawyers Clayton Rice and Heather Ferg, Justice Heather Lamoureux ordered a publication ban on the testimony of witnesses being called by Crown prosecutor Colin Schulhauser at the preliminary inquiry of Dr. Shabeena Fazhulla. Article content Article content Article content Schulhauser expects to call nine witnesses over the course of the Calgary Court of Justice hearing which is scheduled to last five days but will likely rap up on Thursday. Article content Article content Rice told Lamoureux he doesn't anticipate disputing whether there is a sufficient amount of evidence to order his client to stand trial before a Calgary Court of King's Bench jury. Article content Fazhulla, 50, faces a single charge of fraud laid by Calgary police last year in connection with bill claims by her. Article content When the charge was laid in April 2024 police said they were contacted by the Alberta Health Services investigative unit after the health authority probed the billing practices of family physician Fazhulla, who worked out of the SF Medical Clinic at 1106 Edmonton Tr. N.E. The investigation covered her billing from March 2020 to June 2022, said police. Article content Fazhulla was also listed as a clinical lecturer at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine. Article content 'It is alleged the doctor was billing the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan for additional time beyond the actual hours worked,' Calgary police said in an April 17, news release. Article content
Calgary Herald
14-07-2025
- Calgary Herald
In Calgary courts: Calgary man who lured 13-year-old over internet, had her send graphic photos handed prison term
The traumatic upbringing and family history of a Calgary man who lured a teenage girl over the internet was not enough to keep him out of jail, a judge ruled Monday. Article content Justice Jayme Williams said that while the 3½-year sentence sought by the Crown was excessive, a conditional sentence to be served in the community wouldn't adequately punish Jade Joven Fenton on charges of luring a minor and possession of child pornography. Article content Article content Article content Defence counsel Andrew MacKenzie had sought the maximum conditional sentence of two years less a day for Fenton, but Williams said that wouldn't adequately reflect the consequences of his crimes. Article content Article content The Calgary Court of Justice judge acknowledged Fenton's tragic past, both personally and within his family history. Article content At his sentencing hearing in May, MacKenzie put the offender's grandmother on the witness stand to detail the generations of sexual abuse family members endured. Article content 'It was not something that was ever dealt with.' Article content She recalled initially learning about her grandfather abusing his own daughters. Article content 'I was sexually abused at seven years old by a foster sister, and at 12 years old by my uncle, and then at 17 years old I was raped by a motorcycle gang.' Article content Article content She told MacKenzie that created an element of distrust and inability to form relationships by members of her family, including Fenton. Article content 'My father was a pedophile and so was my mother.' Article content Williams acknowledged Fenton, who is Metis and comes from an Indigenous family impacted by colonialism and residential school abuse, was also himself sexually molested as a child. Article content But she said that didn't excuse his decision to take advantage of a 13-year-old girl who had gone to an online site for people looking for friends. Article content Williams noted Fenton, 23 at the time, steered their internet discussions towards sex. Article content 'It was Mr. Fenton who converted the conversations from friendly to sexual by asking her for nude photographs,' the judge said. Article content She also said the impact on the victim, identified in court as E.M., was severe. Article content 'It is clear she continues to process the emotional trauma resulting from these offences,' Williams said. Article content She added, 'Often victims of luring feel they actively participated in their own abuse.' Article content While the offender and victim never met, Fenton convinced the teen they were in love and would run away and get married when she turned 18. Article content 'Mr. Fenton has had a difficult life to this point … but he knew from the beginning that E.M. was 13,' Williams said. Article content
Calgary Herald
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
In Calgary courts: Preacher violated conditional sentence order by sermonizing on courthouse steps, judge rules
Anti-drag protester Derek Reimer twice breached a condition of his community-based sentence by preaching to his flock on the Calgary Courts Centre steps, a judge ruled Tuesday. Article content Justice Brandy Shaw said Reimer's decision to speak to his followers in April and May while attending court for scheduled appearances breached the house arrest condition of his sentence. Article content Article content Article content And the Calgary Court of Justice judge denied an application by Reimer's lawyer, Andrew MacKenzie, that the law forcing those accused of breaches to prove their innocence violated his client's Charter rights. Article content Article content Shaw agreed with Crown lawyer Matt Dalidowicz a conditional sentence order breach hearing wasn't the same as a criminal prosecution, which requires the accused's guilt to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Article content 'Guilt or innocence is not the core of the issue before the court on a CSO breach hearing, the offender has already been found guilty of a criminal offence,' Shaw said in denying MacKenzie's Charter challenge. Article content The judge found Reimer's conduct in stopping to speak to supporters using a microphone and being livestreamed for more than 50 minutes on two occasions was not permitted under his conditional sentence, which allows court attendance as an exception. Article content Article content Reimer was handed a 12-month CSO with conditions including house arrest followed by two years' probation last Dec. 23, by Justice Karen Molle for criminally harassing a library manager while protesting an upcoming Reading with Royalty event where drag performers read stories to children. Article content Crown prosecutor Steven Johnston, who made submissions on what sanction should be placed on Reimer for the breaches, suggested his community term should be collapsed and he be forced to serve the balance behind bars. Article content 'He's given his chance, if I can call it that, by Justice Molle and it does not last long,' Johnston said. Article content But MacKenzie argued the two months Reimer had already served at the Calgary Remand Centre since his arrest on May 8, for the two breaches, would be a sufficient sanction. Article content The lawyer noted Reimer wasn't convicted for expressing his opinion. Article content 'The contents (of his speeches) didn't land him in custody,' MacKenzie said. Article content But Johnston noted Molle also found Reimer guilty of breaching conditions of previous bail releases while protesting drag events, so he has a history of ignoring court-ordered conditions. Article content 'This is a situation where Mr. Reimer had already been found guilty … of pretty similar behaviour,' he said. Article content
Calgary Herald
08-07-2025
- Calgary Herald
Calgary businessman admits laundering $800,000 on behalf of drug trafficking organization
Calgary businessman Talal Fouani admitted Tuesday to laundering about $800,000 in cash in connection with a massive drug trafficking organization, more than two years after he pleaded guilty to the charge. Article content Crown prosecutor Shelley Tkatch read in a lengthy statement of agreed facts signed by Fouani, whose case has slowly wound through Calgary Court of Justice for more than three years. Article content Article content Article content And it won't be until fall that Fouani, 48, who is now self-represented, will face a sentencing hearing before Justice Greg Stirling. Article content Article content Stirling ordered a pre-sentence report be prepared by probation at the request of both Tkatch and Fouani and also asked that a psychological assessment be conducted by the Forensic Assessment Outpatient Service. Article content The judge said the latter will be helpful in determining Fouani's 'wellness associated with the death of (his) spouse.' Article content Fouani was badly injured and his wife, Nakita Baron, killed when a gunman ambushed them outside their southwest Calgary home on Aug. 18, 2022, just two months after he was charged in connection with a massive international drug bust. Article content Edmontonian Michael Tyrel Arnold was convicted by a Calgary jury in June of second-degree murder and attempted murder in the deadly attack. He has not yet been sentenced. Article content Article content Fouani pleaded guilty to money laundering on behalf of a criminal organization on March 17, 2023, but because of a dispute between the Crown and defence on the facts, plus multiple other defence applications, the details of his crime were not put before the court. Article content Tkatch told Stirling on Tuesday that she and Fouani were able to come to a consensus on a statement of agreed facts, negating the necessity of a scheduled three-day hearing next month over disputed details. Article content Instead, she read in a lengthy document detailing a Calgary ALERT organized crime team investigation into drug trafficking and importation, money laundering and a criminal organization. Article content The main targets of the investigation were Ricco King, Elias Ade, Kary-Lynn Grant, Jarret Mackenzie and Abdul Akbar, who were all charged in connection with a scheme in which more than 800 kg of methamphetamine and cocaine were seized by police, Tkatch said.
Calgary Herald
26-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
In Calgary courts: Preliminary inquiry begins for pair charged with murdering Rocky View County worker believed to have offered assistance
More from Calgary courts Article content Article content The hearing to determine if two men will stand trial for the murder of a Rocky View County employee believed to have stopped to offer help got underway Monday. Article content Article content Elijah Blake Strawberry and Arthur Wayne Penner are charged with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death last Aug. 6 of Colin John Hough. Article content Article content They're also charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Matthew Andres in the same incident. Article content Before Crown prosecutors Photini Papadatou and Ryan Ziegler called the first of their witnesses, defence lawyers Rebecca Snukal (For Strawberry) and Alexandra Seaman (for Penner) were granted a publication ban on the evidence in the case by Justice Karim Jivraj. Article content At Papadatou's request, the Calgary Court of Justice also informed several members of the deceased's family viewing proceedings via Webex that the publication ban also prohibited them from publicly disseminating information about the evidence. Article content Hough was shot on a rural road near Conrich, east of Calgary, when it's believed he pulled over to offer assistance in connection with a burning truck. Article content Article content Andres, who was working for FortisAlberta Inc., survived being shot. Article content Papadatou and Ziegler are expected to call up to 13 witnesses over the course of the preliminary inquiry, which is scheduled to last four days. Article content Penner, 36, was arrested by the RCMP's major crimes unit with the assistance of Edmonton police six days after the fatal shooting of Hough. Article content He was initially charged with first-degree murder, but that allegation was later downgraded by the prosecution. Article content Strawberry, 28, was picked up more than a month after Hough's killing. Mounties arrested him Sept. 13, at a residence on O'Chiese First Nation near Rocky Mountain House in Central Alberta.
