Latest news with #CrownProsecution
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Yahoo
Six years later, Alberta RCMP officer who shot person in face charged with aggravated assault
A retired Alberta RCMP officer is facing criminal charges for allegedly shooting a person during an investigation more than six years ago. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) on Tuesday announced it has charged former Mountie Geordie Erickson with aggravated assault. The charge stems from an April 6, 2019, stolen property investigation in Eckville, a town outside Red Deer. During the investigation, Erickson was accused of shooting the occupant of a vehicle in the cheek. ASIRT's investigation revealed 'reasonable grounds to believe that an offence had been committed,' and the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service determined the evidence met its standards for prosecution, ASIRT said in a news release. Erickson was released on an appearance notice and is scheduled to appear Aug. 28 in Red Deer's Court of Justice. ASIRT is in charge of investigating cases where police officers kill or seriously injure members of the public, as well as allegations of criminal misconduct by law enforcement. jwakefield@ @ Related ASIRT investigating after man shot dead by police in Lac La Biche Law enforcement watchdog appointed to head up new Alberta Police Review Commission You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun
National Post
21-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Michael Higgins: Locking Tamara Lich up for 7 years would be shameful retribution
It is to be hoped that the judge in the case of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, key organizers of the notorious Freedom Convoy, has more common sense and respect for justice than the prosecution which seems intent on nothing more than revenge and retribution. Article content Whatever one's view of the Freedom Convoy and its actions during a three-week period in early 2022, a prison sentence of seven years for Lich and eight years for Barber would throw the administration of justice into disrepute. Article content Article content Article content That the Crown is asking for these sentences is shameful and ignores some of the other issues in this country that is making Canadians doubt that the legal system is fair, balanced, impartial and beyond reproach. Article content Article content Most of the prosecution case has been demolished. Lich was facing six charges and Barber seven for a variety of accusations including mischief, intimidation, counselling others to break the law, obstructing police and counselling others to obstruct police. Article content At the end of a 45-day trial the organizers of the convoy were both found guilty of mischief and Barber was also found guilty of counselling others to disobey a judge's order to stop honking horns. Article content They were found not guilty of the majority of the charges and yet the Crown demands a penalty that is entirely unjustified. Article content This week they will be sentenced by Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey but at the weekend Lich tweeted that the Crown was asking for seven years imprisonment for her and eight for Barber. Article content Article content Their fate will be decided three years and five months after they were first arrested. An old adage says justice delayed is justice denied. Article content Article content But it is interesting to note that in her April 3 judgement finding the pair guilty, the judge said she accepted that Lich and Barber came to Ottawa 'with the noblest of intentions to simply protest their wish for the government and Prime Minister (at the time) Trudeau to end COVID mandate.' Article content Further, 'The Crown agrees that the accused came to Ottawa to advance a noble cause and had the right to protest against COVID mandates, but argues they crossed the line with the means used to achieve their ends.' Article content The Freedom Convoy was certainly a nuisance. It caused inconvenience and hardship for citizens for some three weeks. The honking of horns was particularly annoying until stopped by a court order. Article content The judge said in her ruling, 'Persons testified that the noise from the truck horns made it difficult for downtown residents to sleep and focus on work. Others testified that the egress from their buildings was blocked or that because of the streets being blocked that it was difficult or impossible to get to work and appointments. Generally, the central core of the city came to a standstill. Article content 'The downtown residents who testified including persons and their families who lived in the downtown core, owners and employees of small businesses and other institutions such as churches suffered significant interferences in the use and enjoyment of their property and in their daily activities because of the protest.' Article content But the Freedom Convoy was not violent. Article content The line that Lich and Barber crossed is one written in sand, shifting, defined only after the fact by the courts and only after a contest between competing rights. Article content The judge said that there is a 'delicate balance between law enforcement concerns for public safety and order and individual rights and freedoms on the other.' Article content There was 'tension' between those rights, she said. Article content Judge Perkins-McVey quoted a judge in another case who said, 'in a free and democratic society such as Canada, we welcome and encourage people to hold demonstrations if such is necessary to exercise their right of freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and their right to freedom of association as guaranteed by section two of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Article content Article content 'However, society also expects demonstrators to exercise these rights to do so without violating the rights of others to move about freely or to engage in activities which they have a perfect legal right to do so.' Article content Here is the nub of the case. The judge had to balance the tension between Lich's and Barber's perfect right to protest with the rights of people to go about enjoying their daily lives. Article content 'At the heart of the competing interests in this case lies the question to what extent does the exercise of the right to protest protects those from criminal liability when the rights of other citizens to enjoy their property have been impacted by their actions. Even Charter-protected rights are not absolute,' said the judge. Article content The defence argued the pair were 'engaged in and encouraged a lawful and constitutionally protected peaceful protest.' Article content The judge has found them guilty, but clearly from her ruling there has been, and will be going forward, much more debate and cases involving protests and citizens' rights. Article content Article content Since October 7, 2023, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and other Canadian cities, have seen constant anti-Israel protests (along with demonstrations in support of the terror group Hamas) that have blocked streets, traffic, led to emergency vehicles being diverted, and caused much annoyance, nuisance, fear and alarm to citizens. Article content Yet they are continuing and more are planned. Article content Who decides that the rights of citizens have been impacted to such an extent that the protests are unlawful? The protesters won't do it. As is the case with protests, they push boundaries until they cross lines they don't see. Article content As for the citizens of Toronto, Montreal, et al, they aren't being listened to. Article content Regularly blocking intersections and causing distress to citizens in downtown Toronto for 21 months doesn't appear to be a crime. And yet honking horns and, yes, causing annoyance to the citizens of Ottawa for three weeks, is deemed worthy by the Crown of sending people to jail for seven and eight years. Article content
ABC News
17-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Crown says MP Gareth Ward's alleged assaults 'not a coincidence' in closing address
The prosecution in the sexual assault trial of New South Wales MP Gareth Ward has told the jury the striking similarities between the two complainants' stories are evidence that they are telling the truth. On Thursday, in closing submissions in week eight of the trial, the Crown said both alleged victims were "strangers to each other, living separate lives, hours apart", and yet had each independently come forward with "remarkably similar accounts of being assaulted by Mr Ward". "It is not a coincidence," the prosecutor told the NSW District Court in Sydney. "There are just too many similarities for that to be the case. "Keep in mind how these men are not known to each other, they live in different cities, [and] there is no suggestion they have in any way gotten their heads together. Mr Ward has pleaded not guilty to five charges, including sexual intercourse without consent. The jury has heard that both young men, aged 24 and 18 at the time of the alleged offending, had each met Mr Ward through his position as a then-Liberal MP. One was employed as a political staffer, and the other encountered Mr Ward at a networking event. The Crown said the nature of their relationship with Mr Ward was "very unequal in terms of the power dynamic". The Crown said both complainants said they were feeling emotionally low on the nights in question; the older after a difficult day at work, the younger due to a relationship breakdown, and both had been drinking. The court heard they were both separately invited to Mr Ward's homes in Potts Point and Meroo Meadow shortly before the alleged assaults in 2015 and 2013. The Crown said each of the men described being touched inappropriately while lying down, one in a bed, the other on the grass and later in a bed, and both said Mr Ward continued after being told to stop. The Crown told the jury it could consider the numerous independent similarities when weighing the credibility of the complainants' accounts. "You might think what happened to [the complainants] did not happen by random chance or just dumb luck," she said. "Similar behaviour, similar setting, same man, same conclusion — this is not a coincidence. "The Crown says the only reasonable explanation for the similarities is that the complainants are giving truthful accounts." The prosecution also raised what is known in law as "tendency evidence", behaviour that may suggest a person has a particular state of mind or pattern of conduct. The Crown said the jury could consider the combined evidence of both complainants involving Mr Ward as showing a tendency for him to be sexually interested in young, subordinate men, and to act on that interest. After her opening, the Crown turned to the prosecution case in more detail about the older complainant, and the alleged assault at Mr Ward's apartment at Potts Point after an event at NSW Parliament in September 2015. The Crown said the older complainant correctly identified the sparsely furnished Potts Point apartment, down to the specific bedroom, arguing this level of detail supported his account that the assault happened there. The Crown said the older complainant's willingness to concede small, uncomfortable details — like briefly participating in a kiss with Mr Ward, was a mark of honesty, not embellishment, and showed he knew it was important to tell the truth "warts and all". The jury was told the accused appeared to be "smoothing things over" the morning after the alleged assault, taking a detour to a cafe with the complainant instead of his usual parliament entrance, in what was framed as an attempt to defuse the night before. The Crown described a series of "deflections" by the complainant after the alleged assault, saying he walked a fine line, remaining polite and friendly with an MP while quietly distancing himself, all to protect his career. Jurors were told the complainant was deeply conscious of Mr Ward's influence, worried about losing political opportunities, and even feared being unable to pay his bills, pressures that the Crown said explained his continued friendliness. The Crown is continuing to make closing submissions, with the defence then expected to present its closing submissions to the jury.
BBC News
04-07-2025
- BBC News
Tyler Webb: Man who encouraged woman to kill herself detained
A man has been sentenced after he "repeatedly and persistently" encouraged a vulnerable woman he met online to kill Webb, 23, connected with his victim on social media before asking the woman, who cannot be named, to harm herself for his own "sexual gratification".Police said the victim's bravery was "profound" in reporting the offence, which led to Webb being the first person in the country to be charged with encouraging serious self-harm online under section 184 of the Online Safety Act was given a hybrid order of nine years and four months, which will see him detained at a mental health facility and if deemed fit to leave, he will serve the remainder in prison. Although Webb being charged was a legal first, the Crown Prosecution (CPS) said other cases brought since then had already of King Street in Loughborough, Leicestershire, admitted encouraging suicide and one count of encouraging or assisting someone to seriously self-harm at a hearing in Johnson, from the CPS, described the case as a "watershed prosecution" and said "as far as he is aware", this is the only case this offence has been used to prosecute someone targeting a vulnerable person via social Louise Oakley said Webb first met the victim on a social media forum - where mental health difficulties were being discussed - and, after their contact, started encouraging her to harm herself on the Telegram messaging app. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
The Sun
03-07-2025
- The Sun
Lucy Letby learned she faces MORE charges over baby deaths in jail ‘gossip' lawyer claims – as 2nd hosp dragged in probe
Child A, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby injected air intravenously into the bloodstream of the baby boy. COUNT 1 GUILTY. Child B, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby attempted to murder the baby girl, the twin sister of Child A, by injecting air into her bloodstream. COUNT 2 GUILTY. Child C, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of the baby boy. COUNT 3 GUILTY. Child D, allegation of murder. The Crown said air was injected intravenously into the baby girl. COUNT 4 GUILTY. Child E, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby murdered the twin baby boy with an injection of air into the bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the infant. COUNT 5 GUILTY. Child F, allegation of attempted murder. Letby was said by prosecutors to have poisoned the twin brother of Child E with insulin. COUNT 6 GUILTY. Child I, allegation of murder. The prosecution said Letby killed the baby girl at the fourth attempt and had given her air and overfed her with milk. COUNT 12 GUILTY. Child K, allegation of attempted murder. The prosecution said Letby compromised the baby girl as she deliberately dislodged a breathing tube. COUNT 14 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT AT ORIGINAL TRIAL, NOW GUILTY AFTER RETRIAL Child L, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said the nurse poisoned the twin baby boy with insulin. COUNT 15 GUILTY. Child M, allegation of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby injected air into the bloodstream of Child L's twin brother. COUNT 16 GUILTY. Child N, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma in the baby boy's throat and also injected him with air in the bloodstream. COUNT 17 GUILTY, COUNT 18 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT, COUNT 19 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT. Child O, allegation of murder. Prosecutors say Letby attacked the triplet boy by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with "severe force". COUNT 20 GUILTY. Child P, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said the nurse targeted the triplet brother of Child O by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube. COUNT 21 GUILTY. Child Q, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby injected the baby boy with liquid, and possibly air, down his feeding tube. COUNT 22 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT
