Charges stayed against Ottawa police officer, tow truck operator in alleged kickback scheme
All charges laid against an Ottawa police officer and a tow truck operator in an alleged tow-truck kickback scheme were stayed Tuesday due to what the court found was an unreasonable delay in the proceedings.
In her decision, Justice Sheila Ray told court, "I have been persuaded that there has been a violation of section 11(b) of the Charter and I'm staying the proceedings against Mr. Assaad and Mr. Ishraki." That section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees any person charged with an offence the right to be tried within a reasonable time.
The RCMP charged Jason Ishraki and Ottawa police constables Hussein Assaad, Andrew Chronopoulos and Kevin Putinski in April 2020 with numerous offences including breach of trust and secret commissions after an investigation into an alleged plot to tip off some local tow truck drivers to collision scenes in exchange for a fee.
Last week, most charges against Chronopoulos and Putinski were stayed. Putinski pleaded guilty to one count of fraud under $5,000. He was given a conditional discharge of 18 months of probation and will have no criminal record.
The two officers also resigned from the Ottawa Police Service, effective on Friday.
In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, Assaad's laywer Joseph Addelman said, "The conduct of the RCMP and MAG [Ministry of the Attorney General] resulted in severe delay and hardship to my client. As a result my client's constitutional rights were damaged beyond repair."
Addelman said the decision to stay all charges against Assaad was the right one.
"The harm done was not just to my client but to the administration of justice and to the community. This was a win for the administration of justice as much as it was for my client," he said.
Ishraki's lawyer, Mash Frouhar, said her client is happy to be able to finally move on.
"On behalf of Mr. Ishraki, we are of the view that the Honourable Justice Sheila Ray has properly recognized the excessive delay of over 30 months in this case and the clear breach of my client's Charter rights," Frouhar wrote in a statement. "The court found that the delay in this matter was largely due to the manner in which the RCMP and the Crown prosecutors decided to deal with disclosure issues, and not due to complexity or COVID related delay as suggested by the Crown."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.