Ex-cop Dunlop says he doesn't have the heart to face grilling at sex abuse inquiry

Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 | 6:10 PM ET

Canadian Press: Gregory Bonnell, THE CANADIAN PRESS

CBC website

TORONTO - After steadfastly condemning a public inquiry largely of his own making, Perry Dunlop presented himself Wednesday as a proud but emotionally fragile man without the heart to face a roomful of lawyers probing allegations of systemic sexual abuse in eastern Ontario.It was 1993 when Dunlop, a former police officer, first made his explosive allegations of a pedophile ring operating in the city of Cornwall, Ont., south of Ottawa. Police investigations have since failed to uncover any evidence to support his claims.Dunlop, now convicted of contempt of court, faces the prospect of six months in jail for his steadfast refusal to testify at a public inquiry now probing how authorities in the community responded to the allegations he first made some 15 years ago.He insisted Wednesday he's not about to change his mind."I will never walk into that public inquiry," Dunlop told a courtroom packed with some two dozen supporters, who stood and cheered him when he was ushered in by a trio of police officers, handcuffs on his wrists."I felt from day one they were out to get Perry Dunlop," he said, having chosen to represent himself in court rather than speak through a lawyer.