Inquiry officials want Dunlop to testify

Cornwall Standard Freeholder 

Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 08:00 

Terri Saunders

Local News - Officials at the Cornwall Public Inquiry are continuing efforts to put former city cop Perry Dunlop on the witness stand.

"We are making ongoing attempts to have him come to the inquiry and testify," said Peter Engelmann, lead commission counsel, Wednesday. "We have told him if he wants someone to travel with him for support, we'll take care of it. If he wants to be represented by counsel, we'll arrange for that."

So far, Dunlop has not taken the commission up on its offer, a decision that's becoming more and more of an issue as the inquiry hears evidence Dunlop may have fabricated portions of statements attributed to at least one witness.

Dunlop, who once said his only mission as a cop was to "make sure children are safe," has been painted by the witness at the inquiry this week as manipulative, coercive and bent on bringing alleged child molesters to justice.

Ron Leroux, a former city man who claims he was sexually abused in the past by a number of priests, has testified this week many of the statements he's alleged to have made in the past about prominent members of the community being part of a pedophile ring that participated in bizarre sexual rituals involving children were false.

Leroux said he signed statement after statement put in front of him by Dunlop without reading any of them.

"He (Dunlop) was very persuasive," said Leroux Wednesday. "He'd say, 'Let's rock and roll,' 'Let's go,' and 'Let's go,' and 'Let's go.'" Leroux has made allegations at the inquiry Dunlop inserted words into statements he never said.

"Anything could have been written in there, I wouldn't even say anything about it," said Leroux. "There are a lot of discrepancies." In the past, Dunlop has returned from his home in Duncan, B.C. to testify about his actions during a seven-year period in the 1990s when he was conducting his own investigation into allegations of historical child sexual abuse.

He claimed he wasn't always forthcoming with investigators because he had little faith in them.

"I had a hard time trusting my police agency," Dunlop said during a court appearance in May 2002. "I knew something was very wrong. I didn't know who to trust. I was one lonely cop."

The Standard-Freeholder was unable to reach Dunlop for comment Wednesday.