30 January 2009

Posted By TREVOR PRITCHARD

The Cornwall Public Inquiry wrapped up nearly three years of testimony by hearing from one of the top civil servants in Ontario.

pedophiles preyed on children in Cornwall. Now the deputy Attorney General, Segal accepted responsibility for passing an e-mail that suggested Crown attorney Shelley Hallett might have obstructed justice during city lawyer Jacques Leduc's 2001 trial.

But the decision, he told lead commission counsel Peter Engelmann, wasn't personal.

"I refer incidents," Segal said. "I don't refer people."

Leduc, who was charged with sexually abusing three teen boys, was one of 15 men charged during Project Truth.

His charges were stayed in 2001 after the judge ruled Hallett had failed to disclose evidence that was essential to the defence's case.

After the charges were stayed, Segal was given an e-mail from Det. Insp. Pat Hall, Project Truth's lead investigator.

In the e-mail, Hall wrote that Hallett had known the evidence was important before the Leduc trial began.

Segal said he sought legal advice before passing the material over to the York Regional Police.

"The circumstances were very challenging," he said. "One had to be as supportive and optimistic as possible."

Hallett was investigated but never charged with obstructing justice.

 The 2001 stay ruling was also later overturned. When Hallett was on the stand, she testified she wasn't able to see the investigators' final findings - which revealed no one, including Hall, thought she intentionally withheld anything -until a few months before her testimony at the inquiry.

Segal said any member of the public would have also been denied access, and he didn't want it to look like he was playing favourites with one of his employees.     

"I tried to show this in a way that would not show favouritism," he said.