29 November 2008

Posted By TREVOR PRITCHARD

An officer with the Ontario Provincial Police's Project Truth team blasted the actions of the Crown attorney at the 2001 sex abuse trial of city lawyer Jacques Leduc.

Det. Const. Steve Seguin told the Cornwall Public Inquiry that Shelley Hallett's tendency to conduct lengthy, multiple interviews with possible witnesses and victims was "excessive" and weakened the prosecution's case against Leduc, who was facing charges he'd sexually assaulted three teenage boys.

"Every time the story was told, it was a new story," said Seguin, who spent his second day in the witness box Friday. "And it gave the defence a heyday."

Leduc was charged in December 1999 by Project Truth, the OPP's investigation into rumours a pedophile ring had once preyed on children in the Cornwall area.

Seguin told the commission he and another Project Truth officer, Det. Const. Joe Dupuis, helped Hallett prepare witnesses for Leduc's trial.

An exhibit entered into evidence Friday showed that Hallett interviewed one victim, known at the inquiry as C-16, on three occasions, with only one interview lasting less than 30 minutes.

That same exhibit showed she also conducted multiple interviews with a number of witnesses, many of which took at least an hour.

"It became excessive when victims or witnesses didn't want to participate in this anymore," said Seguin.

The inquiry is probing how institutions like the OPP and the Crown attorney's office handled allegations of historical sexual abuse.

"Good question. I don't know if I ever did," said Seguin.

Seguin made those same comments later in 2001 after the York Regional Police began investigating whether Hallett had obstructed justice during Leduc's trial.

One of the Crown's witnesses was C-16's mother, who testified she'd spoken about her son's allegations to former Cornwall cop Perry Dunlop - information Leduc's defence team accused Hallett of intentionally withholding.

Dunlop had mentioned the conversation in a sworn April 2000 statement.

After C-16's mother's testimony, Seguin and Dupuis were assigned by Det. Insp. Pat Hall, the leader of Project Truth, to get a copy of a July 2000 memo Hallett sent to the OPP suggesting she had Dunlop's statement in her possession.

Echoing his fellow officer's testimony from earlier this month, Seguin said he and Dupuis went to Hallett's hotel room, asked for her copy, and - without telling her what they were going to do with it - turned it over to Leduc's defence team.

"You don't know whether officer Hall told her, correct?" asked Citizens for Community Renewal lawyer Peter Wardle.

"Yeah, I have no idea what the conversation would have been," said Seguin.

The charges against Leduc were thrown out after the judge ruled Hallett's non-disclosure had violated Leduc's right to a fair trial.

Although the decision was overturned on appeal, all the charges against Leduc were stayed for good in 2004.

In his statement to York police, Seguin recalled a meeting he and Dupuis had with Hallett on Feb. 26, 2001, a few days before the case was tossed out.

During that meeting, Hallett allegedly tore a strip off of Hall for going behind her back.

"To say that Crown Hallett was being unprofessional is an understatement," Seguin told police. "I have never seen a Crown attorney become so accusatory and unraveled. It appeared as if her life was just ruined."

Hallett told York police she simply missed the entry in Dunlop's statement, and was not charged with obstructing justice. She is expected to testify in either December or January at the inquiry.

Seguin maintained Friday his criticism was limited solely to Hallett's actions in the Leduc case.

"Contrary to what this looks like, I have a lot of respect for Shelley Hallett," he said. "It's what she did that I have a problem with."

The inquiry resumes Monday at 9:30 a. m.