|
Sabo's apology
| Editorials: StarPhoenix, Leader Post and National Post > > > | National Post
front page story, Jan. 10 >
> > | Coverage leading up to appeal court victory and
that victory > > >
December, 2004: Government
stalls appeal: seeks to intervene on its own behalf | Dueck walks away a wealthy man:
it seems no one has the will to make him account for his malicious
and criminal actions
-
- The Klassen
story
- Breaking
through to the public
Malicious prosecution
Comment Editor: Terence
Moore, Winnipeg Free Press, January 7, 2004
Saskatchewan Justice Minister Frank Quennell has remained silent
to date on the findings that a Crown prosecutor acted with a
police officer and a child therapist to maliciously prosecute
a dozen citizens in a case dubbed the "scandal of the century"
in 1991. Sixteen people were charged with the sexual abuse of
children in a case that involved allegations of Satanic rituals,
skinning of babies, eating of eyeballs - charges laid on the
word of children whose accusations were rewarded by gifts from
investigators. The Saskatchewan judge who ruled that 12 had been
victims themselves said the real scandal was the "travesty
of justice" that had occurred. Mr. Quennell needs to show
how he will prevent such a miscarriage from recurring.
Of the 16 people charged in
the case, three who went to court had their convictions later
overturned. One man plead guilty to sexual abuse in a plea bargain
with prosecutors. The children who made up the stories, more
than a decade ago, have grown up and have recanted.
Remarkably, unbelievably perhaps,
this is the second time faith in Saskatchewan's justice and police
authorities has been rattled by a malicious prosecution against
people charged with the ritualistic abuse of children. In 1992,
a year after the first "scandal of the century", the
Martensville day-care allegations rocked Canada with lurid details
of Satanic cults imperiling young children. Police were warned
to be on the watch for high priestesses who could be identified
by tattooed wrists. Nine people were charged in the Martensville
case; the two who have been found guilty had their convictions
overturned. Another man, a police officer, sued for malicious
prosecution; last year the province settled with him, having
been warned by a pre-trial judge it would lose.
Both of the men who led the
malicious prosecution actions were spurred by a need to clear
their names. They and the others charged have been scarred by
the mere accusation they preyed upon society's most vulnerable.
A former justice minister apologized to the Martensville accused,
but no action was taken against those responsible. In the most
recent case, both the police officer and the Crown attorney remain
employed.
It may be that the refinement
of techniques for questioning children will prevent young people
from being led to false accusations. It may be that the widespread
paranoia of the 1980s about Satanic cults that sacrifice babies
and prey sexually upon young people has passed into history.
None of this will prevent the next frenzy of insupportable charges
and prosecutions against innocent people. The justice minister
needs to ensure that necessary systemic reforms have been implemented
to ensure the integrity of police investigations, and that prosecutorial
staff will test evidence to ensure it supports a charge. A critical
piece of this process is to show that those in authority who
fall down on their jobs are appropriately held to account. This
is Mr. Quennell's most immediate task.
terry.moore@freepress.mb.ca
Gov't refuses to
apologize
Gerry Klein, The StarPhoenix;
with files from The Canadian Press, January 09, 2004
The provincial government has
no apologies -- just sympathy -- for the Klassen family falsely
accused of abusing foster children and will appeal a malicious
prosecution judgment in a case dubbed the "Scandal of the
Century."
"It's clear from the judgment
that there has been a great deal of suffering in the lives of
many people over more than a decade," said Justice Minister
Frank Quennell in a prepared statement. "I extend my deepest
sympathy to all of those involved, the plaintiffs (the Klassen
families), the witnesses and the defendants."
However, he said, "It
is our position that the Crown prosecutors did not commit a wrong
and there is no reason they would be required to apologize in
that circumstance."
Although the government wasn't
a direct party to the suit, Quennell said he backed the decision
to appeal.
Quennell instructed his officials
to appeal a day after Saskatoon police Chief Russell Sabo called
a press conference to apologize for any role the police service
played in the investigation and prosecution of the 12 falsely
accused. He promised a review of the case by an outside law firm.
In December, Court of Queen's
Bench Judge George Baynton found that child therapist Carol Bunko-Ruys,
Crown prosecutor Matthew Miazga and Saskatoon police officer
Supt. Brian Dueck -- who was a corporal when the case broke --
had maliciously prosecuted the Klassen plaintiffs. The Klassens
had been accused of the ritual abuse of three foster children
more than a decade ago.
They are seeking in excess
of $10 million in damages.
The decision to carry the case
forward both disappointed and confused Richard Klassen, who represented
himself throughout the trial.
"They tortured us for
13 years; I guess they are going to continue for another one
or two," Klassen said in an interview in Saskatoon after
Quennell's Regina press conference.
Sabo said he launched an investigation
into Dueck's role in the case, adding that Dueck will not conduct
police work until that investigation is concluded. Quennell,
however, said the justice officials involved -- including Miazga
-- are continuing to their duties.
Quennell said he continues
to have faith in the way prosecutions are carried out and, particularly,
in the way Miazga does his job, based in part on his personal
experience with the prosecutor.
There is a need for clarity
in the law about malicious prosecutions, said Quennell, and the
only way to do that is to appeal the judgment.
Besides appealing Baynton's
interpretation of the evidence and the law, Donald McKillop,
a justice official lawyer representing Miazga, Hansen, and Bunko-Ruys,
said he will also ask the Court of Appeal how to proceed with
the case in light of an agreement signed by all parties in the
dispute in March. According to the deal, regardless of how the
suit turned out, the issue of costs would be dealt with before
any appeal could go ahead.
David Gerrand, the Regina lawyer
representing Dueck, said Thursday no decision has been made on
whether the officer will appeal. In most cases, parties to a
suit have 30 days to launch an appeal but that March agreement
complicates matters, he said.
Don Morgan, the Saskatchewan
Party justice critic, was surprised the government was trying
to sidestep this deal and had refused to apologize, he said.
The issue of whether an appeal
should be launched on the question of what constitutes malicious
prosecution should be separate from the issuing of an apology
and the paying of compensation, he said.
When the government opted to
pay compensation to David Milgaard, who was wrongfully convicted
of the 1969 murder of a Saskatoon nurse and spent more than 20
years in prison, it was done because that was the right thing
to do for an individual so grievously harmed by the justice system,
not because of a court settlement, Morgan said.
That's what should have been
done in this case, once the government realized the serious harm
it had done by pursuing the case then failing to apologize for
it, he said.
"One of the troubling
aspects of this case is that it could happen to any citizen of
this province," he said.
The Klassens were completely
innocent and their only crime was being foster parents to some
of the most vulnerable people in society, Morgan said.
While Klassen was disappointed
by Quennell's decision, he and his family is determined to carry
on, he said.
"What option do we have?
We didn't go this far and get a favourable judgment to quit now."
Members of his family began
crying on hearing of Quennell's decision and some are frightened
by it, he said.
Klassen and other family members
have also had to pay for counselling to help deal with the trauma
of the case, he added.
But he is still ready to battle
and, as of this morning, he will be asking for a ruling on whether
the province can renege on its agreement to address costs and
compensation before an appeal would be allowed, Klassen said.
© Copyright 2004 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Saskatchewan offers Klassen
no apology
By DARREN YOURK, Globe
and Mail, Jan. 8, 2004
Saskatchewan Justice Minister
Frank Quennell offered no apology Thursday to the 12 members
of the Klassen family falsely accused of abusing foster children,
announcing that the provincial government plans to appeal a Dec.
30 judgment that the 12 were victims of malicious prosecution
in the case.
"No apology," Mr.
Quennell told reporters. "It is our position that the crown
prosecutors did not commit a wrong and there is no reason why
they would be required to apologize in that circumstance."
Justice George Baynton ruled
Dec. 30 on a lawsuit filed by the 12 that the plaintiffs were
maliciously prosecuted by Saskatoon police Superintendent Brian
Dueck, therapist Carol Bunko-Ruys and Crown prosecutor Matthew
Miazga, calling the case a "travesty of justice."
Government lawyer Don McKillop
said Thursday he will appeal the malicious prosecution finding
on behalf of his clients - a decision the Attorney-General
of Saskatchewan has decided to support.
"It is our view that the
judge erred in his judgement," Mr. Quennell said. "This
judgment significantly changes the criteria for malicious prosecution
from the one outlined by the Supreme Court of Canada and therefore
has grave consequences for the administration of justice in Saskatchewan.
"We need clarity on the
law - and the only way to obtain that is to appeal the judgment."
Richard Klassen told CBC Newsworld
he wasn't expecting an apology to come Thursday.
"It was not something
I was expected from the Saskatchewan government," Mr. Klassen
said. "They took us this far.... I think the damages will
go forward and I fully intend to proceed on with the damages
trial."
"We were vindicated on
one hand ... and then on the other hand they're saying they did
nothing wrong. Clearly there's a difference here and I guess
the system goes that way. I will continue to fight."
Mr. Quennell did offer his
sympathy to all of those who have had their lives consumed by
the case.
"It is clear from the
judgment that there has been a great deal of suffering and upheaval
in the lives of many, many people over more than a decade,"
he said. "This is truly a regrettable situation and I extend
my deepest sympathy to all those involved."
The Saskatoon Police department
apologized to the Klassen family at a press conference Wednesday.
"The judgment in this
case vindicates the plaintiffs for the criminal charges they
faced," Chief Russell Sabo said. "Based on the information
contained in the judgment, as the chief of police of the Saskatoon
police service, my sympathy goes to each and every person that
was wrongfully charged and I extend my apologies to them for
any part that the Saskatoon police service played in this case."
The Klassen family members
were falsely accused 12 years ago of abusing three young foster
children in bizarre ways -- forcing them to eat eyeballs, drink
blood, participate in orgies and watch newborn babies get skinned
and buried.
The whole ordeal, according
to published reports and court documents, began back in 1987
when three foster children all under the age of 10 -- a boy and
his younger twin sisters -- were put in the Saskatoon home of
Mr. Klassen's brother and sister-in-law.
The young boy was abusive to
his two sisters -- both physically and sexually -- and he was
eventually removed from the home.
That's when he started telling
police about horrific abuse that he said he and his sisters had
suffered. As police worked the case, the children were reunited
and shortly after, the sisters backed up their brother's claims.
The children have all since revealed the stories had been made
up.
Saskatoon police called it
the "scandal of the century" at the time, but most
of the cases never made it to trial. By 1993 most of the charges
were stayed.
While monetary compensation
was not mentioned in Judge Baynton's ruling, the Klassen family
is said to be seeking at least $10-million in damages.
"We all want our lives
back and we can't get it back," Mr. Klassen said. "This
is hanging over our heads and I don't know if any dollar figure
is going to help that, but certainly I want this case over."
Mr. Klassen maintains that
a full public inquiry into the case should be called.
With a file from Canadian Press ©
2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Saskatchewan won't apologize
to falsely accused
CANADIAN PRESS, January
8, 2004
REGINA - The Saskatchewan government
refused today to apologize to 12 people falsely accused of sadistically
abusing foster children in Saskatoon.
Justice Minister Frank Quennell
also said the province will challenge - all the way to the Supreme
Court if necessary - a recent civil court decision that found
the 12 members of the Klassen family were maliciously prosecuted.
"No apology," Quennell
told a news conference at the provincial legislature.
"It is our position that
the Crown prosecutors did not commit a wrong and there is no
reason they would be required to apologize in that circumstance."
He noted the Justice Department
is not part of the lawsuit and was barely mentioned in the judge's
decision.
Richard Klassen, the family
member who spearheaded the lawsuit against investigators, was
furious.
"What am I supposed to
do? Hang myself on a light post in downtown Saskatoon to get
my point across?" he said.
"I think I did right.
I think the judge said I did right by coming to the courts where
it belonged and I won. What more do they want from me?"
The Justice Department's stance
is in stark contrast to the one taken by the Saskatoon police
department.
Yesterdayk, police Chief Russell
Sabo apologized to the 12 members of the Klassen family and promised
a review of the case by an outside law firm.
The Klassens were charged in
1991 with abusing the children - a brother and his younger twin
sisters - in bizarre and demonic ways.
The children said they were
forced to eat eyeballs, drink blood, participate in orgies and
watch newborn babies get skinned and buried.
Saskatoon police called it
the "scandal of the century" at the time, but most
of the cases never made it to trial.
By 1993 most of the charges
were stayed to avoid further ``trauma" to the children.
But, as the years passed, the
children came forward publicly and recanted their accusations.
The boy, who had been abusive
to his sisters himself and was removed from the family's care,
said he had made up the allegations because he was frustrated
and wanted to be reunited with the girls. He said he coerced
the sisters into backing up his fantastic tales of abuse.
Until the ruling last week
by Queen's Bench Justice George Baynton, no official had acknowledged
the family's innocence. Sabo's apology was the first.
Baynton called the case a "travesty
of justice."
"It is almost beyond belief
that none of those involved in the prosecution of the plaintiffs
stood back, so to speak, and asked themselves if any of this
made any sense and whether it could reasonably be true,"
Baynton wrote in his 196-page decision.
Richard Klassen represented
himself in the lawsuit.
Over the course of the ordeal
his health has deteriorated. He has been diagnosed with prostate
cancer, which he has yet to have treated in any major way, and
he has developed an addiction to sleeping pills.
He said he fears that fighting
an appeal will kill him.
"They are probably hoping
that," Klassen said.
"But I'm ready to go.
If they want to go, let's go."
Apology extended in Saskatoon
abuse scandal
CTV.ca News Staff, Jan.
7, 2004
Saskatoon's police chief has
publicly apologized to 12 people who recently won a malicious
prosecution lawsuit over false allegations of sexual abuse.
"My sympathy goes to each
and every person who was wrongfully charged," said Russell
Sabo to those affected by what the police at the time called
Saskatchewan's "scandal of the century."
"I extend my apologies
to them for any part that the Saskatoon police service played
in this case."
A law firm has been hired to
see if any of his department's investigators violated the Saskatchewan
Police Act, he said.
"Wow. Thirteen years to
hear those words and we never thought we would," Richard Klassen,
one of the most high-profile plaintiffs, told The Canadian Press.
"It's a great step toward the healing process."
Robert Borden, lawyer for the
other 11 plaintiffs, said the apology satisfied his clients,
but noted it wasn't from the investigator who went after them,
but the police department.
No response has been made to
the ruling yet by the Saskatchewan government, although Deputy
Premier Clay Serby indicated Wednesday that one would be coming
in the next few days.
The case began in the late
1980s, but a judge ruled last week against three of the four
people named in the lawsuit.
Those individuals included
Police Supt. Brian Dueck, who was a corporal at the time of the
original investigation, therapist Carol Bunko-Ruys and Crown
prosecutor Matthew Miazga.
Another Crown prosecutor, Sonja
Hansen, was absolved of responsibility.
Dueck began a paid medical
leave Monday. Sabo said Dueck won't be working while the law
firm's review is being done.
The case began in 1987 with
allegations by a young boy, who was put into a foster home with
his younger twin sisters. All were under the age of 10.
The boy was removed from the
home for being emotionally and physically abusive to his sisters.
In an attempt to get back into the home, he told police about
abuse suffered at the hands of the family. And his sisters backed
up their brother's story.
Under prodding from investigators,
they told fantastic stories about drinking blood, eating eyeballs
and participating in orgies.
In 1991, police arrested 16
people, including the disabled birth parents of the three children
and members of the extended foster family.
One person pleaded guilty to
sex assault as part of a plea bargain to spare the others.
Three others -- the birth parents
and a family friend -- were found guilty but the decision was
overturned by the Supreme Court.
In 1993, charges against 12
of the 16 were stayed by the Crown on the grounds it wanted to
avoid further trauma to the children.
It turned out that several
Crown prosecutors had serious doubts about the childrens' credibility
and that Dueck had to work to find one to take the case.
In his judgment, Justice George
Baynton described the entire case as a "travesty of justice,"
and that he was shocked investigators didn't scrutinize the childrens'
statements more closely.
© Copyright 2003
Bell Globemedia Inc.
Margaret Wente: Scandal
of the Century
By MARGARET WENTE
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail, Jan. 6, 2004
In 1987, Anita and Dale Klassen
welcomed three foster children into their home - Michael Ross,
7, and his five-year-old twin sisters, Michelle and Kathy. Their
birth parents were deaf, alcoholic and dysfunctional, and all
three children had been sexually abused. They had severe behavioural
and emotional problems. Michael was the worst. He had to be kept
under constant supervision to prevent him from abusing his sisters.
He would sexually assault other kids whenever he was left alone
with them.
The Klassens treated their
foster children as their own, but Michael proved too much for
them. Anita begged social services to remove him, and at the
age of 10, he was finally sent to another foster home. Furious
at being separated from his sisters (whom he continued to molest
whenever he got the chance), he accused the Klassens of sexually
abusing him. He got his little sisters to pile on with allegations
of their own.
The stories were obviously
the concoctions of deeply troubled children. But not, according
to a court judgment, to the zealous lawyers at the Crown attorney's
office of Saskatchewan, or to the Saskatoon police, or to the
child therapist, who swallowed them whole and apparently egged
the children on for more. Their extraordinary spree of prosecutorial
and therapeutic misconduct resulted in the arrest of no fewer
than 16 people. The defendants were charged with more than 70
counts of sexual assault, including a bizarre array of lurid
crimes. The bill of indictment included the sexual violation
and murder of babies and animals, cannibalism and other unlikely
perversions. The media quickly named it the scandal of the century.
Among the accused was Dale's
brother, Richard. For the past 12 years he has fought tenaciously
to clear his name and that of his family, and it is he who has
become the public face of the case. Last week, he and all the
rest were spectacularly vindicated when they won a malicious-prosecution
suit against their tormentors.
Justice George Baynton found
against three of the four people named in the suit - Matthew
Miazga, the Crown attorney; Brian Dueck, the lead policeman in
the case; and Carol Bunko-Ruys, the child therapist. His verdict
was extraordinarily damning. "The real scandal," he
wrote, "is the travesty of justice that was visited upon
the plaintiffs in this civil action, by branding them as pedophiles."
He also noted that the defendants were less than forthcoming,
and had lost or mislaid important records.
Why the government lawyers
ever thought they had a case is a mystery. All they had was the
testimony of the Ross children, obtained over many months of
leading questioning. At no time were the children instructed
to tell the truth. Instead, they were showered with praise and
treats every time they found more horrors to "disclose."
Brian Dueck told them that he believed every word they said.
Incredibly, nobody tried to corroborate anything the children
said.
Meanwhile, the therapist, Ms.
Bunko-Ruys, insisted that the sisters be reunited with their
brother in his new foster home, even though she knew he'd been
molesting them. After they were reunited, they cooked up further
tales together, and the stories of molestation escalated.
As for the accused, they'd
been thoroughly traumatized. They were now social outcasts. Some,
including Anita, were emotionally destroyed. No apologies were
forthcoming. When the falsely accused launched their suit for
malicious prosecution, the government thought it was unwinnable,
and fought it tooth and nail for the next decade.
In 1999, Michelle Ross, now
17, recanted and apologized to the Klassens. Her brother, Michael,
signed a declaration saying he had made up all the stories. In
2001, Kathy, too, admitted she had lied in court. Undeterred,
the government fought on to defend itself. The sisters have now
launched lawsuits of their own, claiming that their protectors
miserably failed in their duty to protect them.
The settlement (yet to be determined)
could cost the government millions in damages, on top of the
millions it has already paid out to prosecute the case and, later,
defend the indefensible. To Richard Klassen, though, the case
won't be over until the government apologizes. It is, he says,
only what's due his family. (His mother, Marie, who was among
the accused, died during the proceedings.)
So far, there's no sign that
the people convicted in this case feel the least remorse for
the lives they wrecked, or even acknowledge that they were wrong.
Nor have they paid the kind of price their victims did. Supt.
Dueck still works for the Saskatoon police, where he is in charge,
ironically, of the records division. Matthew Miazga, the prosecutor,
still works for the Crown attorney's office. The child therapist,
Carol Bunto-Ruys, continued working for the province's social
services until recently; her current whereabouts are unknown.
© 2003 Bell Globemedia
Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Charges without truth
The Globe and Mail, Editorial,
January 6, 2004
In the late 1980s and early
90s, Canadians underwent a wrenching re-examination of their
collective treatment of children, brought about by a cluster
of painful revelations of sexual abuse at previously trusted
institutions.
There was the Mount Cashel
orphanage in Newfoundland, closed in 1990 after it emerged that
schoolboys there were sexually and physically abused by Christian
brothers over many years, despite repeated complaints to the
authorities. There was St. George's Cathedral in Kingston, Ont.,
where a choirmaster preyed sexually on his charges for nearly
15 years, even after reports of his crimes to church officials,
until one victim's suicide forced the case into the open.
But amid the horror sparked
by such cases, something terrible developed: a bandwagon effect.
Any allegation at all about child sexual abuse, however outlandish,
unsubstantiated or unlikely, was taken at face value. For those
unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of the allegations,
there was no recourse. They were branded as pedophiles, in much
the way nearly two dozen innocent people were branded witches
in 17th-century Salem, Mass. In modern Canada, there are no hangings.
But reputations were destroyed and lives wrecked nonetheless.
The hysteria peaked in Saskatchewan
in the early 1990s in two cases that, though unrelated, bear
a gut-wrenching similarity. In the best known, children at the
Travis family babysitting service in Martensville alleged they
had been hung in cages and forced to eat feces or swallow acid,
have sex with adults, dismember other children and engage in
human sacrifice. Though there was no evidence to corroborate
these tales, 200 charges were laid in 1992 against eight people.
Eventually, one man was found guilty of two counts of sexually
touching one girl. The rest of the charges were dropped.
The previous year, in Saskatoon,
police had charged 16 people with more than 70 counts of sexual
assault. Here, too, the alleged crimes were almost inconceivably
perverse. Three children told stories of ritual abuse, cannibalism
and forced inges-tion of feces, urine and blood. Investigating
authorities habitually rewarded the children with treats for
making "revelations." Here too, there was no supporting
evidence. Eventually, all three children admitted they had made
the stories up.
Last week, a Saskatchewan judge
found a Crown attorney, a police officer and a social worker
liable for malicious prosecution in the Saskatoon case. Richard
Klassen, one of 12 people who were wrongly charged and the leader
of the civil action, has been vindicated. Damages have yet to
be determined.
Nothing, no amount of money,
no degree of public exoneration can restore the decade Mr. Klassen
lost fighting to clear his family's name, or assuage the suffering
they endured. Saskatchewan's justice system owes them a debt
that can never be repaid.
Accused
in sex scandal want gov't apology
CanWest News Service, January
6, 2004 (Edmonton Journal)
REGINA - The 12 people who
successfully sued investigators for malicious prosecution
in an unfounded sexual abuse case want the Saskatchewan government
and police to apologize.
Lawyer Robert Borden
said the 12 members of Richard Klassen's family and extended
family deserve official recognition that they have done nothing
wrong in light of last week's civil court ruling that found
they were victims of malicious prosecution.
"These people were
wronged. These people were innocent. That is clear," Borden
said Monday.
"Surely these parties
should have the courage to come forward and say that the
judge was right.
"That is not an
admission of liability. That is simply doing the right thing."
Apology due to Klassen
plaintiffs: justice critic
Shannon Boklaschuk, January
6, 2004 The Star Phoenix, January 6, 2004
Although a week has
passed since a judge ruled in the Klassen malicious prosecution
lawsuit, neither the justice minister nor the chief of police
have commented publicly on the matter.
Don Morgan, the Saskatchewan
Party's justice critic, says an apology should be given
to Richard Klassen and the 11 other plaintiffs wrongly accused
of ritual child abuse in the early 1990s.
Morgan said he's surprised
Justice Minister Frank Quennell hasn't provided a "formal
response" in relation to the Klassen malicious prosecution
case yet.
"I mean, he should
at least come out and say, 'We're sorry that this has done this
to your lives,' " Morgan said.
"And then he should
obviously start the wheels in motion to try and resolve it
and settle it."
"I mean, you'd
hate to see this thing go back to court and have yet another
trial conducted, another process, to determine the quantum
of damages on it."
Last week, Justice George
Baynton of the Court of Queen's Bench ruled that Klassen
and the other plaintiffs were maliciously prosecuted by child
therapist Carol Bunko-Ruys, Crown prosecutor Matthew Miazga
and Saskatoon police officer Brian Dueck.
But while the plaintiffs
sought in excess of $10 million, monetary compensation
wasn't addressed in Baynton's 189-page judgment.
On Monday, Morgan called
the judgment "scathing," and wondered what changes
the government plans to make as a result of the lengthy
document.
"Right now, on
the basis of the judgment, there's enough information there they
can change and revamp a lot of the policies and the practices
that they have for investigating sexual abuse," he
said.
"It's a damning
indictment of how things were done in this particular file."
Quennell was not available
for comment. A Justice Department spokesperson said on
Friday that Quennell was waiting for an analysis of Baynton's
judgment from the department.
"There hasn't even
been a decision made on whether or not there will be an appeal,"
Deb McEwen said. "It's a big judgment, and as I say, the
department's doing an analysis of it for the minister."
Saskatoon police Chief
Russell Sabo will speak about the Klassen matter by the
end of the week, according to police spokesperson Insp. Lorne
Constantinoff.
Constantinoff said Sabo
has reviewed the judgment "for the most part," but
he now needs to "consult with other people to find
out what should happen."
The Saskatchewan Crown
Attorneys Association, meanwhile, continues to stand behind
Miazga.
The day Baynton's judgment
was made public, the association released a statement supporting
him. The association represents provincial Crown prosecutors
in Saskatchewan.
"We have a plan
to meet as an association, get as many of our members together
and decide what else we can do and what else we want to do as
an association in response to that judgment," acting
president Jeff Kalmakoff said Monday.
Kalmakoff said seeing a prosecutor
being found liable of malicious prosecution is "something
that's of concern to us in how we do our jobs day-to-day."
He said there are some
specific findings he would like to comment on, but currently
can't, because he doesn't know if the decision is going to be
appealed.
Kalmakoff said the association
believes that Miazga has done his job well, and it disagrees
with the judge's conclusion.
In their malicious prosecution
lawsuit, Klassen and the other plaintiffs claimed that
justice officials knew they had no case, but proceeded anyway.
But in their defence,
lawyers for police, prosecutors and the child therapist stated
the officials were simply doing their jobs.
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell