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Police
correspondence | Edmonton
police still fudging statistics in 2004 | Lawsuit
filed against Edmonton Police | 2005: Kerry
Diotte targetted | Chief
goes on leave | Edmonton
police on U.S. State Department Bad Cop list for violating human
rights
Abdulahi Mahamad
Falsely accused wants
file removed
By DOUG BEAZLEY, Edmonton
Sun, October 23, 2002
According to the courts he's
in the clear, but that doesn't seem to be doing Abdulahi Mahamad
a whole hell of a lot of good.
Thanks to a sex-crime accusation
levelled against him by his former common-law wife - who reportedly
admitted to police she had lied to them in a previous statement
- Mahamad's mugshot and fingerprints are still on permanent file
with the Edmonton Police Service. And the cops won't give them
back.
"The day I was arrested,
the police questioned me for hours," said Mahamad, a Somali-Canadian
who's called Edmonton home since 1987.
"Nothing to eat and I
hadn't had breakfast. I was fingerprinted and photographed and
taken to a holding cell in handcuffs and leg shackles.
"There were two other
guys waiting in a line at the Remand Centre and they asked me
what I was in for. I told them, and one of them said to me, 'Better
not tell anyone else that. That's a good way to get yourself
killed here.'
"I did not sleep that
night."
The circumstances surrounding
Mahamad's arrest are the subject of a lawsuit he's filed against
police and his accusers. The claims he makes in that lawsuit
have not been proven in court.
But the big unanswered question
about Mahamad's case seems to be why he was charged in the first
place.
When Mahamad made his one appearance
before a judge in January 2001 on charges of sexually assaulting
his kids, his criminal lawyer at the time showed the judge a
letter from an EPS officer to Mahamad's civil lawyer, indicating
the shaky nature of the evidence against him.
The Dec. 15, 2000 letter from
an EPS North Division sergeant deals in part with Seinab Addow,
Mahamad's ex-common-law wife and one of his accusers, and a previous
sexual assault accusation she had made against Mahamad to Calgary
cops in At the time, Mahamad and Addow were fighting a messy
child custody battle. In May 2000, an EPS constable went out
to Addow's residence to talk about an allegation of "uttering
threats" she'd also made against Mahamad.
"During the course of
(the) interview... Addow apparently admitted that she falsely
lodged the 1997 sexual assault complaint against Mahamad in efforts
to regain custody of her children," said the EPS letter.
Mahamad's hearing was brief;
he was released that evening. The charges were stayed in March,
and the 12-month period for reactivating them has lapsed. From
a legal standpoint, it's as if Mahamad had never been charged.
But if Addow admitted there
was nothing to her past sexual assault complaint, why did police
proceed in the first place with laying charges against him on
the basis of fresh complaints made, in part, by Addow in late
2000/early 2001?
"The woman admitted she'd
made false allegations," said Barry Massing, Mahamad's civil
lawyer. "Why didn't police charge her with obstruction of
justice, or mischief? To this day we don't know, and the police
have never explained themselves."
Mahamad, meanwhile, has more
immediate problems. He's been trying to convince the EPS to erase
the file they started on him when he was charged - so far, without
success.
"I was wrongly charged.
They have my picture and my fingerprints," he said. "The
information is on CPIC (Canadian Police Information Centre, a
federal database on people who've been charged with crimes).
"What happens if I get
a traffic ticket, or I am stopped by a customs or immigration
officer, and they find this information? How long must I live
with this indignity?"
Mahamad's position is especially
delicate. As a Somali Muslim who has a pilot's licence, he admits
he's already ripe for profiling by federal agencies.
EPS spokesman Dean Parthenis
confirmed the police have a "policy" of retaining files
from serious cases for forensic purposes - to help with identification
if the ex-accused is linked to another crime. "I don't believe
that information goes to CPIC," he said.
Criminal lawyer Robbie Davidson
said he thinks Mahamad's best bet might be a Charter challenge.
A recent Ontario Court of Appeal case opened the door to citizens
challenging police possession of personal files in cases where
charges are stayed or dropped.
"I don't think the police
have any justification for this policy," he said. "I
think Mr. Mahamad's chances of winning a Charter case would be
pretty good."
Tangled tale of a family
divided and cops
By DOUG BEAZLEY, EDMONTON
SUN, October 18, 2002
For Abdulahi Mahamad, it's
about payback. And he wants to take it out one bite at a time:
from the cops who arrested him, the police chief, his ex-, his
daughter.
This is the sad story of a
very unhappy family unit. Mahamad, a Somali-Canadian who's been
living in Edmonton since 1987, was charged by Edmonton city cops
last year with sexual assaults against two daughters from two
different past relationships.
Mahamad was married at the
time, living with his children from the new marriage. He was
handcuffed by police in his own home, in front of his wife and
infant children.
The charges didn't stick. The
Crown stayed them in March 2001, just weeks after they were laid.
According to Mahamad's criminal lawyer at the time, the prosecutor
came to the conclusion that the evidence simply wasn't there.
"The evidence was thin
and contradictory," said David Cunningham. "The charges
were dropped as soon as the evidence got the attention from the
Crown that it deserved.
"I wasn't aware Mr. Mahamad
was suing. Good for him."
In May 2001, Mahamad filed
suit against five city cops - Stephen Matthews, Robert Pagee,
Keith Smith, F. Metselaar and Brian Stadel; against his former
common-law, Seinab Addow; against his adult daughter from an
earlier marriage back in Africa, and against Chief Bob Wasylyshen
himself.
Most parties to this tangled
case are staying mum for the moment, as it's all still before
the courts. Mahamad himself refuses to be quoted on the lawsuit.
So what we can tell you is
mostly what's included in the court documents (keep in mind,
of course, that none of these statements have been proven in
court).
To start with, Mahamad and
Addow had been engaged in a daggers-drawn custody battle over
their young daughter since 1997. The child's custody was bounced
back and forth between the parents (who were never married) several
times.
In his statement of claim,
Mahamad accuses both Addow and his adult daughter from his previous
marriage of making the false accusations that led to him being
charged.
"The defendants ... have
acted in a high-handed and oppressive manner and with disregard
to the said plaintiff's rights to freedom ..." says the
claim.
As for the cops, Mahamad accuses
them of busting into his home "without legal authority,"
using "unnecessary and excessive force" in handcuffing
him and repeatedly refusing to tell him why he was being charged.
Mahamad and his current wife,
Susan Kathy Kolbowicz, are together claiming $300,000 in damages,
plus costs.
In their statement of defence,
the police - the chief included - deny all of Mahamad's allegations.
Their statement insists the
investigation of Mahamad was "at all times, conducted in
a reasonable, thorough, competent manner and in good faith."
The police claim that Mahamad
refused to come to EPS headquarters to be interviewed, that he
was advised of his rights when arrested, that Mahamad became
"agitated" during the arrest, and that he was given
several opportunities to contact his lawyer.
The police also insist they
used only "proper, reasonable and necessary force"
with Mahamad, and deny they "threatened or intimidated him"
in any way.
In her statement of defence,
Addow also denies all of Mahamad's claims. She alleges the EPS
contacted her as part of their investigation of Mahamad.
She's also launched a "counterclaim"
against Mahamad, claiming his "malicious, frivolous and
vexatious" claims are intended to cause her the same "harm,
mental anguish, public embarrassment and humiliation" Mahamad
claims she was trying to inflict on him.
Addow's asking for an $800,000
award against Mahamad.
The adult daughter, meanwhile,
appears not to have filed a statement of defence. In an affidavit,
Mahamad claims to have established his estranged daughter's whereabouts,
but says she has been deliberately evading the process server.
He also claims that he's learned his daughter has recently started
to wear traditional Muslim dress, including a veil, which he
interprets as an attempt by her to avoid being identified by
the process server.
The daughter did not return
a telephone message from The Sun yesterday. The case goes back
to the Court of Queen's Bench on Oct. 30.
Stripped and Shackled
An Edmonton
man is suing after police arrested him on the accusations of
a proven liar
by Carmen Wittmeier, Alberta
Report, August, 2001
EDMONTON homemaker "John
Smith" (names have been changed to comply with a publication
ban) was serving his two children breakfast January 11 when the
doorbell rang. When his wife answered the door, five policemen
barged into their living room and, without explanation, handcuffed
Mr. Smith in front of his family. He says he was then taken,
bewildered, to the Edmonton Police Service's downtown headquarters,
where he was strip-searched, shackled and detained until 7:30
p.m. the following day. "It was utterly humiliating,"
Mr. Smith recalls. "They treated me as though I had committed
a heinous crime."
Mr. Smith's "crime,"
he would discover, was based on allegations of child sexual abuse
made by his former common-law wife, "Mary Jones," whose
history of making unsubstantiated claims to win custody of the
couple's daughter was known to police. Even more disconcerting
is that, before the arrest, Mr. Smith had repeatedly offered
to meet police to discuss the latest allegations, but was rebuffed.
He has now filed a $300,000 lawsuit against Edmonton police and
his accusers, none of whom chose to comment on the claim.
Mr. Smith's arrest is only
one part of a 10-year nightmare. He and Ms. Jones, both immigrants
from Africa, met in Edmonton in 1989. According to Mr. Smith,
their relationship deteriorated when Ms. Jones insisted on collecting
welfare against his wishes and became violent when confronted.
By 1991, Ms. Jones had moved to a different city with the couple's
infant daughter, "Amy."
In 1997, Calgary Social Services
investigated allegations that her mother was physically abusing
Amy, then six. "They found 21 permanent marks on her body
and placed her in foster care, along with a six-month-old baby,"
Mr. Smith says. "It was then that [Mary] accused me of being
a rapist and child molester."
Following a criminal record
check and psychological assessment, Mr. Smith was given temporary
custody of Amy. In May 1999, a Family Court judge ordered joint
custody of the child on condition neither parent leave the province
without written consent from the other. Within a week of obtaining
the child, Ms. Jones disappeared. When finally located in another
province, she was forced, by court order, to produce the letter
of consent she claimed Mr. Smith had signed. According to a December
2000 document quoting Edmonton Sergeant Randy Schreiner, however,
forensic examination revealed the letter was "fraudulently
manufactured."
Ms. Jones' credibility came
under a cloud again a year later, when she told the Edmonton
police Mr. Smith had threatened to kill her six months earlier.
During the interview, she also allegedly admitted fabricating
her 1997 sexual assault complaint against him in order to gain
custody of her daughter.
Mr. Smith, in turn, complained
that his ex-wife was using police to harass him. Upon reviewing
the case, Alberta Justice officials concluded that "none
of the potential charges against either of these two parties
should be re-visited and laid." Shortly after, Sgt. Schreiner
assured Mr. Smith the police would "conduct no further investigations
into historical sexual assault allegations levied by your ex-wife
against you."
The promise was short-lived.
Mr. Smith says Ms. Jones collaborated against him with his elder
daughter "Sara," now 20, who came to Canada from Africa
in 1998 through his sponsorship. "When [Sara] moved in,
she was rebellious and didn't expect to work hard at her studies,"
he explains. "She was unable to access welfare as long as
she was under my care. Then she began spending time with my ex-wife.
It was the perfect recipe for an accusation."
Shortly before his January
arrest, Mr. Smith says his ex-wife and his daughter told police
he had sexually assaulted and threatened both Amy and Sara in
1998. Sara, he says, then moved out and was able to access student
assistance.
The Crown stayed charges against
Mr. Smith in March. It is revealing, he observes, that no investigation
has been made concerning the safety of the two young children
in his care, and that he maintains legal access to 11-year-old
Amy. Mr. Smith has yet to learn details about the crimes he supposedly
committed, or why he was arrested in the manner of a dangerous
criminal.
Mr. Smith's lawyer, Barry Massing
of Edmonton, says his client's treatment by police was appalling.
"Their aggression was completely unnecessary," says
Mr. Massing, who describes Mr. Smith as reasonable, articulate
and a credit to the community. "Unfortunately," Mr.
Massing adds, "I'm afraid this sort of thing happens more
often than we realize."
See
also: Bice family | Ivan
Cohen | Scandal of the Century
| Martensville | Tulia,
Texas | Murder on a Sunday afternoon
| Monique Turenne | Kirsten
Lobato | Gilmer, Texas | Wrongfully convicted | Rape Shield Abuse | Crying
wolf | Jamie Nelson | Don Smith | Every once a year
or so a columnist in one of the major papers writes an outraged
piece declaiming the perjury which goes on in court: 1999: LICIA CORBELLA, Calgary Sun, | 2000: Tracey Tyler, The Toronto Star | 2002:
Chrstie Blatchford | 2002: Tana Dineen, Ottawa Citizen | Then court
life and the routine perjury which is part of it goes on more
or less as before.
individual
injustice stories |
Index to Saskatoon Police
stories
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.