OPP officer gets absolute discharge

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OPP officer gets absolute discharge

Postby Thomas » Mon Sep 17, 2012 5:37 am

A 53-year-old local Ontario Provincial Police officer, charged last November with a sexual assault, has been given an absolute discharge after pleading guilty in Kingston’s Ontario Court of Justice, Thursday, to the lesser offence of common assault.

The charge was reduced following pretrial discussions between Det. Const. Phil Heymans‘ lawyer, Harry Black, and Crown prosecutor Eliott Behar, who was brought in from out-of-town to handle the case.

Justice Judith Beaman was told that Heymans admits that on Nov. 7, last year, he cupped the breast of a woman he’d counted until that point as a personal friend — an act that she found alarming and inappropriate.

But defence lawyer Black noted it was his client rather than the victim who actually reported the crime. Heymans, the judge was told, was working as a member of the Joint Forces Penitentiary Squad at the time and on Nov. 10 three days after his misdeed, he went to his supervisor and disclosed what he’d done.

The matter was subsequently turned over to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), a provincial agency charged with examining police involvement in any situation where death or serious injury has occurred or where officers have been accused of sexual crimes.

Less than two weeks later, the SIU announced a sexual assault charge had been laid against Heymans and he’s been on unpaid leave since, which Black suggested has been a significant financial hardship for his family, which remains supportive.

Yet, “one of the things Mr. Heymans has found hard to accept,” Black said, “is that (he) did this, because it is so antithetical to his character.”

He described his client as “a good, shy, dependable man and husband and friend,” and told Beaman his client’s behaviour in that instance 11 months ago, “can only be seen as an impulsive act,” initiated “for reasons that are perhaps better left to doctors.”

Black told the judge that Heymans suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a legacy he suggested, of the fatal motor vehicle collision his client was involved in 15 years ago when he was a constable with the Kings­ton Police Force.

The crash, in which a well-known local businessman, Phil Quattrocchi, was killed, was also investigated by SIU and resulted in Heymans being charged with dangerous driving and criminal negligence causing death.

Heymans was ultimately acquitted, following a trial two years later in 1999. But his trial judge was pointedly critical of a sloppy crime scene investigation by local police and Heymans, and two other Kingston Police officers were afterward subjected to an internal disciplinary hearing and fined.

Heymans transferred to the OPP in 2001 after 12 years with the Kingston force.

Black disclosed that his client has been privately seeing local psychiatrist Dr. Duncan Scott off and on for the past decade, however, and submitted a report from Scott to the judge, attesting to his ongoing difficulties.

He also told her that Heymans has now agreed to enter into an eight-week residential program specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder, which is operated by a clinic near Guelph. Heymans told the judge his wife of 28 years is “adamant” that he take the program.

Black observed as well that even with the conclusion of his court case, his client still faces further internal disciplinary action from the OPP.

It’s no secret, he told the judge, that he’s been in negotiations with Heymans’ superiors over the ultimate resolution of those charges. He told Beaman that his understanding, at this point, is that they will not seek to dismiss Heymans from the force. But they want to reduce his rank by two years, with corresponding reductions in his pay grade. According to Black, that would result in a financial loss of about $18,000 a year, “so there will be a significant financial penalty.”

Both Black and Behar for the Crown recommended to the judge that Heymans receive a discharge. The only dispute between them was whether there should also be a period of probation.

Behar argued for a conditional discharge, including a period of probation to ensure that Heymans continues in treatment. Black argued that probation is unnecessary.
Beaman, in making her decision, told Heymans, “I have no doubt you are remorseful.”

“You crossed the line with (the victim) that you should not have. She was a friend and was owed a higher standard of conduct than she was offered that day.”

She also observed “you come here with an unblemished record, as your counsel pointed out,” but also with “a great deal of difficult baggage.”

The judge told Heymans she recognized that “you did take steps to deal with it. But there was a lapse in your treatment. You made assumptions about your (mental) health that you should not have.”

As a result, Beaman said, Heymans stopped seeing Dr. Scott and taking his medications, and she disclosed that the psychiatrist believes Heymans may have exacerbated his problems by drinking.

Under the circumstances, she told the lawyers and Heymans, she would impose probation on him only to ensure that he understands the importance of receiving treatment and follows through.

She said she was satisfied, however, that he’s already taking the necessary steps. Consequently, she found that an absolute discharge was not contrary to the public interest.

sue.yanagisawa@sunmedia.ca

http://www.thewhig.com/2012/09/06/opp-o ... -discharge
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