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  Inquiry Hears of Cop's Role

By David Nesseth
Ottawa Sun
March 1, 2008

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegion/2008/03/01/4885894-sun.html

CORNWALL -- The former Cornwall police officer assigned to investigate Perry Dunlop's role in the Children's Aid Society obtaining a police victim statement said he believes Dunlop was simply following his conscience in the wake of a mishandled child sex abuse case, but that his method was flawed.

Staff Sgt. Garry Derochie testified that Dunlop handed over a victim statement to CAS from David Silmser about sexual abuse Silmser experienced by two local authority figures, Father Charles MacDonald and probation officer Ken Seguin.

Silmser had accepted a $32,000 payout from the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese in exchange for his silence regarding the allegations of sexual abuse.

Dunlop had been given the file by supervising officer Heidi Sebalj "for reading purposes", although he was not part of the investigation, Derochie testified.

'ALARM BELLS'

When Sebalj learned that Dunlop's wife had actually contacted Silmser and attempted to arrange a meeting, "... Alarm bells went off," Derochie's notes described.

The Dunlops sought to obtain Silmser's statement and turn it over to CAS because they believed the police investigation into the complaint had been wrongly terminated and children could have still been at risk.

"I had to think he did this for no reason other than his conscience required him to do so," Derochie said. "I wish he had done it in a different way."

 
 

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