BishopAccountability.org
	Resources Lacking: Hallett By Trevor Pritchard Standard-Freeholder January 20, 2009 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1394970 The Toronto Crown attorney who handled four Project Truth prosecutions from 1998 until 2001 criticized the scant resources she was given while in Cornwall. Shelley Hallett described her office at the city courthouse as little more than a "cloak room" and told the Cornwall Public Inquiry she needed assistants who had more experience - especially in the 2001 sexual abuse trial of local lawyer Jacques Leduc. Three years earlier, Hallett was pulled away from her duties to carry out special prosecutions involving three men charged during Project Truth: Leduc, former Crown attorney Malcolm MacDonald, and retired coroner Arthur Peachey. Project Truth was the Ontario Provincial Police's four-year investigation into allegations a pedophile clan had operated in the Cornwall area. In 1999, Hallett was given carriage of a fourth trial involving Rev. Charles MacDonald. None of the four men were ever convicted of sexually abusing children. Peachey and Malcolm MacDonald both died before their trials began, while the charges against Charles MacDonald and Leduc were eventually stayed. In 2001, Leduc's lawyers were able to successfully argue his right to a fair trial had been violated after Hallett failed to disclose a memo suggesting the mother of one of his alleged victims had spoken to former city cop Perry Dunlop. Hallett was later investigated by the York Regional Police for obstructing justice, but was never charged. In a statement she gave to the force, Hallett spoke about the "cloak room with four chairs in it" that she shared with the Project Truth team, and how it "wasn't an adequate office for a case of this nature." The room was unacceptable for interviewing witnesses, Hallett told lead commission counsel Peter Engelmann Monday. There was also nowhere to get "out of the public eye," she said. "Having done special prosecutions in other parts of the province, this is a problem (across Ontario), and I may be making a recommendation to the commissioner about this," said Hallett, adding she often worked on her cases out of her hotel room. Hallett also told Engelmann she wished she'd been assigned a co-counsel on the Leduc case who had more trial experience so she could "divide up the work" more evenly. "In retrospect, you know - of course it's all Monday morning quarterbacking - I would have preferred to have some more experienced co-counsel," she said. "Right. You certainly had a couple of experienced defence counsel in that matter, obviously," replied Engelmann. "Oh, absolutely," said Hallett. Despite her concerns, Hallett's articling students routinely provided her with lengthy "research memos" that set out the previous court cases that could affect at least two of the prosecutions -Peachey and Malcolm MacDonald - she was assigned. In one opinion, Hallett was told evidence of Malcolm MacDonald's "prior, non-criminal homosexual activities" would likely not be allowed to support the allegations of his two alleged victims. "As a result of her research, I decided that would not be evidence that would be admissible," said Hallett. "I wasn't intending . . . to introduce it." In addition to the four prosecutions, Hallett was also asked to provide legal opinions on a number of other Project Truth investigations. The inquiry is exploring how institutions like the provincial justice system handled allegations of historical sexual abuse. Hallett is expected to continue testifying when hearings resume this morning. - - - Few abuse victims sought support CORNWALL Comparatively few sexual abuse victims asked for government support services during the Project Truth trials, a witness for the Attorney General's office testified Monday. From 1993 until 2001, Cosette Chafe managed the ministry's Victim/Witness Assistance Program (VWAP) in Ottawa. She had previously offered support services during sex abuse trials involving the Christian brothers who worked at the infamous St. Joseph's Training School in Alfred, Ont. Chafe told the Cornwall Public Inquiry that there were "many differences" between the two sets of prosecutions, including having management and staff in place before preliminary hearings got under way. Project Truth, an Ontario Provincial Police investigation into allegations a pedophile ring preyed on children in the Cornwall area, laid 115 charges against 15 men. Many Project Truth witnesses had testified in preliminary hearings without support and didn't see the need once the trials were set to begin. Chafe said there was also "some delay" in providing funding to VWAP during Project Truth. "There were very special circumstances to these Project Truth cases and some of the decisions made may well have to do with some of those circumstances, and I'm not aware of them," said Chafe. "(But) I have no reason to believe that people didn't want to serve the victims in these cases."
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.