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At 36, Jean Paul Rhéaume has endured more than his fair share of hardship.
He was left brain damaged after a car ran him over when he was a child, and as an adult, he’s been in and out of the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre on Innes Road.
His last sentence — just 30 days — was the worst. Handcuffed, shackled and pinned face down on the concrete floor, one or more guards stomped his head until he lay in a pool of blood. The guards then filed bogus reports to cover it up.
He once told the Citizen he feared he’d be killed if he was sentenced again to the notorious Innes Road jail.
Now, Rhéaume might be a step closer to returning to the same jail where he was abused. Ottawa police have again charged the mentally disabled Vanier man with a series of offences: theft under $5,000 involving a cellphone, criminal harassment involving a man being watched in a man in a fearful manner, uttering death threats over the phone to the same man, and two counts of assault against women.
The allegations, which have not been proved in court, stem from events in June and August.
Rhéaume is free on bail with conditions that he not contact the alleged victims. He is scheduled to appear in court later this month.
The Oct. 23, 2010, beating of Rhéaume was highlighted in a scathing 2013 ombudsman’s report on provincial jails.
The Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre “exemplifies everything that is wrong in a correctional institution,” Ombudsman André Marin said in his report.
Rhéaume’s beating was the subject of a high-profile trial in November, but in a rare move, the Crown halted its prosecution of a former guard after two weeks of testimony mired in lies and collusion. John Barbro, a former guard at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, was immediately acquitted in the stomping of the 170-pound Rhéaume, who was pinned to the floor by some of the jail’s biggest guards.
Prosecutor Jason Nicol noted a list of serious concerns about his own witnesses:
A guard who billed himself as an eyewitness changed his story a week before trial, saying he actually didn’t see the accused stomp the inmate.
It emerged at trial that two other guards colluded before they filed their bogus occurrence reports about the beating.
One guard testified that he gave his account to internal investigators under their threats and intimidation, saying the provincial government investigators had reduced him to tears after they threatened his job. He said he drafted his resignation and was prepared to quit because of what he said under duress in the interview.
Some Crown witnesses — all guards — said Barbro was wearing boots on the day of the alleged stomping. In fact, the prosecutor acknowledged, uncontested evidence showed that Barbro was actually the only guard on the range wearing white sneakers, not boots.
Barbro was the only guard fired for the beating Rhéaume and the only one prosecuted. Some of his fellow guards on duty for the bloody events of Oct. 23, 2010, were suspended for their roles, but were spared criminal charges.
They were all, unlike Barbro, wearing boots and court heard that another guard, Tyler Roy, was seen punching the prisoner.
Intense and exhaustive cross-examinations by defence lawyer Michael Edelson exposed a code of silence among guards, and even the prosecutor recognized reluctance for a witness to give evidence against a fellow guard.
The beating left Rheaume terrified of returning to the jail. Shortly after the 2013 release of the ombudsman’s report, he told the Citizen he feared he’d be killed at the jail, or at the least punished by guards who would brand him a rat for speaking out.
“I’m scared,” he said at the time. “I don’t want to go back to jail.”
With files from Drake Fenton
twitter.com/crimegarden
gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
He was left brain damaged after a car ran him over when he was a child, and as an adult, he’s been in and out of the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre on Innes Road.
His last sentence — just 30 days — was the worst. Handcuffed, shackled and pinned face down on the concrete floor, one or more guards stomped his head until he lay in a pool of blood. The guards then filed bogus reports to cover it up.
He once told the Citizen he feared he’d be killed if he was sentenced again to the notorious Innes Road jail.
Now, Rhéaume might be a step closer to returning to the same jail where he was abused. Ottawa police have again charged the mentally disabled Vanier man with a series of offences: theft under $5,000 involving a cellphone, criminal harassment involving a man being watched in a man in a fearful manner, uttering death threats over the phone to the same man, and two counts of assault against women.
The allegations, which have not been proved in court, stem from events in June and August.
Rhéaume is free on bail with conditions that he not contact the alleged victims. He is scheduled to appear in court later this month.
The Oct. 23, 2010, beating of Rhéaume was highlighted in a scathing 2013 ombudsman’s report on provincial jails.
The Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre “exemplifies everything that is wrong in a correctional institution,” Ombudsman André Marin said in his report.
Rhéaume’s beating was the subject of a high-profile trial in November, but in a rare move, the Crown halted its prosecution of a former guard after two weeks of testimony mired in lies and collusion. John Barbro, a former guard at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, was immediately acquitted in the stomping of the 170-pound Rhéaume, who was pinned to the floor by some of the jail’s biggest guards.
Prosecutor Jason Nicol noted a list of serious concerns about his own witnesses:
A guard who billed himself as an eyewitness changed his story a week before trial, saying he actually didn’t see the accused stomp the inmate.
It emerged at trial that two other guards colluded before they filed their bogus occurrence reports about the beating.
One guard testified that he gave his account to internal investigators under their threats and intimidation, saying the provincial government investigators had reduced him to tears after they threatened his job. He said he drafted his resignation and was prepared to quit because of what he said under duress in the interview.
Some Crown witnesses — all guards — said Barbro was wearing boots on the day of the alleged stomping. In fact, the prosecutor acknowledged, uncontested evidence showed that Barbro was actually the only guard on the range wearing white sneakers, not boots.
Barbro was the only guard fired for the beating Rhéaume and the only one prosecuted. Some of his fellow guards on duty for the bloody events of Oct. 23, 2010, were suspended for their roles, but were spared criminal charges.
They were all, unlike Barbro, wearing boots and court heard that another guard, Tyler Roy, was seen punching the prisoner.
Intense and exhaustive cross-examinations by defence lawyer Michael Edelson exposed a code of silence among guards, and even the prosecutor recognized reluctance for a witness to give evidence against a fellow guard.
The beating left Rheaume terrified of returning to the jail. Shortly after the 2013 release of the ombudsman’s report, he told the Citizen he feared he’d be killed at the jail, or at the least punished by guards who would brand him a rat for speaking out.
“I’m scared,” he said at the time. “I don’t want to go back to jail.”
With files from Drake Fenton
twitter.com/crimegarden
gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
