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Kerry Nevin is still hoping to find closure, and a sense of justice he calls “elusive” since his son Andy Nevin was struck in a hit-and-run and left to die on the side of Leitrim Road.
Nevin said the initial trauma of outliving his son has not subsided since that day — June 28, 2015 — and has only compounded through months-long delays and setbacks in a trial originally scheduled to commence in December 2016.
The ordeal has strained his relationships with family and friends, Nevin said.
“They say, ‘Get over it,’ but there’s no getting over it when this is still dragging on,” he said.
Nevin had diligently attended every court date, and endured each gruesome detail of his son’s death while sharing the same space as Deinsberg St-Hilaire, the Ottawa man charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and failing to remain at the scene.
Nevin has written to the Attorney General’s office complaining about the handling of the case. A formal complaint over the police investigation into his son’s death was lodged in 2016 with the Office of the Independent Police Review Directorate, but the watchdog agency informed Nevin it could only commence a formal investigation once the court case is complete.
That has proved problematic for Nevin, who was expecting the trial to begin next week, only to learn yet another delay has pushed the trial’s opening by six months to October.
Ottawa police investigate a fatal hit and run collision that claimed the life of Andy Nevin. June 28, 2015.
“It’s difficult to move on with this hanging over our heads,” said Mike Nevin, Kerry’s brother and one of his biggest supporters. “The loss of Andy was traumatic, to say the least, but this ongoing farce has made it much, much worse.”
In the latest setback, St-Hilaire’s criminal defence lawyer, Trevor Brown, was appointed a provincial judge. Court afforded the accused the extra time to retain another lawyer, though it is not clear from court documents whether he has yet done so. Attempts to reach St-Hilaire were unsuccessful.
Deinsberg St-Hilaire leaves the Elgin Street Courthouse after arranging for a new lawyer. He will stand trial next March for the fatal hit and run on Leitrim Road, June 28, 2015 killing Andy Nevin. Wayne Cuddington
The ordeal has taken a toll on the elder Nevin, who says he has struggled with clinically-diagnosed post–traumatic stress disorder, severe depression and anxiety.
Though he tried to return to work in the months after his son was killed — working in the structural steel industry in London, Ont. — he soon ended up on long-term disability.
“I had been at the top of my game in this industry for 38 years at the time,” Nevin said. “I had a helluva résumé, but I wasn’t able to function. I expected that might change when we got to trial and things settled down.”
Vowing to attend each and every court date, Nevin moved to Ottawa, where he now lives in a basement apartment “barely making ends meet”.
Nevin said a psychiatrist once told him, “It’s such a situation that I’ll require not only closure with this trial business, but further with some justice. Because that seems elusive,” he said. “I realized I wasn’t shaking this off. And it had as much to do with this court business as it did with Andy dying.”
Heidi Illingworth, executive director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, said Nevin’s struggles are all too familiar.
“The costs of crime are enormous on victims, (who) bear the financial brunt of violent victimization, and loss of employment and ability to sustain themselves is very common, ” said Illingworth. “They’re putting their life on hold and waiting for the criminal justice process.”
Illingworth said delays and adjournments like the ones facing Nevin “have a significant negative effect.
“The victims feel really disconnected from the life they knew before, and as it’s changed since the trauma because they’re in this limbo where the longer it’s before the courts, the more that disconnect grows,” she said.
“They’re waiting for justice, yearning for justice. There’s such a strong need for it, but then they’re completely powerless. There’s no control over those processes, and the justice system is this huge piece of machinery that just clogs along with no regard for victims’ schedules or their needs.”
While the latest delay involving the accused’s lawyer was likely unavoidable, Illingworth said, “It absolutely adds an additional level of stress and anxiety to the victim on top of what he’s already suffered in his personal life, in his professional life, in everything.”
Illingworth urged Nevin and others with similar experiences to contact her agency, which provides support, research and education to victims and survivors of serious crime.
After hearing the details of Nevin’s ordeal, Melissa Heimerl, executive director of Ottawa Victim Services, said that agency as well would be able to provide support as the process unfolds.
Compounding the stress of losing his son and enduring a seemingly endless court process, Nevin said, he also worries the delays will trigger a ruling under the Supreme Court’s controversial Jordan decision, which dictates a court case involving serious crimes must be resolved within 30 months of initial charges.
(In Nevin’s case, the most recent delay involving the accused’s lawyer, since it is on behalf of the defence, does not count toward that timeline.)
“It was already over 30 months when they moved this (trial) to October,” said Nevin. “I know (the ruling) mentions the right of the (accused) to a speedy trial, and it mentions the public. But it also mentions the victim’s family have the right to a speedy trial as well, and that’s not happening.”
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
查看原文...
Nevin said the initial trauma of outliving his son has not subsided since that day — June 28, 2015 — and has only compounded through months-long delays and setbacks in a trial originally scheduled to commence in December 2016.
The ordeal has strained his relationships with family and friends, Nevin said.
“They say, ‘Get over it,’ but there’s no getting over it when this is still dragging on,” he said.
Nevin had diligently attended every court date, and endured each gruesome detail of his son’s death while sharing the same space as Deinsberg St-Hilaire, the Ottawa man charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and failing to remain at the scene.
Nevin has written to the Attorney General’s office complaining about the handling of the case. A formal complaint over the police investigation into his son’s death was lodged in 2016 with the Office of the Independent Police Review Directorate, but the watchdog agency informed Nevin it could only commence a formal investigation once the court case is complete.
That has proved problematic for Nevin, who was expecting the trial to begin next week, only to learn yet another delay has pushed the trial’s opening by six months to October.
Ottawa police investigate a fatal hit and run collision that claimed the life of Andy Nevin. June 28, 2015.
“It’s difficult to move on with this hanging over our heads,” said Mike Nevin, Kerry’s brother and one of his biggest supporters. “The loss of Andy was traumatic, to say the least, but this ongoing farce has made it much, much worse.”
In the latest setback, St-Hilaire’s criminal defence lawyer, Trevor Brown, was appointed a provincial judge. Court afforded the accused the extra time to retain another lawyer, though it is not clear from court documents whether he has yet done so. Attempts to reach St-Hilaire were unsuccessful.
Deinsberg St-Hilaire leaves the Elgin Street Courthouse after arranging for a new lawyer. He will stand trial next March for the fatal hit and run on Leitrim Road, June 28, 2015 killing Andy Nevin. Wayne Cuddington
The ordeal has taken a toll on the elder Nevin, who says he has struggled with clinically-diagnosed post–traumatic stress disorder, severe depression and anxiety.
Though he tried to return to work in the months after his son was killed — working in the structural steel industry in London, Ont. — he soon ended up on long-term disability.
“I had been at the top of my game in this industry for 38 years at the time,” Nevin said. “I had a helluva résumé, but I wasn’t able to function. I expected that might change when we got to trial and things settled down.”
Vowing to attend each and every court date, Nevin moved to Ottawa, where he now lives in a basement apartment “barely making ends meet”.
Nevin said a psychiatrist once told him, “It’s such a situation that I’ll require not only closure with this trial business, but further with some justice. Because that seems elusive,” he said. “I realized I wasn’t shaking this off. And it had as much to do with this court business as it did with Andy dying.”
Heidi Illingworth, executive director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, said Nevin’s struggles are all too familiar.
“The costs of crime are enormous on victims, (who) bear the financial brunt of violent victimization, and loss of employment and ability to sustain themselves is very common, ” said Illingworth. “They’re putting their life on hold and waiting for the criminal justice process.”
Illingworth said delays and adjournments like the ones facing Nevin “have a significant negative effect.
“The victims feel really disconnected from the life they knew before, and as it’s changed since the trauma because they’re in this limbo where the longer it’s before the courts, the more that disconnect grows,” she said.
“They’re waiting for justice, yearning for justice. There’s such a strong need for it, but then they’re completely powerless. There’s no control over those processes, and the justice system is this huge piece of machinery that just clogs along with no regard for victims’ schedules or their needs.”
While the latest delay involving the accused’s lawyer was likely unavoidable, Illingworth said, “It absolutely adds an additional level of stress and anxiety to the victim on top of what he’s already suffered in his personal life, in his professional life, in everything.”
Illingworth urged Nevin and others with similar experiences to contact her agency, which provides support, research and education to victims and survivors of serious crime.
After hearing the details of Nevin’s ordeal, Melissa Heimerl, executive director of Ottawa Victim Services, said that agency as well would be able to provide support as the process unfolds.
Compounding the stress of losing his son and enduring a seemingly endless court process, Nevin said, he also worries the delays will trigger a ruling under the Supreme Court’s controversial Jordan decision, which dictates a court case involving serious crimes must be resolved within 30 months of initial charges.
(In Nevin’s case, the most recent delay involving the accused’s lawyer, since it is on behalf of the defence, does not count toward that timeline.)
“It was already over 30 months when they moved this (trial) to October,” said Nevin. “I know (the ruling) mentions the right of the (accused) to a speedy trial, and it mentions the public. But it also mentions the victim’s family have the right to a speedy trial as well, and that’s not happening.”
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
查看原文...
