Local bank robber Joseph David Reid, who pleaded guilty in 2013 to a trio of robberies in Windsor over the course of a single week in 2012, has finally been sentenced.

Reid, who is approximately 30 years old, had been fighting for a reduced sentence after alleging police brutality during his arrest. But an Ontario court judge in June added five months of remaining prison time to the 42 months credit he was given for the time spent in pre-sentence custody since his arrest on June 5, 2012.

Police alleged Reid had lunged at them when he was discovered hiding in a closet the day after his final robbery — a Scotiabank on Ottawa Street on June 4, 2012. He also pleaded guilty to robbing a Toronto Dominion Bank on Ottawa Street on May 31, as well as an Esso station on Wyandotte Street East on June 1.

Reid was punched, kicked and tasered during his arrest.

He will be on probation for three years after his release. Reid was also given a lifetime weapons prohibition and was ordered to provide a blood sample for a police DNA databank.

dschmidt@windsorstar.com

The father of an unborn daughter who died when her mother was murdered last December stood outside the courthouse Wednesday and fought back tears.

Jeff Durham pauses while talking with the media about the murder of Cassandra Kaake and her unborn child. Durham and others staged a protest outside the Provincial Court of Justice in Windsor on July 8, 2015. (JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star)

Jeff Durham of Windsor was among a dozen people gathering signatures for petitions that would see murder charges allowed in the killing of an unborn baby.

The campaign Molly Matters was named after the unborn child Durham shared with Cassandra Kaake, 31, who was seven months pregnant when she was killed last December in her home. Matthew Brush is facing several charges, including first-degree murder, in her death.

“It’s crazy to have to be here for this,” Durham said choking up. “It’s upsetting — this whole thing.

“I want people to know there is not reality in the charges that have been laid. They should represent the crime and they do not. They are insufficient, an injustice and we can do better.”

Brush, 26, made a brief appearance in Ontario Court an hour earlier where he is facing charges of break and enter, arson causing property damage, possession of incendiary material for arson, arson with disregard for human life, first-degree murder and indecent interference with a dead body.

The stocky man sat passively in the courtroom with a full beard and pony tail.

He is next to appear on Aug. 21 when it will be determined whether a preliminary hearing is required.

Windsor firefighters found Kaake’s body on Dec. 11, 2014, after extinguishing a house fire at 1564 Benjamin Ave. Windsor police investigators said she didn’t die from the fire, but blood loss by severe trauma.

Outside the courthouse, Durham described his life the past eight months as being “hell” and called for justice for his unborn child — already named Molly by her mother — by making killing an unborn child a criminal offence in Canada.

“Whether you are an unborn child or full-grown woman — life is life,” Durham said. “When someone commits such a crime there should not be any excuse why we can’t portray the reality of that in the charges.

Jeff Durham holds a photo of Cassandra Kaake, who was murdered along with her unborn child in 2014. Durham and others staged a protest outside the Provincial Court of Justice in Windsor on July 8, 2015. (JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star)

“The charges in this case don’t represent what happened.”

Politicians in Canada have backed off from supporting the legislative change due to fears of creating a slippery slope that may make women liable should they choose to end their pregnancy through abortion.

Durham’s sister Joanna Hickey was also among those gathering signatures.

“It is very heartbreaking and sad to see my brother have to go through this,” she said. “There can’t be anything worse than this.”

Hickey just wants Canadians to at least become more informed on the issue.

“After the first few days (after the murder) and learning about the charges, we learned (Brush) wouldn’t be charged for Molly’s death,” she said. “I was shocked.

“This is a life that was taken. She was weeks away from being born. Everybody was ready and looking forward to her. It’s unbelievable there can’t be justice for her.”

For more information about the campaign and petitions, visit Molly Matters online.

Campaign organizer Kim Badour — whose husband works with Durham — is happily surprised at how widespread the campaign has grown. Some of Kaake’s friends are gathering signatures in other cities.

“I had no idea it would get this big,” she said. “I’m thankful that it has. Molly was a human being regardless of being in her mother’s womb. I carried two children myself and you feel the heartbeat and movement. There should be a charge for her death.”

Durham said he thinks about Molly “every day, every minute.”

“Every part of this is difficult,” he said. “I think about the future she had — and the future that isn’t there anymore.”

dbattagello@windsorstar.com or twitter.com/davebattagello

Family photo of the late Cassandra Kaake who was murdered along with her unborn baby, Molly, in 2014. (Courtesy of the Kaake family)

A Superior Court judge has ordered Mark Baggio, the former Catholic high school teacher convicted of having sex with his underage students, to pay $150,000 in an ongoing civil lawsuit.

The decision nearly brings to a close the lengthy suit that started in 2008 when Baggio was convicted of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and corrupting a child with his former student who was just 14 back in 2002.

With interest, Justice Thomas Carey’s decision will cost Baggio $228,000.

Baggio, who was a guidance counsellor, religion teacher and popular coach at F.J. Brennan high school, was also convicted of the same crimes related to a second student. She also sued and has settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

In this latest civil case, the woman — only identified as Jane Doe because of a publication ban — originally also sued the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board and other school officials for a total of $6.8 million in damages. She settled with all others outside of court for an undisclosed amount of money protected by a confidentiality agreement.

The woman’s lawyer, Richard Pollock, called this latest decision an important component to the entire process.

“It’s important for my client and her family that Mr. Baggio be held accountable, not only before the criminal courts, but before the civil courts,” he said in an interview.

Carey indicated in his decision that the order of $150,000, plus interest, falls within the range of money typically allotted for similar cases. The court still has to decide what, if any, Jane Doe is owed for future loss of income.

Referring to facts laid out in the criminal trial, Carey highlighted the “innocence” that Baggio stole from Jane Doe. The teacher reportedly had sex with the girl 400 to 500 times during the three years, convincing her that the two had a “special” relationship.

“While the offences were not physically violent, they were invasive and degrading,” Carey wrote, calling Baggio’s actions “totally selfish” and “immoral.”

Pollock said the long-lasting affects of the abuse endured by his client were exacerbated because Baggio maintained his innocence throughout the criminal trial, forcing Jane Doe to testify.

Psychiatric experts say the woman has shown signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. But, back in February, Baggio tried to blame Jane Doe for her emotional troubles because she stopped attending counselling sessions.

Carey, however, disregarded the accusation, citing several psychiatric assessments from specialists who didn’t necessarily see the benefit of Jane Doe reliving the trauma of the sexual exploitation through counselling.

“The reports make it clear that counselling at best could provide some improvement in Ms. Doe’s long term emotional health,” Carey wrote. “At the same time there is no guarantee and there is recognition that reliving the events is traumatic and problematic.”

Carey did not award Jane Doe the $50,000 she was seeking in punitive damages. Baggio’s four-year jail sentence already sent a strong message to the public about “society’s revulsion of his parasitic behaviour,” the judge wrote.

dspalding@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/Derek_Spalding

MONTREAL – Quebec’s human rights commission says various parties are to blame in the case of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect accused of mistreating children.

The commission released its findings today and stated that freedom of religion cannot be used as a pretext for abusing or neglecting kids.

It is also blaming Quebec’s youth-protection agency, school officials, social services and the police for not acting quickly enough on suspicions that 134 children in the Lev Tahor community were being abused.

Lev Tahor was the subject of a youth protection investigation in Quebec over allegations of neglect and child abuse before members fled to the Ontario community of Chatham.

Lev Tahor leaders have acknowledged the children are given a religious education but deny claims of abuse and underage marriages.

The families fled Chatham in March 2014 when a judge ruled that 14 children in the community would be sent back to Quebec and placed in foster care.
Find Windsor Star on Facebook

A Windsor man pleaded guilty Thursday in Ontario Court to 19 charges of possessing, distributing and making child pornography over several years dating back to 2006.

James Andrew Piche, 30, was facing 71 charges, including 10 counts of sexual assault and nine counts of sexual interference.

Included in his guilty plea were one count of sexual assault and two counts of touching youth under the age of 16.

His original charges related to three alleged local victims — boys — aged 11 to 16.

Piche was one of 60 men arrested in September 2014 as part of a province-wide investigation which culminated with police conducting 99 raids over three days. After the raids, police began combing through the volumes of computer files they seized.

Piche will be sentenced on Sept. 2 by Justice Lloyd Dean. The remaining charges will be withdrawn in exchange for his guilty plea, said his defence lawyer Elizabeth Craig.

She estimated her client will be facing in the range of between seven and 10 years in penitentiary for his crimes.

Craig indicated her client has never denied guilt for his actions.

“(Piche) has taken responsibility,” she said. “There will be no trial. He will not put the victims through a preliminary hearing or trial. I received those directions from him early on following his arrest.”

The youthful-looking Piche, dressed in a cream shirt with long Prince Valiant-style hair, stood in court silently while listening to the long list of charges against him.

He had no previous criminal record prior to being arrested last fall for his sexual crimes.

“I think he is starting to feel relieved,” said Craig of her client. “He was prepared for today. I know he wants to get this to move forward and have it behind him.”

Windsor police indicated previously they contacted the families of the boys on the images and made arrangements for counselling.

The man accused of operating a human smuggling ring between Windsor and Detroit was convicted Friday of a single count of conspiring to violate U.S. immigration law.

Bardhyl Cenolli, 61, worked with a Windsor man to ferry an illegal alien across the Detroit River on Sept. 19, 2012, according to evidence accepted by Superior Court Justice Gregory Verbeem.

The judge relied heavily on detailed accounts from RCMP investigators and U.S. Border Patrol agents who watched Cenolli drive the Albanian man to a parking lot in east Windsor where they met up with a boat driven by John Phillip Jordan.

The Albanian man then boarded Jordan’s boat and the two of them made their way over to a channel on the U.S. side near Alter Park, a rundown area known for drug activity and other violent crime, Verbeem explained in his rehashing of the evidence presented to him.

Police followed Cenollis in his black Cadillac and later arrested him. Jordan was arrested in Canadian waters on his way back across the Detroit River, while the Albanian man was arrested on the U.S. side.

Jordan, 58, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to violate U.S. immigration law and was sentenced to one year of house arrest. He became an important witness in Cenolli’s trial.

Jordan told the court in December that he got into the human smuggling operation after he was approached by two men at Abars, a tavern along the Detroit River. Lured by the concept of making some quick cash — Jordan eventually charged $2,500 for each person he smuggled — he said he accepted his invitation to get into the illegal business.

Cenolli was the man who, for two years, brought him the illegal aliens, Jordan testified. He said Cenolli had given him a cellphone, which he used to arrange trips for 15 people. As Cenolli would approach the city limits in his black Cadillac with Quebec plates, he’d call Jordan again and tell him to ready his boat.

Verbeem clarified that he only convicted Cenolli, who now lives in Toronto, of the one count of conspiring to violate U.S. immigration law for his role in the Sept. 19 incident. He clarified that he only used the rest of Jordan’s testimony about the other trips as a “narrative” when making his decision.

Cenolli will appear in court again on Aug. 14 to set a date for sentencing. Punishment for conspiring to smuggle humans could be as high as 10 years in prison.

dspalding@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/Derek_Spalding

Accused wife killer Scott Quick – who allegedly avoided the clutches of law enforcement for nearly a decade – will remain behind bars for what could be a years-long trial process.

Quick, 48, charged with first-degree murder for the 2006 hit-and-run death of 40-year-old Nancy Galbraith-Quick, was denied bail Wednesday.

The Galbraith family, Jenny Galbraith, Jerry Galbraith, Susan Schroeder and Jerry Galbraith Jr. speak about the murder of daughter and sibling Nancy Quick and the lack of progress in the ongoing police investigation in this 2009 file photo. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)

“Detention of the accused is necessary pending trial in order to maintain confidence in the administration of justice,” Superior Court Justice George King said during a 45-minute presentation of the reasons for his decision.

There is a publication ban on the facts and arguments presented during the bail hearing and the judge’s ruling.

“His state of mind is good,” defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme said after the judge’s ruling. “He’s a strong individual but he’s disappointed that he’s not released now. He was very, very hopeful of being able to see his children, get back with his family, to be out with the people that came to support him as sureties. That’s a disappointment to him.”

Ducharme said Quick plans to testify in his own defence at trial, which likely won’t start for at least a year-and-half.

“I’ve thought from day one that this is not a case where Scott Quick will ever be convicted of murder,” said Ducharme. “I fully plan to challenge every aspect of the evidence. I believe in him. He’s going to be a person who will testify and say he didn’t kill his wife. So I think this is all going to be played out at trial.”

Police arrested Quick on March 11, more than nine years after he called the media to offer a reward for the capture of his estranged wife’s killer. He allegedly used a stolen minivan to run her down Feb. 23, 2006, in front of some children outside Emeryville’s St. William Elementary School where she worked.

Police said Quick-Galbraith was crossing the street toward the school when a minivan that had been sitting in the church parking lot sped toward her. The force of the impact tossed her several metres through the air and her head struck a tree. The van sped off. Police said witnesses saw the driver abandon it on I.C. Roy Drive and quickly walk away.

Quick-Galbraith slipped into a coma and died five days later at Detroit Receiving Hospital without ever regaining consciousness.

Quick, who was a person of interest from the start, eventually gained custody of their two young children. He left his job at Chrysler and moved them to the small town of Brighton in eastern Ontario.

Then on March 11, police suddenly arrested Quick at a business in Belleville, near Brighton. Investigators have refused to reveal what new information led to the arrest.

Many people stepped up to volunteer as sureties if he was granted bail, including friends he met after moving to Brighton, along with his mother, sister, brother-in-law, an uncle and an aunt. They were in court Wednesday to show their support for Quick.

twilhelm@windsorstsr.com

The man who attacked a 13-year-old boy with a hammer is so disturbed that he has been in solitary confinement, refused to take showers or go for walks in the yard, and ate all his food — including cereal and milk — with his hands, says his defence attorney. And it’s possible his crime could get him deported.

Rafid Jihad was found guilty in May for hitting a teenager in the head with a hammer. Jacob Mitchell, then 13, was treated in hospital for several days for a skull fracture and several blunt-force trauma wounds.

Questions about Jihad’s citizenship derailed the sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon. Jihad is a permanent resident, not a Canadian citizen.

It’s not clear yet what the consequences of the sentence could be for Jihad, but Justice Scott Campbell told defence lawyer Frank Retar he needed to find out before the sentence was prepared.

During the sentencing hearing in Superior Court, Retar argued for less jail time and more mental health treatment for Jihad.

He told the court Jihad has a history of mental illness and has struggled to stay on his medication, a common problem for people with similar conditions.

He said before the health unit was opened at the South West Detention Centre, Jihad was kept in solitary confinement since staff felt he was too vulnerable to interact with the other inmates.

Jihad refused to use cutlery to eat, saying it was dirty, and did little more than stare out the window of his cell every day.

Retar asked the judge for a 44-month jail sentence, less 20.5 months of time already served.

He said Jihad would be better helped at a provincial institution designed for people with mental health issues, such as one in Ottawa.

He also asked for three years of probation with the condition that Jihad receive treatment from the Canadian Mental Health Association of Windsor and Essex County and from a psychiatrist.

Retar said Jihad could have continued to attack Mitchell, but stopped himself short of killing the teenager. He added that Jihad sat on his front curb, the bloody hammer on the grass behind him, waiting for police to arrive.

“If the intent of Mr. Jihad was to kill that helpless child lying on the ground, he could have. But he didn’t,” he said. “He needs some time in a facility. Not in a jail — but in a hospital.”

Assistant Crown Eric Costaris said there’s no evidence to prove Jihad’s unprovoked attack in broad daylight was because of his mental health issues.

Costaris argued for six to eight years in jail, a lifetime weapons prohibition, and an order for Jihad to submit his DNA.

He said the crime has had a lasting effect on Mitchell’s family, who fear the day Jihad moves back into his mother’s home just four houses from theirs. Mitchell and his brother walk past the house where he was attacked each day heading to school or the corner store.

Costaris added that Jihad’s refusal to offer any explanation for the attack should be considered an aggravating factor in the sentence. He argued that the public deserves to know why Jihad would commit such a crime.

Jihad’s history of not taking his prescribed medications also means that there’s a threat he wouldn’t adhere to conditions set out by his mental health treatment and the court, Costaris said.

“To conclude that the public is best protected by a three-year probation order followed by two years in custody is not borne out by the evidence,” he said.

Jihad will appear again July 30 for discussions about his sentence an the possible consequences on his permanent residency.

ctthompson@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/caroethompson

It was like the little girl had been stolen from them twice.

The family of four-year-old Rozalia Kovacs, who died in 1974, wrestled with grief, anger and forgiveness Friday as they faced the woman who spent nearly two decades assuming the dead girl’s identity.

“We want Rozie alive for just one more minute to tell her how much we love her,” sister Sylvia Grant told the court as other family members dabbed their eyes.

“The anger, tears and disbelief will always be with us. We can’t bring Rozie back but we bring her identity back to her family.”

Kornelia Kurti, 41, pleaded guilty Friday to seven charges related to fraud and forgery. She was sentenced to 12 months in custody, followed by 12 months of probation, and immediately carted off to jail.

Kurti turned to face the girl’s family before sentencing, her soft voice muffled through sobs and a Hungarian accent.

“I apologize to the Kovacs family,” she said. “It was not intentional. I never meant to hurt your family in any way. I hope you forgive me one day for that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry very much.”

Kurti’s mother Iren Kranauer, 65, also pleaded guilty to making a false statement to procure a passport. She wrote on passport applications that Rozalia was a longtime friend.

Kranauer was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest followed by 12 months probation. Monika Kurti, Kornelia’s sister, has already spent 30 days in jail for the same offence. Ontario Court Justice Sharman Bondy told Kornelia Kurti on Friday she will always live with the “horrific choices” she made.

“This is truly heartbreaking, especially for the family of this young person,” the judge said.

Bondy believed Kurti was sorry but, she added, the damage has been done. Bondy said she needed to mete out a sentence that would deter others from committing similar crimes while upholding the integrity of Canada’s security, passport and immigration systems.

Kurti, originally from Hungary, first stole the little girl’s identity to get into Canada. Her sister and mother were already here, but they couldn’t sponsor her. After repeated attempts to gain entry to Canada the right way, Kurti got desperate. She created an alter ego named Rozalia Kovacs.

“She was separated from her family and in an act of desperation she chose this option to get into the country and she’s ultimately paid for it,” defence lawyer Andrew Bradie said.

It wasn’t explained in court how Kurti learned of Rozalia or used her name to create a second identity complete with official Canadian documents. Bradie did say his client believed the stolen identity was of a fictitious person, not a dead child.

“She had no intention in any way to cause any grief to the family of the person whose identity she was using,” Bradie said. “It was unbeknownst to her that this was a young girl who passed away tragically.”

But Rozalia Kovacs was a real person. The second oldest of four sisters, she was born in Sarnia on Oct. 21, 1969.

On May 12, 1974, Rozalia was taken to hospital with a sore throat and quickly sent home. But before long, she was back in the emergency department.

Eva Gardner, Rozalia’s oldest sister, said the girl had a bad reaction to medication and wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Rozalia needed a tracheotomy, said Gardner, but it wasn’t done fast enough. Her condition declined rapidly. On May 18, 1974, doctors took her off life support.

“Can you imagine being told your daughter will be a vegetable,” said Grant, casting a teary eye toward her mom.

Two decades later, Kurti arrived in Windsor posing as a Canadian with the dead girl’s name.

The Kurti sisters opened a Windsor gift shop called Isabelle’s Dreams in 1999. In 2007, The Star wrote a story about the pair boasting their success. In the story, Kornelia Kurti calls herself Rozalia Kovacs. The sisters also refer to themselves as life-long friends. The storefront closed in 2010, but court heard Friday they still operate an online business.

Kurti used the stolen identity to set up a bank account at Windsor Family Credit Union and obtain a $50,700 mortgage. She also had accounts in Rozalia’s name at many other financial institutions.

While in Windsor, Kurti, who married and had two kids, also became a Canadian citizen under her real identity.

But on June 17, 2014, the lies started unravelling.

The Ministry of Transportation realized a woman had licences in two different names. They called Windsor police, who flagged her identities. On Sept. 27, 2014, Kurti returned from a trip to the United States and gave Canada customs a passport with Rozalia’s name on it. They arrested her. They searched her and also found a driver’s licence, birth certificate and health card in Rozalia’s name.

Rozalia’s family was blindsided by the call from police.

“Complete shock, it almost seemed like it was something in the movies,” Gardner said outside court.

“It just kind of ate me up inside, knowing that someone had done what they did.”

Rozalia’s family said they want to forgive Kurti. But they also want her to know she hurt them.

“We want Kornelia to visualize the sorrow we all went through when (Rozalia) died,” Grant said.

“We want Kornelia to realize the pain she put us through.”

The man who tried to kill a 13-year-old in a hammer attack will likely be sent back to Iraq, the same place he left as a refugee more than a decade ago.

Rafid Jihad was convicted of attempted murder in May in the savage attack that left teenager Jacob Mitchell with a fractured skull.

Jihad is very likely to lose his permanent residency and subsequently be deported, his defence lawyer Frank Retar said in Superior Court Thursday afternoon.

The law says permanent residents lose their status if sentenced to longer than six months, or if convicted of a serious crime that comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years or more.

Both the Crown and defence submissions for a sentence are longer than six months. Retar asked the judge for a 44-month jail sentence, less about 21 months of time already served. Assistant Crown Eric Costaris argued for six to eight years in jail.

The maximum sentence for attempted murder is imprisonment for life.

“I believe he will be deported and return to Iraq,” Retar said after the hearing. “Rafid Jihad is looking forward to putting this behind him. He’s actually looking forward to — and has said more than once — his intention is to return to Iraq.”

Retar said Jihad came to Canada in 2002 as a refugee. The Christian Iraqi’s mother and two sisters live here. His father died two years ago. Retar said it appears Jihad has no concerns about returning to Iraq.

“He has uncles there. He came from there. Since coming to Canada he has returned to visit twice to visit for lengthy periods of time,” he said.

Jacob Mitchell, 13, is shown with his mother Rosa Mitchell on Monday, June 9, 2014, at their Windsor, Ont. home. (DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)

Mitchell’s mother Rosa said she just wants to see a resolution soon, to give closure to her family and the rest of the community.

“I’m only blessed right now that my son made it through this and that nothing happened to any other kids in the neighbourhood,” she said. “I don’t want to have to keep coming to court and listening to details.”

She said she doesn’t want to see Jihad end up back in the neighbourhood, but that she hopes he gets the help he needs.

Once Jihad is sentenced, he loses his right to appeal. He could ask for a judicial review to assess whether there is a way for him to stay in Canada, but Retar said he expected it was unlikely Jihad would do that.

Retar had initially asked for three years of probation after a two-year jail term with the condition that Jihad receive treatment from the Canadian Mental Health Association of Windsor and Essex County and from a psychiatrist. He told the court Thursday that the probation was no longer relevant, since Jihad would likely be deported as soon as his time in custody is completed.

Superior Court Justice Scott Campbell offered Jihad a chance to make a statement in court, but he declined. He asked instead for permission to submit a letter.

Campbell is expected to deliver his sentence Sept. 25.

ctthompson@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/caroethompson

A man who held heavily armed Windsor police officers at bay for 12 hours had 63 days jail time added to the 477 credited days he’d already spent in pre-sentence custody.

Matthew Maskery, 29 at the time of his arrest in September, was also given a lifetime weapons possession ban, and he was ordered by an Ontario court justice in Windsor to submit a blood sample for a police DNA databank.

Maskery was convicted on two of the 10 counts he faced. All charges against co-accused Sarah Bianchi were withdrawn, and charges brought against Raymond Raymond were dismissed July 23.

As part of a routine theft investigation, Windsor police arrested Raymond, then 53, and another man on the afternoon of last Sept. 9. The second man was subsequently released.

Bianchi, then 32, and Maskery were arrested about 12 hours later following a standoff that saw heavily armed officers swarm a South Walkerville neighbourhood and shut down the intersection of Gladstone Avenue and Tecumseh Road East. Investigating police learned there could be firearms inside a building at that location.

Following the initial two arrests, police said a third man barricaded himself inside and refused to respond to their efforts to communicate. A man and a woman eventually exited the building and surrendered at about 3 a.m. the next morning.

The trio faced a slew of charges related to break and entering, possession of stolen property and having a firearm. Following the arrests, police found a sawed-off shotgun in an apartment.

dschmidt@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/schmidtcity

That immigration lawyer Sandra Saccucci Zaher has found herself on trial, charged with fabricating a refugee claim, is all a big misunderstanding, she testified in her own defence Wednesday.

Zaher said she would “never” contribute to a fraudulent refugee claim. “I have absolutely everything to lose,” she testified, adding she indeed has lost everything.

Zaher, 53, had her licence to practise law suspended after being arrested in March 2012. Also arrested was Zaher’s assistant, Diana Al-Masalkhi, 31. The two women are being tried together in Superior Court.

The case began when the RCMP received a tip from immigration consultant Gabe Maggio that Zaher had fabricated a refugee claim for a man from Yemen.

Two RCMP officers — Cpl. Ash Sharma and Const. Sonny Singh — went undercover, meeting with Zaher and Al-Masalkhi on several occasions. Sharma, using the name Amandeep Gill, posed as a man from India seeking refugee status. Singh acted as a translator, posing as the son of Gill’s employer.

Singh and Sharma secretly taped their meetings with Zaher. Zaher testified police have misconstrued some of the seemingly incriminating things she said on the wires.

Windsor immigration lawyer Sandra Saccucci Zaher is seen in this 2009 file photo. (SCOTT WEBSTER/ The Windsor Star)

For example, Zaher repeatedly refers to needing a compelling “story” from the man about persecution in his homeland.

On the witness stand Wednesday, Zaher said “story” does not mean a concocted tale. “It’s just a standard phrase … What happened to you, a truthful account.”

After receiving a faxed copy of the man’s “story,” Zaher is heard on the wires telling him, “I can work with this. I can change it and make it more political.”

Zaher explained Wednesday she meant she would “revise” the account to emphasize the man’s fear of police in his homeland. Believing she was dealing with a man with limited English skills, she said she “had to use very simple language.”

Later, she tells the man she will help him so he “won’t get caught.”

A former teacher, Zaher said that’s a term she used to use with her students, meaning not getting caught unprepared. “That’s what I meant — be prepared,” she testified.

Zaher admitted her words could be misunderstood. “It was a poor choice of words,” she said.

Zaher, who has a PhD in English literature, testified she became a lawyer in 2001, but never made much money from doing refugee work. She charged $25 for an initial consultation, some meetings lasting 2 1/2 hours. Because of a car accident on Highway 401 years ago that left her with metal plates, pins and screws in her right leg, trips to Toronto for refugee hearings were physically painful and would leave her unable to work for days afterward.

Zaher said she was “manipulated” by the RCMP officers. Sharma appeared frightened during their meetings and spoke of having left two daughters aged eight and 10 behind in India. She said she believed he feared for their safety.

“I felt sorry for him. I was trying to help him legally and ethically.”

The defence lawyers in the case – Patrick Ducharme for Zaher and Laura Joy for Al-Masalkhi — had asked the judge to cut the case short and acquit their clients. They argued there was not enough evidence in the case to support findings of guilt.

But Justice Renee Pomerance dismissed that application Wednesday, ordering that the trial continue.

Zaher has yet to be cross-examined by prosecutor Richard Pollock.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

Twitter.com/WinStarSacheli

A Windsor immigration lawyer charged with fabricating a refugee claim scoffed at a prosecutor’s suggestion she would make up facts for the sake of attracting a new client.

“$2,500? I don’t think that’s a lot of money at all,” Sandra Saccucci Zaher said Friday during her third day on the witness stand. “I know other lawyers in my field who get paid way, way more.”

Prosecutor Richard Pollock alleged during Zaher’s cross-examination that she made a dozen “significant changes” to a document submitted by a client in support of his refugee claim.

For example, the revised document prepared in order to help argue his case to remain in Canada stated police back home in India tried to beat the applicant and that he was afraid they might even kill him. Pollock said the original letter supplied to the lawyer made no such claims.

“You could very well be correct … this is just a draft,” Zaher replied. She said it was “not fair” to simply look at the letter without the context of other conversations she had with that client.

Windsor immigration lawyer Sandra Saccucci Zaher is seen in this 2009 file photo. (SCOTT WEBSTER/ The Windsor Star)

“I’m trying to get at the truth,” she said, adding refugee claimants can sometimes be too traumatized to accurately describe their experiences that triggered their flight to Canada. The former teacher, who has a PhD in English literature, said she would revise such documents to incorporate additional information gleaned from conversations with claimants.

The man Zaher was seeking to help, and the Canadian resident he had in tow to serve as translator, were both RCMP undercover officers. An investigation was launched after a tip from Windsor immigration consultant Gabe Maggio that Zaher had fabricated a refugee claim for a man from Yemen.

After Pollock began listing off more alleged discrepancies between what was originally submitted to the lawyer and what was subsequently prepared for a refugee panel hearing, an exasperated Zaher responded: “What exactly do I have to gain from this?”

“You tell me. $2,500 to fill out a form,” Pollock said. The trial also heard the client would be charged $4,000 if Zaher represented him at the next stage before a refugee panel in Toronto.

“A lawyer’s time has value, yes?,” said Zaher. She testified that, between their first meeting on Feb. 1, 2012, and her arrest two months later on March 29, she spent “many, many, many, many hours” with the alleged refugee claimant and his interpreter. Zaher said her business was making so little, in fact, that her “right hand” assistant, Diana Al-Masalkhi, who is a co-accused in the case, had volunteered to take a cut in her pay of $15 per hour because, “She said, ‘You’re making less money than I am.’”

Laura Joy and Diana Al-Masalkhi return to Superior Court in Windsor on Thursday, August 6, 2015. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)

Earlier, Zaher attributed the whole situation to a misunderstanding and that investigators misconstrued some of the things she was recorded as saying in police wiretaps. Looking back at some of the questions she was asked by the phoney refugee claimant, Zaher said it’s her belief now it had been “a form of entrapment.”

Before the prosecution got its turn to begin asking questions on Friday afternoon, Zaher spent a day-and-a-half under cross-examination by defence lawyer Laura Joy, who is representing Al-Masalkhi.

Joy’s questioning appeared focused on seeking to diminish Al-Masalkhi’s role in the alleged fraudulent refugee claim.

Several times under cross-examination by Pollock, Zaher testified she had thought her secretary would have reviewed disputed sections of written statements attributed to the client. But she insisted she was not trying to shift the attention to her assistant: “I’m not putting the blame on her at all.”

Al-Masalkhi is expected to take the stand next when the trial before Ontario Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance is scheduled to resume in September.

dschmidt@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/schmidtcity

An assault charge against the secretary/treasurer of Unifor Local 444, which followed a hockey arena confrontation between parents in March, was withdrawn in Ontario court Tuesday.

While the Essex OPP criminal charge was dropped, Dave Cassidy, 47, agreed to a peace bond ordering him not to associate or communicate with Stephen Fuerth.

The 12-month order includes a weapons possession ban.

Defence lawyer Dan Scott blamed “very unfortunate circumstances” for the altercation in the front lobby of Essex Arena the night of March 28 following a hockey game in which the children of two parents had played against each other.

Scott said video from arena cameras and a cellphone showed a verbal altercation escalating to physical contact that included Cassidy being assaulted by others.

“Much to Dave’s credit, he wanted to put this behind him for everyone’s sake,” said Scott.

Agreeing to the peace bond, as well as to counselling that preceded Tuesday’s court date, “precluded a lengthy and cumbersome trial,” he said, adding his client would have argued he had acted in self-defence. Cassidy did not return a message Tuesday for comment.

“I am happy to say that justice has prevailed,”

Cassidy posted on his Facebook page. “I want to thank all of you for your support, your belief in me is much appreciated.” dschmidt@windsorstar.com twitter.com/schmidtcity

It was a good payday Wednesday for Sutts, Strosberg LLP after a lengthy legal battle involving eight law firms, hundreds of plaintiffs and 26 motions heard in court over more than six years.

While winning only a fraction of the more than $500 million in damages originally sought, the Windsor law firm won a $13-million settlement in its class-action lawsuit over RetroFoam, a home insulation product containing a toxic substance that Health Canada had previously banned.

The owners of 770 Ontario properties who had been sold the product — after tapping into a

Dee and Stan Lawton leave Superior Court in Windsor on Wednesday, August 12, 2015. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)

government rebate program encouraging such investment to increase home energy efficiency — will now each get close to $10,000.

But the law firm that represented them takes the lion’s share — $3.9 million in “class counsel fees,” as well as “disbursements” of just over $800,000 and just over $500,000 to cover the HST.

Superior Court Justice Terry Patterson said the law firm’s compensation was fair given the “amazing amount of effort over the 6½ years that went into this.” The risk in a class-action suit lies on the plaintiff’s side, so “this is a good way to have access to justice,” the judge said.

“I’m glad it’s all over, it’s been a long time,” Tilbury’s Stan Lawton, one of the plaintiffs who was in court to hear the judge’s decision, told reporters later. His family’s ordeal began seven years ago after his wife called him at work shortly after they had RetroFoam injected into their home to inform him of a newspaper story on a class-action being considered over the purported danger of the product.

Lawton was one of 11 representative plaintiffs who will be paid an additional $4,000. Sharon Strosberg said all the plaintiffs, representing most Ontarians who purchased RetroFoam, should see a cheque in the mail by Christmas.

All the parties, including lawyers representing the federal government, Polymaster Inc. (the Tennessee manufacturer of the product which is still sold legally in the U.S.) and the Canadian distributor and installers, agreed the $13-million payout was a good compromise and avoided a trial that could have seen the matter continue in the courts for another five years.

Sharon Strosberg told the court the settlement “does not contemplate the removal” of the UFFI (urea formaldehyde foamed-in-place insulation, sold as RetroFoam) but that it compensates homeowners who used it for part of the anticipated loss in property value associated with its use and presence.

The judge pointed out that the targeted formaldehyde substance, while banned by Health Canada almost 30 years ago, is found “in many, many products in our home … it’s part of everyday life, actually.”

The judge agreed with the lawyers for the defendants — four in the courtroom and another three who participated by teleconference — that, had the matter gone to trial, the plaintiffs would have had a tough time arguing the danger of the disputed product, despite its commercial ban in Canada. Lawyer Mike Eizenga, acting for installers in the case, said it was “a product you can still get across the river … the overwhelming evidence is on the defendants’ side.”

Lawyer Sharon Strosberg talks with Stan lawton outside Superior Court in Windsor on Wednesday, August 12, 2015. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE/The Windsor Star)

But the judge agreed with the plaintiffs that selling a home identified as containing UFFI in its walls would negatively affect the asking price.

“This case was settled based on the stigma,” Sharon Strosberg told reporters later. Harvey Strosberg said “rough justice” mandated those who ended up with RetroFoam in their walls receive some compensation.

Tilbury’s Lawton said some of the people in the class action who have sold their homes estimated they lost $20,000 to $30,000 on average over their asking price.

The court was told only about one per cent of the total plaintiffs, all from Ontario, were opposed to the settlement proposal. One of them, Michael Skutezky, spoke out at Wednesday’s hearing, saying he and his wife lost about $300,000 on the sale of their $1.7-million Toronto home.

The judge said he was satisfied the proposed settlement was fair and reasonable and in the best interests of the plaintiffs.

The Strosbergs said it was up to the defendants to figure out who pays what share of the $13-million award. As for the installers, they said most of them have since gone bankrupt.

RetroFoam was one of the products used during a five-year period (2007-12) in which the federal government was offering grants of up to $5,000 per homeowner to make their properties more energy efficient. UFFI is known to “off-gas” formaldehyde, particularly in the initial period after it’s injected into the walls.

Energy advisers hired to inspect the work being carried out for Natural Resources Canada grant approval began questioning the substances contained in RetroFoam, and by the fall of 2008 Health Canada had “red-flagged” the product.

For an average home, it cost about $6,000 to inject with RetroFoam, applied through holes bored into exterior walls, but Sharon Strosberg said the estimated cost to remove it from the average home is $40,000.

dschmidt@windsorstar.com or twitter.com/schmidtcity

The Windsor man accused of unwittingly teaming up with an undercover cop to kill a young woman and a teenager appeared briefly in court Wednesday.

Peter Bandulj, 27, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit break and enter, two counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

Even Bandulj’s lawyer agreed Wednesday that the unusual charges sound like something from a TV show.

“The charges have that element to them,” Andrew Bradie said while being questioned by reporters. “They’re somewhat unusual. You don’t see conspiracy to commit murder and kidnap and break and enter every day. The essence of the allegation is an agreement that was made. Fortunately, it would appear that nothing in the long term happened.”

Defence lawyer Andrew Bradie is pictured in this 2008 file photo. (JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star)

Bandulj appeared in court Wednesday through video from jail. Another appearance is scheduled for next week.

Bradie said it’s too soon to know if he will seek bail. Windsor police and Bradie have both refused to reveal what the relationship was between Bandulj, the 20-year-old woman and 17-year-old girl.

Police said Bandulj planned to abduct the young women, take them to a remote place and “dispose” of them, but they haven’t suggested a possible motive. Investigators said Bandulj came onto police radar after posting pictures of the intended victims to a website July 23 while allegedly trying to find help to carry out the murders.

An undercover officer reached out to Bandulj. They eventually met in person to go shopping for break-in tools. Police said Bandulj wanted to break into the victims’ home when they weren’t there to gather “intelligence.”

About three weeks after meeting online the suspect and the officer agreed they would break into their house Saturday night. Bandulj left home around 11:35 p.m., and police arrested him down the street.

twilhelm@windsorstar.com

The massive privacy breach at AshleyMadison.com last month also includes repeated incidents of blatant contract violations, says the Windsor law firm taking the adultery website to court.

So far, one Ottawa man is the face of the class-action lawsuit that claims to represent as many as 250,000 Canadian subscribers.

Eliot Shore is one of millions around the world who had private information published online in an alarming data hack.

Shore, a disabled widower, joined the site after his wife of 30 years died of breast cancer. But he was unsuccessful in meeting anyone in person. If the breach wasn’t bad enough, thousands of former site subscribers paid to have personal information deleted from the company’s databank.

That removal never happened, says David Robins, a partner at Sutts, Strosberg LLP, Windsor’s class-action heavyweight firm involved in the suit.

“The data breach affected everybody, but those individuals who paid a fee to have their information deleted from Ashley Madison’s records, have every reason to be that much more upset,” he said in an interview. “It’s that much more egregious.”

His firm partnered with Charney Lawyers this week when filing the suit against Avid Dating Life Inc. and Avid Life Media Inc., the two companies that operate AshleyMadison.com.

Shore deferred all questions to his lawyers when reached by The Star in his Ottawa home. No one from the two companies were giving interviews either, but Avid Life Media issued a statement explaining its employees are working with authorities as the investigation into the hack continues.

That process includes the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the RCMP, OPP and Toronto police, according to the company statement that says “the individual or individuals who are responsible for this straightforward case of theft should be held accountable to the fullest extent of international law.”

The data breach in July includes users’ personal names, emails, home addresses and message history. Earlier this month, the information was posted online for public viewing.

Phones at the Windsor law firm have been constantly ringing since news broke about the breach. Robins says the firm is still looking for other subscribers who might want to put their names on the suit. No one, though, is obliged to do so.

“People don’t need to sign on, but we’re interested in hearing from plaintiffs who may act as representative plaintiffs from across the country,” he said.

Once court certification occurs, there will be explicit direction on how subscribers to the website can opt out of the case, if they want.

The certification process could take several months or more, according to Robins. He confirmed there is no intention to go after Impact Team hackers who published the data.

“Our focus is on the two companies who operate Ashley Madison. They had the privacy standards they’re expected to adhere to in order to safeguard people’s information,” Robins said. “Subscribers have the expectation that their information was to be kept private and secured.”

dspalding@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/Derek_Spalding

Closing arguments will be made Thursday in the sexual assault trial of former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson.

After Johnson took the stand himself Monday as the second witness for the defence, lawyer Evan Weber told Ontario Court Justice Micheline Rawlins at the start of Tuesday’s proceedings that there were no further defence witnesses.

Johnson, 21, is charged with one count of sexual assault in a Jan. 13, 2013, incident in which he is alleged to have barged in on a young woman using the men’s washroom at the Krooked Kilt bar, grabbed her hand and forced her to touch his exposed penis.

“I would never do anything like abuse or sexual assault,” Johnson testified Monday, 14 months after the start of the criminal trial.

The trial resumed this week after hearing in June from the only other defence witness, Krooked Kilt owner Jason Codling.

dschmidt@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/schmidtcity

Canada’s jail system was built for people just like Franklyn Wallace, a judge told a local man with a lengthy criminal record and being sentenced for the umpteenth time.

“You make the wrong choices, fine, you pay the consequences,” Ontario court Justice Micheline Rawlins said in cutting remarks Tuesday before tossing Wallace, 43, back behind bars for his latest drug-fuelled criminal conviction.

“You’re just taking up oxygen from other people … do you provide any value to society?” Rawlins asked Wallace as he sat in the courtroom’s prisoner box.

Files: Franklyn Wallace outside Superior Court of Ontario after being granted bail Thursday September 24, 2009. (NICK BRANCACCIO / The Windsor Star)

At “the root of all his issues,” Wallace has a substance abuse problem, defence lawyer Kevin Shannon told the court. He described Wallace as polite and “a very good client … unfortunately, he’s been a client more often than I’d like, or the court would like.”

The judge read from a long list of prior criminal offences in a pre-sentence report that quoted Wallace as saying morphine was bad because of its addictive qualities, “but cocaine is OK.”

While “everyone is entitled to their opinion,” Rawlins told Wallace he wasn’t living on a desert island and that his activities — including robberies and thefts to help fund his illegal habit — were negatively impacting the community.

When Wallace’s lawyer suggested substance abuse counselling as part of his client’s punishment, the judge asked why, given his contention that “cocaine is OK” and the fact he had never completed one of the 10 previous counselling programs to which he’d been ordered to attend.

Assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin described Wallace’s record as “incorrigible” and that jail “is what he deserves.”

With time served in pre-sentence custody for his latest crime — a domestic-related assault conviction — Rawlins sentenced Wallace to three months in jail with 12 days credit. That will be followed by three years on probation, a period in which he’s to abstain from illegal drugs, including, the judge emphasized, “cocaine and morphine.” Wallace is prohibited from possessing weapons for 10 years, and he was ordered to give a blood sample for a DNA registry run by police.

During his probationary period, Wallace was also ordered to remain 200 metres away from a Windsor woman with whom he was having a relationship.

Given the opportunity to speak prior to sentencing, Wallace simply said those who prepared his pre-sentence report had made a mistake and that he had actually completed three of those 10 substance abuse counselling programs.

Rawlins said adults have choices but that a life of robbing and thievery to support an addiction habit was “not an acceptable choice.”

“You say you’re prepared to stop … you’ll stop when you’re dead,” said the judge.

Wallace was back in court the very next day — this time from the jail via video — for an appearance on his newest batch of outstanding charges. A trial date was set for October on four charges, including sexual assault with a weapon and two counts of theft.

“Nobody’s a hopeless case,” his lawyer told The Star Wednesday. Shannon said he had another justice system frequent-flyer client who prostituted herself for years to feed a crack cocaine habit but that she decided one day to stop and has been clean the past four or five years.

“As most people get older, things slow down,” said Shannon. “Either they get too old to go to jail … or they die.”

In 2010, Wallace was acquitted on charges of manslaughter and arson causing bodily harm stemming from a fire in a rooming house at 790 Bruce Ave. that killed fellow resident Elizabeth Conn, 64, on Sept. 10, 2008.

dschmidt@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/schmidtcity