There’s no doubt, “something happened in the washroom,” the lawyer representing ex-Spitfire hockey player Ben Johnson conceded during closing arguments in a sexual assault trial Thursday.

But whether that something, which occurred in the men’s washroom of the Krooked Kilt on Jan. 13, 2013, was a criminal act or something much less, is now up to the judge to decide. Ontario court Justice Micheline Rawlins is set to make her ruling Oct. 30.

Defence lawyer Evan Weber said three “themes” emerged from the testimony of the Crown’s witnesses — inconsistency, implausibility and impossibility.

For example, he said, the complainant testified at trial that Johnson, on the night in question, told her to, “Move or I’ll pee on you,” yet she never said that in the initial statement she gave police. Weber said the complainant also told police two months after the alleged incidents — which included Johnson apparently grabbing her hand and placing it on his exposed penis — had occurred only a few weeks earlier.

Weber urged the judge not to rely on the evidence of the complainant, which, “on balance, can’t be relied on.”

But the prosecution countered that it’s Johnson — who took the stand this week, 14 months after the start of the trial — who shouldn’t be believed.

“He lied in respect to his apologies,” said assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin. Johnson’s Facebook apologies were made to the brother of the complainant, who had punched Johnson in the eye that night, for what the defence claimed was a derogatory name the hockey player had used after walking in on the young woman and another woman in a bathroom stall.

“He’s tailoring his evidence,” Kerwin said in his closing arguments. He also alleged Johnson had “selective memory” of what happened that night.

Johnson, 21 now but underaged at the time, acknowledged “sipping through the evening” from pitchers of beer shared during a visit to the Wyandotte Street West bar by members of the Spitfires but that he hadn’t overindulged.

Weber said the testimony of the brother shouldn’t be relied upon because he had a cocaine addiction. Kerwin said the man’s admission of his substance abuse problem, as well as readily admitting to police he had punched Johnson, proves he was “a very candid witness.”

Weber said it was “implausible” the alleged victim, whose name is covered by a standard publication ban, couldn’t recall details of the penis she was exposed to.

The judge interjected, saying that, in the “intensity” of such a situation, one’s ability to recall such a thing can be affected. But Rawlins also questioned the Crown when Kirwin subsequently tried to explain how the alleged victim could be so far off when telling police the date of when the incident happened.

“There are lots of inconsistencies in this trial,” said the judge. “I will allow for human frailty.”

• Read Windsor Star reporter, Doug Schmidt’s live tweets from court today

dschmidt@windsorstar.com or twitter.com/schmidtcity

A young Windsor man charged this spring with multiple counts of allegedly uploading child pornography to his Twitter account has had all charges withdrawn.

Najm Najm, 18, faced eight counts each of unlawfully possessing child pornography, of making child pornography available and of unlawfully accessing child pornography.

Those charges were withdrawn by the Crown in Ontario Court of Justice last week.

Windsor police said in April their Internet Child Exploitation unit had been investigating Najm since February after being contacted by the RCMP’s national co-ordination centre on child exploitation, which itself had been alerted by Twitter.

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A Windsor child pornographer, facing up to 10 years behind bars, sat composed in a courtroom prisoner’s box Wednesday as a local youth spoke of the horror of his life since being abused and violated as a child.

“I lost myself … there is no coming back,” said the victim. That abuse — including having an 11-year-old’s genitals fondled and filmed during late-night visits — triggered nightmares, thoughts of suicide at 14 and alienation from friends and family.

“It’s not your fault — I have a problem,” James Piche said when Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean gave him an opportunity to speak at his sentencing hearing.

“I don’t want to hurt anybody, ever again,” said Piche, 30.

A court-imposed publication ban prohibits identifying the three Windsor boys who were subjected to Piche’s sexual abuse over several years and who were depicted in the more than 10,000 child-porn images and 819 child-porn videos seized by the Windsor Police Service’s Internet child exploitation unit after his arrest a year ago.

The Crown is seeking a 10-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban on associating with children. The defence, citing his otherwise clean criminal record and remorse shown by a quick guilty plea, is seeking a seven-year prison term. The judge will announce his decision Sept. 22.

The youth who read his own victim impact statement said his home, “where I spent some of my best years,” is lost to him now and serves to trigger nightmares.

He accuses his family of initially standing by Piche over himself.

“As far as I’m concerned, I have no family,” he read from his statement. “In my hate and anger, I drive a lot of people away,” he added.

Over a two-year period Piche, who knew the boy and had access to his home, would sneak into his bedroom “almost on a nightly basis,” and fondle the child’s genitals and buttocks and record the abuse on his cellphone, according to a prosecutor.

Piche pleaded guilty in July to 19 charges of making, possessing and distributing child pornography. He originally faced 71 charges related to three Windsor boys, aged 11 to 16 at the time they were victimized, including multiple counts of sexual assault and sexual interference.

Both grandmothers for the two other boys — brothers whose mother allowed them to play computer games with Piche and sometimes spend the night at his home — submitted victim impact statements read out in court by assistant Crown attorney Eric Costaris.

“It will not be easy to just go on and forget … our family is devastated,” said one. The other expressed remorse “about the red flags I missed.” The court heard the brothers were either asleep or unconscious in images discovered on Piche’s computer hard drives, but the victim impact statements describe the embarrassment and shame felt by the boys, who also wake up crying and who suffer from sleepwalking and uncontrollable shaking.

The mother of the boys wrote that Piche was a trusted friend of the family for years but that their lives have been turned upside down and she fears the consequences of “this nightmare” on her children as they grow up.

“How do we fix this?” she wrote.

Defence lawyer Elizabeth Craig said Piche himself was sexually assaulted as a child and had become “shut down emotionally” with insecurities, a shy and lonely man who felt “disengaged” from his two working parents. As a nine-year-old he spent a month in hospital recovering from severe burns to his hands and face and, while above-average academically, Craig said Piche was bullied at school.

Piche was a 2006 college graduate in computer programming and was employed and living with his parents at the time of his arrest. Craig said her client has no substance abuse problems and has taken responsibility for his actions.

Piche, she added, is “very remorseful, ashamed and embarrassed” and wants to get help while incarcerated and after his release.

“He’s otherwise of good character,” she said of Piche, whom she added was “raised Christian” and is focused again on rediscovering his religious roots.

In addition to a 10-year prison sentence, the Crown is seeking a lifetime restriction banning Piche from attending public parks or other locations where children under 16 congregate or from getting a job that involves working with children. Costaris also wants Piche placed on a national sex offender’s registry and have him ordered to submit a blood sample for a police DNA databank.

Costaris described Piche as an adult sexual predator who has had a “devastating, life-altering impact” on his victims.

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A Northern Ontario retiree and church-going community volunteer was handed a suspended sentence and ordered to pay $1,000 restitution to a Windsor hospital guard after attacking him and then turning on an arresting police officer.

George Boucher, 64, was suffering “acute withdrawal symptoms” at the time of the Sept. 12, 2013, incident, his lawyer told an Ontario court judge this week.

The security guard, who was 66 at the time, suffered cuts to his head and scrapes after being attacked in the parking lot of the then-Western campus of Windsor Regional Hospital shortly before 11 p.m. Boucher was leaving the detox unit where he’d been brought by ambulance from Brentwood Recovery Home where he’d been hallucinating and incoherent.

Other security guards trailed the man until Windsor police arrived on the scene, with pepper spray needed to help bring a “combative” Boucher under control.

“This incident was totally out of character,” defence lawyer Joana Miskinis told the court. “It wouldn’t have happened if (Boucher) hadn’t been suffering these medical conditions.”

Miskinis described Boucher as a retired CN Railway worker and “devoted family man” who was involved in his community’s Lion’s Club, local church and railway museum and who had “no history of violence.”

Judge Lloyd Dean agreed to a joint submission on a suspended sentence but told Boucher that, in his experience, “it’s harder for younger people or the elderly to get over this type of event.”

Dean placed Boucher on 12 months probation during which he is not to possess weapons or consume alcohol, as well as participate in counselling as directed. He was also ordered to submit a blood sample for the police DNA databank, and he’s forbidden from having any firearms for 10 years.

Boucher must report regularly to police in Sudbury, which his lawyer said means “some distance to travel.”

The victim advised the court the attack left him out of pocket by about $1,000, which Miskinis said her client was willing to pay.

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A Windsor man who has been “in and out of jail for many, many years” could be heading back that way when he’s sentenced Friday on his latest criminal conviction on drug charges.

Despite her client’s long history of crime, Robert David Crawford’s defence lawyer argued in Ontario Superior Court Tuesday that he appears to have finally learned from his many court-imposed lessons and that he deserves another chance away from jail.

“The criminal conduct follows the substance abuse,” Maria Carroccia told the court. And yet, she added, Crawford, 44, has now gone a year without drugs while awaiting his latest court action.

Given “the reality of the life he’s living,” pleading guilty to the latest charges and abstaining from drugs for that length of time is “quite an accomplishment,” said Carroccia, who is seeking a nine- to 12-month conditional sentence to be served at home.

Federal prosecutor Richard Pollock said the seriousness of the latest offences “clearly requires a custodial sentence.” He said Crawford has “a lengthy criminal record,” with 26 convictions for such offences as drug possession and trafficking, break and enters, assaults and uttering threats.

“I count 30,” said Superior Court Judge Kirk Munroe, correcting the prosecutor’s count upward.

Pollock said that, by repeatedly failing to adhere to the conditions of previous court supervision orders, as well as by having a “history of failing to succeed” in substance abuse programs, Crawford represents a “significant cause for concern.”

Windsor police executed a drug search warrant at a home at 1058 Drouillard Rd., on Feb. 1, 2012, resulting in the seizure of 15 grams of crack cocaine, a scale and $1,165 in cash under the mattress. The court was told the Crown intends to withdraw the same possession for the purpose of trafficking and another drug charge from co-accused Laurie Alayne Champeau.

A pre-sentence report pointed out that three new court convictions had been registered against Crawford since the date of the Drouillard Road bust.

Pollock suggested Crawford’s guilty plea, on the day of his latest trial, was “not remorse, but acknowledgement of the inevitable.”

The judge has asked the defence to provide proof that Crawford has indeed been off drugs the past year given his previous lack of success with drug withdrawal programs and “given his history of criminality his entire adult life.”

Carroccia said Crawford grew up in a home where “violence was the norm and substance abuse was the norm.”

She said one of Crawford’s brothers has been declared a dangerous offender and a second brother, while released from jail, is awaiting sentencing later this month for another conviction.

Carroccia said Crawford has been taking care of his mother who has “some serious issues” and who has been in hospital since Sunday awaiting surgery. She said her client’s crimes were all related to his substance abuse problem.

“I don’t consider break and enter to be a minor crime,” said Munroe.

“I think he has learned his lesson,” said Carroccia.

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A Windsor man who was witnessed brutally attacking a dog in Memorial Park earlier this year has pleaded guilty to killing the animal.

Flanked by his lawyer and a mental health worker, the young man appeared briefly Thursday before Ontario Court Justice Lloyd Dean. He will be sentenced on Dec. 4.

A woman was walking her dog in the forested section of the park in South Walkerville early on the morning of Feb. 18 when she witnessed a man straddling a shepherd-husky mix, with a large amount of blood on the ground. The man refused to stop and was still attacking the dog when responding Windsor Police Service officers arrived.

Despite being rushed to a nearby veterinary clinic, the seriously wounded animal died of its injuries.

Under Section 445 (1) of the Criminal Code, anyone who “wilfully and without lawful excuse … kills, maims, wounds, poisons or injures dogs, birds or animals” and is indicted faces up to five years imprisonment.

dschmidt@windsorstar.com

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Alcohol might be the source of his problems, but that didn’t stop a prosecutor from lambasting an Essex man for the awful things he does while drunk.

Getting behind the wheel, veering from curb to curb and “almost causing a head-on” — while being followed by an OPP cruiser — was “a marked departure of the norm of even a drunk driver,” said assistant Crown attorney Brian Manarin.

But it’s what Larry Ferris admitted to doing to his wife that earned him the harshest rebuke from the prosecutor and an Ontario court judge Thursday.

“What type of cad or scoundrel rams a wheelchair-bound woman, who is his lifetime partner, into doorways intentionally?” said Manarin. “It’s really awful.”

Ferris pleaded guilty to nine charges, including several for assaulting and uttering death threats against his wife, as well as for impaired operation of a vehicle and for breaches of court orders not to buy, possess or consume alcohol.

The court heard Ferris’s wife was wheelchair-bound after recently suffering a stroke and that on several occasions, while being taken for walks with her husband, was “run into walls and door frames on purpose,” said Manarin, reading facts of the case not disputed by the defence. One such occasion was on a visit to the Essex LCBO outlet, when she was pushed into a door.

“Alcohol can reduce inhibitions, but there are certainly things people don’t do,” said the prosecutor.

At one point, Ontario Provincial Police had to search for Ferris’s wife after she was reported missing. Once found, she told police she’d fled her home after being assaulted by her husband, whom she believed capable of following through on earlier verbal threats.

“He’s 67 years old and alcohol is his problem,” said defence lawyer Brian Ducharme.

Manarin said it’s because Ferris, and his drinking problem, is “notoriously known in Essex” that police get calls about him. “Everybody knows him as … the town drunk,” he said.

“Your behaviour is not appropriate, in fact, it’s criminal,” said Justice Lloyd Dean.

Dean agreed with a joint sentencing submission calling for 60 days in jail, with 20 of those days deducted for having served 13 days in pre-sentence custody. He was placed on three years probation, and he’s forbidden from contacting his wife “until you have engaged in sufficient counselling as deemed by your probation officer.”

The judge also banned him from driving for two years, but Ducharme told the court that, because of a previous impaired driving conviction, the province’s transportation ministry will likely impose its own three-year restriction on operating a motorized vehicle.

Ferris was given a weapons restriction during his probation period and a 10-year firearms possession ban. He must also pay a $900 victim impact surcharge.

“I just want to say I’m sorry for my actions,” Ferris said when given the opportunity by the judge to speak.

Ducharme said his client had already been seeking help, and that his treatment, including a period in a residency program, “was going well.” On August 12, however, “he attended a bar and had two beers … and he fell off the wagon.”

Ducharme said Ferris loves his wife and wants to continue their relationship, but the judge said that will be up to his probation officer and how well he does with his counselling and treatment. Dean said alcohol was a “poisonous route” for Ferris.

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A Windsor man, arrested two years ago following a bar fight which afterwards led to gun shots being fired at a residence in Windsor’s west end, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of uttering a threat to cause death.

Jade Freeswick, now 20, was arrested around noon on Aug. 17, 2013 — less than nine hours after shots were fired into a residence in the 300 block of Wellington Avenue. No one was hurt in the incident.

Windsor police investigators believed the gunfire resulted from a fight earlier outside a downtown night club — the former Voodoo Nightclub located in the 500 block of Ouellette Avenue. The bar has since been shuttered.

Superior Court Justice Scott Campbell sentenced Freeswick to one year of probation, banned him from possessing a firearm or any weapon for 10 years and ordered him to stay at least 100 metres away from five individuals listed in court who were part of the bar altercation and alleged targets during the gunfire incident.

Freeswick, 18 at the time of his arrest, had been facing five other charges in court including unauthorized possession of a firearm and careless use of a firearm, but those charges were dropped. He spent a week in jail following his arrest two years ago before being released on bail.

“Now you know what it’s like to spend time in a detention centre,” Campbell told the heavily tattooed Freeswick during his sentencing in court. “I’m guessing you don’t want another similar experience.”

The judge noted how Freeswick had no prior criminal record as an adult and has remained without further charges since being released on bail two years ago.

Assistant Crown attorney Kim Bertholet told the court it was during the confrontation outside the downtown bar that witnesses afterwards told police Freeswick was heard shouting at his combatants “I’m going to run up in your house,” which she said was slang for “I’m going to kill you.”

He was alleged by police following his arrest to also have brandished a handgun during the fight by lifting his shirt to reveal a firearm tucked into his waistband.

But there was no evidence presented in court Thursday Freeswick had revealed a gun during the fight or had anything to do with the gunfire directed at the residence.

dbattagello@windsorstar.com

A young woman faced her attacker in court Friday and described her anguish and a life in ruins following a sexual assault in the man’s home after a summer party among friends.

“I may be alive, but I’m no longer living,” said the victim. She read out her written impact statement in a steady voice next to the judge who must now come up with the appropriate sentence for the man who threw her life into turmoil.

The victim, whose identity is protected by a court order, described her “shock, denial and disbelief” on that night in August 2013. “It felt like a nightmare I could not wake up from,” she said.

Last May, Juan Robert Griffith, who turns 23 next week, was found guilty of sexual assault following a five-day trial before Superior Court Justice George King. He’ll be sentenced later this month.

The victim described a seemingly out-of-control downward emotional spiral in which she turned away from family and friends, in which her school work and employment both suffered and in which she lost trust in others. There were panic attacks, flashbacks, “night terrors” and daytime hallucinations, a loss of energy and sense of security.

“For months, I entertained the idea of suicide,” she said.

Feeling she was subsequently being judged by family and friends, whom she accused of not knowing how to respond or to be supportive, she said she isolated herself socially.

“I no longer wish to be around friends or anyone who knew me,” she said.

She said Griffith was a friend who would confide in her. “I was sympathetic and caring … and then he turns around and hurts me.”

She said she’s “never hated someone before,” but that she now fears it will be difficult developing new relationships.

Assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Holmes said it was a small house party among friends and that everyone else had left. “She was intoxicated — and he took advantage,” said Holmes.

The prosecution is seeking a three-year prison sentence, while the defence is asking for a period of incarceration of between 18 and 24 months.

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Former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson, on trial again on charges that he sexually assaulted a young woman in the washroom of a bar in 2013, wants the judge presiding over his case removed and a mistrial declared.

At issue is a hearing held earlier this month during which Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe appointed a lawyer to represent the interests of Johnson’s accuser. That lawyer, to be paid for by the province, is in addition to the assistant Crown attorney who will prosecute the case.

Neither Johnson nor his lawyer, Patrick Ducharme, were at the hearing. However, as Munroe pointed out Monday, another lawyer from Ducharme’s office attended.

“There was no appearance of fairness,” Ducharme said Monday, referring to the hearing held Sept. 3. Ducharme accused the judge, the local Crown attorney’s office and Legal Aid of Ontario of breaking the rules related to the appointment of lawyers for complainants in criminal proceedings.

• Closing arguments made in sexual assault trial for former Spitfire Ben Johnson
• Ben Johnson sexual assault trial wraps up, judge to rule Oct. 30
• Ex-Spit Ben Johnson testifies in his own defence at sexual assault trial

Johnson, 21, is on trial charged for an alleged sexual assault on March 18, 2013 at Mynt, a downtown nightclub. Spitfire players gathered at the bar that night to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and the end of their season.

The bar, now renamed, had its liquor licence suspended in the wake of the allegations.

Johnson’s accuser was 16 at the time. The court imposed a publication ban to protect her identity.

The young woman is “entitled” to legal representation in the case, Munroe said.

But John Liddle, the criminal defence lawyer Munroe appointed to represent the young woman, is married to a prosecutor in the local Crown’ attorney’s office, Ducharme pointed out. That fact is irrelevant, argued assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin, who is prosecuting the case.

This is the second time Johnson has stood trial on charges of sexual assault.

In a separate proceeding still in Ontario court, Johnson is accused of sexually assaulting another woman in the washroom of another Windsor bar. A young woman, whose identity is similarly protected by a publication ban, has testified Johnson grabbed her hand and forced her to touch his exposed penis. Court heard that incident took place Jan. 13, 2013 in the washroom stall at the Krooked Kilt, a Wyandotte Street West bar.

A judge is expected to rule on the Johnson’s Krooked Kilt case next month.

In Superior Court, Johnson’s lawyer is expected to bring an application Tuesday on to have Munroe recused from the case. If the application is successful, it will trigger a mistrial. Ducharme is seeking a mistrial on other grounds as well, including the appointment of the lawyer for Johnson’s accuser.

Four weeks of court time has been set aside for the trial.

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A trial began Monday for a local man accused of unlawfully bringing cases of fish and other seafoods into Canada via the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, including an allegation he imported frozen lobster “unfit for human consumption.”

Gerald Goldhar and two Windsor companies with which he is associated — Jer-Mar Foods Ltd. and Coldwater Fish Ltd. — were charged with 18 counts of illegal importation, falsifying required documents used to monitor the types of foods entering Canada and providing false and misleading statements to government officials.

Goldhar, president of Jer-Mar and an employee of Coldwater (his wife is the president), is defending himself and the two companies in a trial that began Monday and is scheduled for 15 days.

Each of the 18 counts carries fines of up to $50,000 (and/or two years imprisonment) for those laid under Canada’s Food and Drugs Act, or up to $20,000 ($50,000 for subsequent offences) for those laid under the Fish Inspection Act, as well as jail terms of up to three months. Federal prosecutor Ed Posliff told The Star the prosecution is seeking monetary penalties only.

The Ontario Court of Justice building is seen in this file photo. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

The charges themselves all stem from seafood purchases made in Detroit and then trucked through the tunnel. The disputed imports span from Oct. 25, 2010, when Goldhar is alleged to have brought in 40 kg of frozen fish, 20 kg of fresh fish and four kg of frozen shrimp without a proper import licence, to March 30, 2011, when Goldhar is alleged to have told a Canada Border Service Agency officer the fish he was bringing in did not have to be inspected.

Goldhar is alleged to have subsequently told a Canadian Food Inspection Agency officer that he had not imported any fish on that day. The shipments in dispute include fresh and frozen seafoods — from shrimp, oysters and crab to perch, whitefish, red snapper and cod.

Goldhar pleaded not guilty to all 18 counts.

“People avoiding the inspection regime pose a risk to the public — food may enter the system that is unhealthy,” Posliff told The Star. He said the border inspection system and importation rules “maintain the integrity of our food system.”

The trial before Ontario court Justice Ronald Marion continues Tuesday.

dschmidt@windsorstar.com

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Windsor Star reporter Sarah Sacheli is tweeting live from court on the second day of Ben Johnson’s trial.

A Windsor judge will rule Wednesday whether he will recuse himself from the sexual assault trial of former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson or if he will otherwise declare a mistrial in the case.

Johnson’s lawyer, Patrick Ducharme, Tuesday accused the judge in the case of treating Johnson unfairly in a hearing held earlier this month. During the hearing, Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe appointed a lawyer to represent the interests of Johnson’s accuser.

Neither Johnson nor Ducharme were there, but another lawyer from Ducharme’s office attended on their behalf.

Johnson, 21, is charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on March 18, 2013. Police allege the assault took place in a washroom of downtown nightclub Mynt where members of the local hockey team were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and the end of their season.

A court order prohibits identifying Johnson’s alleged victim.

• Live From Court: Ben Johnson’s second sexual assault trial
• Ex-Spit Ben Johnson wants judge removed from his sex asssault trial
• Closing arguments made in sexual assault trial for former Spitfire Ben Johnson
• Ex-Spit Ben Johnson testifies in his own defence at sexual assault trial

Ducharme Tuesday accused Munroe of “bias.” He said Munroe should declare a mistrial or remove himself from the case.

Ducharme said the judge knew he would be on vacation and unavailable before the trial. Yet the court scheduled a hearing for Sept. 3.

Evan Weber, a lawyer from Ducharme’s office, appeared at the hearing and raised no objections. Ducharme insists Weber had no knowledge of the case and couldn’t adequately represent Johnson.

Assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin, who is prosecuting the case, argued Ducharme should have no complaint with the court or the judge.

“Mr. Ducharme’s complaint is with a member of his office staff,” Kerwin said.

Kerwin also pointed out Ducharme missed deadlines to file applications with the court. Ducharme filed paperwork then left for a Sicilian holiday, forcing a hearing in his absence.

“Is it the court’s fault Mr. Ducharme took a two-week vacation right before the start of the trial?”

Ducharme accused the judge of being too focused on keeping the case on schedule rather than being fair to Johnson.

Johnson’s “vital interests have been violated,” Ducharme insisted.

Johnson has two criminal trials happening simultaneously. He is also on trial in Ontario court, charged with sexually assaulting another young woman in the washroom of a different bar on Jan. 13, 2013. That case has finished hearing evidence and the judge is expected to give a ruling early next month.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

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Former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson will now have to wait until Friday to learn if his sexual assault trial in Windsor’s Superior Court will be derailed before it even begins.

The New Jersey Devils prospect has asked the judge hearing his case to recuse himself and declare a mistrial. Johnson’s lawyer, Patrick Ducharme, argues Johnson was treated unfairly when the court earlier this month appointed a lawyer for his accuser at no cost to her.

Johnson, 21, is charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in the washroom of a downtown bar on March 18, 2013. His trial, scheduled for four weeks, was to begin this week.

But on the first day of trial, Ducharme moved for a mistrial.

Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe heard submissions from Ducharme and assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin Tuesday. Munroe was to rule Wednesday, but appeared in court saying he was not ready.

Munroe said he had been unable to finish writing his decision because he had been called upon to hear an emergency motion in family court. Rather than call Johnson back Thursday and risk the case again being adjourned, Munroe said the case would reconvene Friday.

Ducharme has told the court repeatedly that it’s a burden for Johnson, who hails from Calumet, Mich., to come to Windsor. On top of a nine-hour drive, he is usually detained at the border for two hours, Ducharme says. Border officials look into his bail conditions which prohibit him from coming to Canada except for pre-arranged meetings with his lawyer or for court appearances.

Johnson is before the courts on two separate allegations of sexual assault. An Ontario court judge is to rule next month on an allegation that Johnson sexually assaulted a young woman on Jan. 13, 2013, in a washroom at the Krooked Kilt. The young woman told the court she went to police after hearing allegations of the second sexual assault.

The second incident is alleged to have occurred in the washroom of Mynt nightclub.

The nightclub was hosting a St. Patrick’s Day party at the time and members of the local OHL hockey team were there celebrating the end of their season. The bar, which has been renamed, was investigated following the March incident and had its liquor licence suspended for serving underaged patrons.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

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A Windsor judge Friday shot down former Spitfire Ben Johnson’s attempt to get a mistrial declared in his latest sexual assault case.

The New Jersey Devils prospect had asked the judge hearing the case to recuse himself, arguing anyone aware of what had happened in court earlier this month during a pre-trial hearing would think the judge was biased and that Johnson was treated unfairly. At that hearing, Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe appointed a lawyer for Johnson’s accuser after her constitutional rights became an issue in the case.

The court has imposed a publication ban on the nature of the rights at stake.

But Munroe Friday, in a decision that took him more than an hour to read, dismissed each of the arguments posed by defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme.

“The defence has not met its burden,” Munroe concluded.

Johnson, 21, is charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in the washroom of a downtown bar on March 18, 2013. His four-week trial on the charge was set to begin this week. The recusal and mistrial applications derailed the trial before it had even begun.

In a separate trial being heard in another court, Johnson is charged with sexually assaulting another young woman on Jan. 13, 2013 in the washroom of another bar. An Ontario court judge is to rule on that case next month.

In the Superior Court case, Ducharme argued that a hearing was held Sept. 3 in Johnson’s absence and on a date that the court knew Ducharme would be on vacation and unavailable. Evan Weber, another lawyer from Ducharme’s office, attended on Ducharme and Johnson’s behalf.

Munroe noted Johnson filed written permission with the court allowing Weber to appear in his stead at any court hearing.

Munroe dismissed Ducharme’s argument that Weber couldn’t effectively represent Johnson at the hearing because he “did not have a clue” about the case. “For a clueless lawyer, he contributed knowledgeably,” Munroe countered.

Ducharme also argued that the public would think it unfair that Johnson’s accuser gets a taxpayer-funded lawyer while Johnson has to hire a lawyer at his own expense.

It’s not a “contest” about who gets the free lawyer, Munroe said, calling Ducharme’s argument “specious.”

The case is expected to resume Sept. 23 with pre-trial hearings. The trial is not continuing before then at Ducharme’s request because he has a trial in another court.

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

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A hearing officer under the Police Standards Branch sentenced a Windsor police constable to an 18-month demotion for his 2012 on-duty assault that saw him caught on video kicking a man lying in a stairwell.

Const. Kent Rice pleaded guilty last week to two misconduct charges under the Police Services Act — using unlawful or unnecessary force and discreditable conduct.

A decision by retired Toronto area Insp. Brian Fazackerley, who presided over the hearing, saw him agree with a joint submission by lawyers from both sides that will see Rice immediately demoted to second-class constable which will mean a loss of $14,000 in pay over the duration of his penalty.

Rice, 43, will be returned to his current rank of first-class constable when his demotion ends.

• Windsor police Const. Kent Rice pleads guilty to police act charges

He previously received a conditional discharge — or probation — in criminal court after being found guilty of assault for having unnecessarily kicked Gladson Chinyangwa twice in an incident at an apartment building in the 1100 block of McDougall Avenue on Feb. 22, 2012.

Rice, with his wife at his side, walked past reporters without comment on Friday following the hearing.

His lawyer Andrew Bradie described him as being “relieved” there is a conclusion to the legal proceedings against him after three and a half years.

“He’s been under stress ever since it happened,” Bradie said. “It’s been a roller-coaster for him and his family. Now that it’s finally behind him, hopefully he can get back to police duty and helping the community.”

The demotion is effective immediately and it is up to police Chief Al Frederick as to exactly when Rice is back on active duty.

“The public should have confidence in the police department,” Bradie said. “The video was only a portion of what happened that night. The trial put it in proper perspective.

“There is every indication officer Rice has been exemplary his entire career. We are talking about two and half minutes of misconduct and it was dealt with seriously by Windsor Police Services.”

Windsor Police Const. Kent Rice and his wife arrive for his sentencing September 18, 2015. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

Rice was among four Windsor police officers who attended an apartment fight between three men, including Chinyangwa, shortly after 2 a.m. on the night of the assault.

A security camera video in the building’s stairwell showed Rice standing over Chinyangwa before kicking him twice forcefully despite little resistance from the 20-year-old man.

The surveillance video didn’t surface until months later when revealed by The Star. Rice was suspended with pay in June 2012 when the video came to light.

Rice apologized to his victim last week following his guilty plea and for bringing embarrassment to the police department. He had no previous disciplinary matters against him since joining Windsor police in 1999.

In his hour-long decision, Fazackerley noted “in my view officer Rice used excessive force” when he kicked Chinyangwa twice and was “very fortunate no serious injury was done.”

He said there was no evidence of malice or racial bias in the attack, but said “police must always be held to a higher standard and officer Rice fell short of those expectations.”

Bradie had previously submitted 133 pages of reference letters on behalf of Rice, who was an officer with the Canada Border Services Agency for six years before joining Windsor police.

Following the hearing, Rice was also given support going forward by Jason DeJong, president of Windsor Police Association.

“I think he can continue to be a productive member of this service and serve the community without issue,” DeJong said. “This was a very isolated incident.

“Video cameras are everywhere now. Sometimes they can paint a picture of what transpired, but we also have to be cognizant of how much of the entire interaction they actually captured.”

dbattagello@windsorstar.com

Eric Patrick Blair grabs women off the street and rapes them.

One time, he held a drywall knife to a 13-year-old girl’s neck and threatened to kill her during a home invasion committed to collect on a $50 debt for a friend.

Blair steals cars, robs convenience store clerks at knifepoint and beats up women to steal their purses.

An Ontario court judge Friday said the Windsor man needs to be kept behind bars indefinitely. Justice Gregory Campbell declared Blair a dangerous offender.

Blair, 45, is only the sixth criminal locally to receive the designation since it became available to sentencing judges in 1977.

“He is a threat to the life, safety and psychological well-being of others,” Campbell concluded in a decision that took him more than two hours to read Friday. “There is little reason for optimism that Mr. Blair will embrace change or is capable of change.”

Blair’s criminal record includes 49 convictions, many of them for violent crimes. His latest was in 2011 when he robbed a Windsor convenience store clerk at knifepoint. Surveillance cameras taped him as he went into the store manned by a husband and wife, asked for a carton of cigarettes and created a diversion by trying to pay with a bogus debit card. While the wife was assisting him with the card reader, he grabbed her arm and jabbed the knife at her.

Blair became known as the “University of Windsor rapist” after twice abducting young women in the city’s west end. Just 48 hours after getting out of prison for a violent 1992 purse snatching, Blair followed a woman home from a bar. He threw a shirt over her head and dragged her into an alley, saying he had a gun. He then forced her into her apartment where he tied her up for 1½ hours and raped her.

Blair remained at large for a month until he struck again. He grabbed a woman off the street near the university and forced her onto the porch of a nearby home where he sexually assaulted her with his fingers. He had her pinned face-down and was stripping off her shorts when two men passing by interrupted the attack. They apprehended Blair and held him for police.

Campbell calculated that Blair has spent more than 90 per cent of his adult life behind bars. Blair racked up his first criminal conviction at the age of 16, but was a problem child long before. His mother tried to get him help. Blair said he was using cocaine regularly by the age of 14. He told a psychologist he “ate acid like candy” as a kid, but that, later, his drug of choice was crack.

He was high when he committed his many crimes, Blair told the psychologist. He didn’t plan to rape or hurt people during his attacks. He just wanted to rob them to get money or stuff to sell so he could feed his addiction, Blair said.

Campbell called Blair out of control.

Blair seemed to show some insight into his need for treatment, but was resistant to getting it. He completed a single drug addiction course during his many years in jail, but refused sex offender treatment. In jail, he would always act out or ask to be put in segregation to avoid taking counselling.

He broke the sprinkler head to flood his cell and beat up cellmates in unprovoked attacks. Described in court as manipulative and a liar, he would constantly be moved from penitentiary to penitentiary at his request, saying he needed some specific treatment offered there. Once there, he would not pursue it.

Officials discovered Blair was trying to follow another male inmate with whom he’d begun a romantic relationship.

Campbell noted Blair is the rare inmate held for the entirety of his sentences, not afforded parole. After his last two crimes, he was held beyond his release date and made to agree to a special restraining order that would place strict conditions on him while not in jail.

He would breach every time.

In 2010, he wept in court trying to convince a Windsor judge that he is a changed man. Just three weeks later, he was arrested for threatening to kill his sister’s ex-boyfriend.

Defence lawyer Greg Goulin had asked the judge not to jail Blair indefinitely, but sentence him to 10 years. Goulin said he could then put Blair on long-term supervision after his release.

But assistant Crown attorney Brian Manarin argued only an indefinite sentence could adequately protect society.

Blair’s victims are many, Manarin said. “Hopefully all those people who were victimized in the past have some sense of vindication because Mr. Blair is now going to be taken out of society, I expect, for a very, very, very long time.”

ssacheli@windsorstar.com

Twitter.com/winstarsacheli

Matthew Quenneville was upset and incredulous when he learned on the weekend about Volkswagen’s rigging of emissions tests that may render his turbo diesel Golf station wagon – and many thousands of other diesel VWs ­— worthless.

“Nobody will touch it with a 10-foot pole,” the Windsor man said of his car, a 2010 model he bought used three years ago because it boasted great mileage and “clean” diesel technology that was supposed to be good for the environment. While he recently spent just $35 to drive to Tennessee, he now feels duped about the clean diesel claims, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that VW used software in its diesel cars. It detected when testing was being done and turned on emission controls, but then turned them off during normal driving to get better performance. As a result, the cars were polluting at levels as high as 40 times the legal limit.

“You start the car up and it’s got a nasty smell to it,” said Quenneville, who’s one of two named plaintiffs in a $1.1-billion Canadian class action suit announced Tuesday by Windsor firm Sutts, Strosberg, Toronto’s Koski Minisky and London’s McKenzie Lake.

“Now, to find out it could be pumping loads of bad gas and we’re inhaling them, it’s a little concerning.”

And no one’s going to buy it, he said. “The vehicle is worthless.”

Portrait of Matthew Quenneville, and his Volkswagen vehicle in Windsor, Ont. on Sept. 22, 2015. Quenneville, is a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against Volkswagen AG. (JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star)

Lawyer Harvey Strosberg said the owners of an estimated 100,000 affected vehicles in Canada were “badly deceived.” Volkswagen marketed the cars as being green, but they turned out to be brown, Strosberg said.

“Effectively the conspiracy is between VW employees that designed and intentionally manipulated software to defeat or suppress the true nature of dangerous emissions, including nitrogen oxide. They knew these diesel engines were running amok on the highways and bi-ways of Canada and the U.S., they didn’t meet the standards.”

He said Quenneville and his fellow plaintiff Michael Pare from Mount Brydges, Ont. (who owns a diesel Passat) are also faced with a big financial setback, because, who’s going to want to buy these cars?

If these cars go for Drive Clean testing they’d fail and could not be resold, said Sutts, Strosberg lawyer Myron Shulgan.

“The result may be you’d have to replace your engine before you can resell your vehicle, so you may very well wind up with a worthless vehicle,” said Shulgan.

He said VW has six years of diesel engines on the road “that may be functionally useless to their owners.”

The affected vehicles include the diesel models of the Jetta, Beetle and Golf for the 2009 to 2015 model years, and the Passat from 2012 to 2015, along with the Audi A3 from 2009 to 2015.

A spokesman from Volkswagen Canada couldn’t be reached Tuesday to comment on the class-action lawsuit, which is not the only one being launched in Canada.

The corporate parent’s CEO Martin Winterkorn has said he is “utterly sorry” in a video on the company’s website. “I offer my deepest apologies to our customers, the authorities and to the public at large for our misconduct,” he said.

The company said on Tuesday that about 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide are fitted with the emissions-rigging software. It has halted selling its diesel-powered cars in Canada.

“This is very important for the people who bought these cars, they wanted to believe they were good citizens, in compliance with the emissions rules in Canada,” said Strosberg.

He blamed the scandal on corporate greed.

“They had a wonderful logo, they had a wonderful reputation, but someone destroyed it,” he said. And to get it back, he added, “they have to do justice to their customers first.”

Strosberg said his class action is for anyone who owned one of the affected vehicles on Sept. 18, including businesses like used car lots. A website is currently being set up for people interested in joining the suit.

Meanwhile, Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, which administers the Drive Clean program, said in a statement to The Star Tuesday: “We are concerned for consumers who have been impacted by this and are in conversations with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the federal government to determine an appropriate course of action.”

The statement said that the majority of the 35,000 affected Volkswagen and Audi diesels in the province are under seven years of age and therefore not yet required to take the Drive Clean test.

bcross@windsorstar.com

A Windsor child pornographer, who repeatedly sexually assaulted several boys and recorded the abuse, was sentenced to nine years in prison Tuesday.

James Piche sat expressionless in the prisoner’s box, keeping his eyes locked on Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean. But Piche’s pale face eventually went red when he heard about his prison time.

The tall, slender Windsor man pleaded guilty in July to 19 charges, including making child pornography and sexual assault. The charges stem from a sweeping police investigation that discovered more than 10,000 images and more than 800 videos of child pornography on Piche’s home computer.

One victim, now a young man, has been waiting nearly seven years for this day. Assaulted by Piche about 300 times over two years between the ages of 11 and 13, he said he’s satisfied with the punishment.

“It’s more than I thought he was going to get,” he said outside the courtroom. “I still wish it could have been more, but the judge has to be fair.”

A court-imposed publication ban prohibits identifying the three Windsor people subjected to the sexual abuse.

The Crown asked for 10 years in prison, while the defence wanted seven years. In the end, Piche gets 18 months credit for time he’s already served.

Family members of the victims packed the courtroom Tuesday. Some sat quietly, while others wept openly when hearing how Piche used a cellphone to record several sexual assaults on one teenage boy. Then he did it again several years later with that boy’s brother, Dean explained.

The  judge described Piche’s actions as despicable behaviour that filled his heart with “so much outrage, anger, disgust and sorrow.”

Above all, though, the victim who was in court Tuesday is just happy people believe him. In a victim impact statement, he said he resents his family for staunchly defending Piche over the years.

The young man came forward in 2014 after police announced Piche’s arrest.

“It had been six years and everyone thought I was lying,” the man said. “I know he’s not out there any more. I know I’m not going to run into him at the mall. It’s done, I know people believe me now.”

Dean also described the “immeasurable grief and misery” suffered by the children and their families.

“The lives of the families have been shattered. The young males have been robbed of their youth and their innocence,” he said.

Dean then discussed the emotions he goes through when watching children suffer in these cases.

“They are still out there. Where are they? What is still happening to them?” he said. “How depraved must an adult be to inflict such pain on innocent souls. Why isn’t their heart broken like mine?”

Piche’s defence attorney Elizabeth Craig called Dean’s decision fair, saying she respected how he described the importance of delineating between personal emotions and making a judicial decision.

“We all have to go review those videos and look at that child pornography to determine if it falls in line with the criminal code,” she said. “They’re all memories that get burned in your head just because some of them are so horrendous. I thought he did a good job at explaining … what it does to you personally and explaining his role as a judge.”

Dean also issued lifetime bans that will prohibit Piche from being in areas where there are children under the age of 16, unless they have adult supervision. Also, Piche will not be able to apply for work that puts him in an influential position with children under the age of 16.

dspalding@windsorstar.com

twitter.com/Derek_Spalding

Windsor Star reporter Sarah Sacheli tweets live from court at former Windsor Spitfires player, Ben Johnson’s sexual assault trial.