A young Windsor woman left court jubilant Tuesday after striking a plea that had her pay a $200 fine for driving headlong into a string of parked cars.

“People holding their cell phones got $300. I totalled five cars and I only got $200,” Rayne Davis, 22, said, unable to control her laughter as she left provincial offences court.

Rayne was the driver of a vehicle that caused a clamorous early morning crash March 7 in the 800 block of Moy Avenue near the intersection of Niagara Street.

Davis narrowly missed hitting cars on one side of the street, overcorrected, then slammed into several more on the opposite side. The crash damaged a total of six cars, five beyond repair.

After the 1 a.m. crash, Davis was on the street arguing with her passenger about the location of her cigarette lighter.

Police charged Davis with careless driving, an offence that carries a fine of $400 to $2,000, a licence suspension of up to two years and the possibility of a jail sentence. A provincial prosecutor Tuesday struck a deal with Davis that saw her plead guilty to a charge of failing to turn out to the left when passing.

An older man with Davis paid the young woman’s fine immediately after her court appearance.The fine was $200, plus $40 in court fees.

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A man involved in one of the largest marijuana grow operations ever uncovered in Essex County has, perhaps, avoided deportation by being sentenced this week to 5½ months in jail.

Yi Feng Zhou, 36, pleaded guilty to marijuana production and theft of electricity for a grow operation at 1910 Todd Lane in LaSalle. In 2011, police found 692 plants and almost nine kilograms of harvested marijuana in the house.

They then searched a house on Elliott Street West in Windsor where Zhou lived with his common-law wife and one of his children. They found no drugs there but correspondence and a key tag that led them to a home on California Avenue where an even larger grow operation was found.

Court heard Zhou, who was born in Canton Province, China, came to Canada in 2002. He has permanent resident status. Since he is not a citizen, he can be deported.

A sentence in excess of six months would have meant he would be automatically deported with no right of appeal, court heard. Since Zhou was sentenced to less than six months in jail, his right to appeal is preserved.

Federal drug prosecutor Jennifer Rooke had argued Zhou’s crime called for a penitentiary sentence of three years. Defence lawyer Kim Schofield, citing the fact any jail sentence could result in the “collateral consequence” of deportation, asked for a conditional discharge.

Zhou, who had been free on bail, pleaded guilty in January and subsequently asked to be jailed to gain favour in sentencing. Because of the 56 days already spent in custody, his sentence was reduced to three months.

Zhou was charged along with Hao Ye, 61, and Ye’s son, Zhizhao Ye, 34. Charges against Hao Ye were dismissed following a court ruling that police had violated his constitutional rights during the search that uncovered the California Avenue grow op.

Those same charges related to the California Avenue grow op were dismissed against Zhizhao Ye. He still faces charges related to the Todd Lane grow op for which Zhou has taken responsibility.

Superior Court Justice Gregory Verbeem has asked Rooke if the Crown still intends to pursue its case against Zhizhao Ye. Zhizhao Ye’s case will be spoken to in court again next month.

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A Windsor man who once abducted a 14-year-old girl he’d met over the Internet has lost his bid to have evidence of his alleged crimes against more children thrown out of court.

Daniel George Nickolson, 50, had tried to argue his constitutional rights were violated when police searched his Turner Road home, his vehicle and the contents of his laptop computer. His lawyer, Andrew Telford-Keogh, had argued Windsor police made errors and outright misled the justice of the peace who authorized the 2014 searches.

Nickolson was arrested in June 2014, as he returned to Windsor from his job at a produce warehouse in Kingsville. Telford-Keogh accused police of orchestrating the traffic stop so they could search Nickolson’s vehicle without a warrant.

But Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas ruled Wednesday that the search and the one on his home and computer were legal.

Nickolson is facing 85 charges, including luring and making child pornography, for crimes alleged to have occurred in 2013 and 2014. Police say he would meet girls in Internet chat rooms and persuade them to strip for him. He would counsel them to perform sex acts, they say. He is accused of extortion and uttering threats for coercing the girls to continue communicating with him by saying he would hurt their families, post the nude images he had of them to the Internet or get them in trouble by sharing their sexually explicit chats with their parents.

Court has heard the RCMP got a tip from American authorities investigating child exploitation about accounts they traced back to a Windsor man they believed to be Nickolson.

In a parallel investigation, a computer repairman tipped off police about finding child pornography on a laptop he was working on. He returned the laptop to the client, but first copied the images onto a disc.

The computer repairman is expected to be the first witness who will testify when the trial begins Thursday.

In 2009, Nickolson was sentenced to four years in prison for convincing a girl in Saskatchewan to run away from home to live with him. Nickolson was arrested on a bus in Winnipeg as he returned to Ontario with the girl.

He was convicted of abduction, Internet luring and distributing child pornography.

At the time that Nickolson is alleged to have committed his latest crimes, he was bound by a court order not to use a computer to communicate with anyone under the age of 14.

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A Windsor sex offender who once convinced a 14-year-old girl from Saskatchewan to run away with him was back on the Internet soon after his release from prison, contacting more children online, his trial heard Thursday.

Police searched Daniel Nickolson’s Turner Road apartment in June 2004, after hearing from a computer technician who said he found child pornography on a laptop computer Nickolson had brought in for repair. In the apartment, police found dozens of scraps of paper which appeared to contain the names, ages, email addresses and phone numbers of teenaged girls from around the globe.

Nickolson, 50, is on trial for 85 sex-related crimes against children. He is charged with making, accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography, luring children and extorting them.

In 2009, he was sentenced to four years in a federal penitentiary for abducting a child, Internet luring and distributing child pornography after convincing a girl to run away from home to be with him. He was arrested in Winnipeg on a bus as he returned home with the girl.

Among the latest allegations, Nickolson is accused of engaging in sexually explicit chats with girls over the Internet, and capturing images of them stripping for him. He is accused of counselling them to perform sex acts. If the girls tried to stop communicating with him, he would threaten to harm their family members, post nude photos of them to the Internet or share the contents of their chats with their parents, police say.

Charles King testified Thursday that Nickolson brought a laptop computer into the now-defunct Howard Avenue shop where he worked. The computer was infected with a virus, he told the court. King said he picked one of the corrupt files at random and opened it. Without getting into detail, he said it was an image of child pornography.

“I probably opened a half-dozen at random,” King said. “They were all the same.”

King said he made a copy of what he found onto a CD. He also found a resume in the name of Daniel Nickolson and put that on the CD, too. He finished fixing the computer and placed it back on the shelf to be returned to the customer.

King said he took the disc to his LaSalle home and called a police officer friend. When the officer called him back a couple days later, King handed him the disc.

Related

• Live blog from trial of convicted sex offender Daniel Nickolson
• Search of accused child pornographer's home, car and computer legal, judge rules

Defence lawyer Andrew Telford-Keogh questioned King about whether he had any protocol for dealing with suspected child pornography.

“Why would you take that risk upon yourself to even take the CD home?” Telford-Keogh asked.

King responded he didn’t know any police officers in Windsor, so he decided to deal with his friend on the LaSalle force “ who would have some insight.”

LaSalle police Const. Terry Seguin testified he received the disc from King and placed it in an evidence bag to be handed over to Windsor police.

Windsor Const. Shawn Diotte testified another LaSalle officer delivered the disc to him the next morning. Windsor police came up with a plan to arrest Nickolson.

Nickolson at the time worked at a greenhouse operation in Kingsville. Diotte and his partner visited the parking lot of Mucci Pac and spotted Nickolson’s red Saturn Astra. Since they were in plainclothes, they enlisted the help of uniformed OPP officers to stop the car as Nickolson drove home from work that day.

Diotte said after OPP officers stopped the vehicle on County Road 20, he searched the vehicle after his partner arrested and handcuffed Nickolson. He found a sleeve of CDs, three jump drives, a cellphone and nine copies of Nickolson’s resume.

The next day, Diotte was among the officers who searched Nickolson’s Turner Road apartment. Inside they found the laptop computer that triggered the investigation, along with the names of girls scrawled on dozens of scraps of paper.

Nickolson’s trial continues in Superior Court before Justice Bruce Thomas.

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If cocaine smuggler Baldev Singh ever comes back to Canada, he’ll be facing 12 years in a federal penitentiary.

A Superior Court judge in Windsor this week sentenced Singh in absentia for coming across the Ambassador Bridge on the morning of March 19, 2009, with 69 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of California oranges.

Singh’s truck had crossed into the U.S. bearing signs that read Omni. On the way back into Canada, the signs read East West Trucking Inc.

In September 2014, Singh was convicted for importing cocaine. He didn’t turn up for subsequent court dates or for an interview with a probation officer who had been tasked with writing a background report on him for the sentencing judge.

“He absconded, presumably, to avoid the prospect of a lengthy term of incarceration,” Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance said in her sentencing decision this week.

Pomerance, at first, was not convinced she should sentence Singh in absentia. She let Singh’s lawyer off the case and appointed Windsor lawyer John Liddle to offer “non-partisan submissions” to assist the court.

Liddle was directed not to try to find Singh nor seek out any information about him beyond what was already in the court record.

Pomerance spoke of the need to make an example of Singh. “Border officials cannot check all vehicles,” she said. “It may be tempting for like-minded offenders to play the odds and court the risk crossing the border with valuable contraband. The message must be sent that those who are caught will be dealt with severely by courts.”

Singh, 46, was free on $210,000 bail throughout his trial. Only $40,000 of that money had ever been deposited with the court.

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An Essex County man who launched a pickup truck off a ramp-shaped flowerbed in Leamington in 2012, killing his best friend, will stand trial for first-degree murder.

Andrew Cowan, 44, was ordered Friday to stand trial after a preliminary hearing in Ontario court.

His case will now be transferred to Superior Court to schedule a trial date.

Cowan was the driver of a black pickup truck that hit a building at the irregular intersection of Talbot Street, Fraser Road and Oak Street on Oct. 21, 2012. Cowan’s passenger, Edward Witt, 53, died from injuries he sustained the crash.

Cowan was also severely injured. Police waited two years after the crash to charge him.

A charge of first-degree murder means police believe Witt’s death was planned and deliberate.

A publication ban prevents reporting on the evidence heard at the preliminary hearing or the judge’s reasons for committing Cowan to stand trial.

After being charged, Cowan and his family filed a $10-million lawsuit naming the Town of Leamington, the County of Essex, the Leamington Horticultural Society, two of the horticultural society’s members and a local landscaping company. Cowan is also suing Caesars Windsor for serving him and Witt with alcohol before the crash.

Witt’s family filed a similar suit.

Both lawsuits were abandoned.

Witt’s family and estate still have an active lawsuit against Cowan and the casino.

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A convicted sex offender’s sister helped police collect new incriminating evidence against him, turning over items she found while cleaning out his apartment, Superior Court heard Friday.

Christine Nickolson testified she found a pocket-sized notebook filled with what she believed where children’s names, ages and email addresses. She handed it over to officers who a week earlier had arrested her brother on child pornography charges.

Daniel George Nickolson, 50, is on trial charged with 85 crimes involving children. In addition to making, accessing, possessing and distributing child pornography, he is accused of Internet luring, counselling children to perform sex acts, and extorting them if they didn’t co-operate.

The charges date back to 2013. At the time, Nickolson was bound by a court order not to use a computer to communicate with children under the age of 14. That condition was a result of prior convictions for child abduction, luring and distributing child pornography — charges for which he was sentenced in 2009 to four years in a federal penitentiary.

Nickolson was arrested on June 4, 2014 as he left work at a Kingsville greenhouse operation. Court has heard police received a tip from a computer technician who said he found what he believed was child pornography on a laptop Nickolson had brought to him for repair.

The day after Nickolson’s arrest, police searched his Turner Road apartment. About a week later, Nickolson’s sister went in to clean out the place.

She said she had been to the address about seven or eight times before to pick up her brother, but this was the first time she’d ever been inside.

“It was messy,” she testified.

She enlisted her siblings to help her remove all the furniture and sift through what remained.

Her brother, Philip, came across an iPod. “He saw what was on it and he gave it to me and I immediately turned it over.”

Court has already heard police found child pornography on an iPod that was seized from the apartment.

Christine Nickolson testified she was cleaning out a closet when she came across the notebook. It was inside a tool box.

Earlier in the day, Windsor police Const. Shawn Diotte testified to similar “writings” found in Nickolson’s apartment. He said police found nine sheets of lined paper on which were written lists of girls’ names, numbers police believe related to their ages, email addresses, phone numbers and geographic locations police believe indicated where they lived.

Another six sheets of similar paper were handwritten poetry that spoke of finding “a girl” to love.

Christine Nickolson testified she believed everything in the apartment belonged to her brother, since he lived alone, except for his dog named Baby.

“There was no one else at that address who lived with him,” Nickolson testified. When asked if she was certain her brother had no roommate, she said: “His dog was his roommate.”

In 2008, Nickolson abducted a 14-year-old farm girl from Saskatchewan he’d met over the Internet. He convinced her to run away from home to be with him. He was arrested on a bus in Winnipeg as he returned with the girl.

He was sentenced the following year.

His trial on the newest raft of charges continues before Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas.

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Windsor should be thankful an arsonist torched the Wickes bumper plant, saving it future demolition costs and earning it nearly $1.3 million in an insurance payout, Ontario court heard Wednesday.

The sentencing hearing for the man who lit the massive fire heard the city — which owned the Tecumseh Road East building— had shut off the utilities to the vacant building and done preliminary work including asbestos removal for future demolition.

“They had taken steps to test the building for demolition,” defence lawyer Lisa Carnelos told the court.

Carnelos’s client, Cody Scammell-Turley, pleaded guilty to arson in connection with the June 2014 blaze. Court heard Wednesday that Scammell-Turley, now 20, and a boy who was 16 at the time, spray-painted walls and set things on fire. When the flames from one of the fires they set grew out of control, they panicked, Carnelos said. They fled to a parking lot across the street and watched the fire grow.

“This is a case of a mischief gone bad,” Carnelos said. She characterized it as a “completely ridiculous, reckless act,” but not an intentional arson.

Windsor firefighters battle the blaze at the Wickes site on June 25, 2014.

Carnelos urged Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean to sentence Scammell-Turley to three months in jail. Assistant Crown attorney Shelley McGuire said a more fitting sentence would be nine to 12 months behind bars, followed by 18 months of probation.

Dean, who will sentence Scammell-Turley next month, warned the man to return to court prepared to go to jail.

The city’s insurer is seeking restitution for the nearly $1.3 million it paid out for the fire.

Carnelos said the city may have “made out better” because of the arson, getting a huge payout for a building it was considering demolishing anyway.

Carnelos said it would be simply unfair to saddle Scammell-Turley with a restitution order he will never be able to pay off. Carnelos said Scammell-Turley works as a roofer in Sudbury.

Such a restitution order would “halt his rehabilitation for the rest of his life,” Carnelos said. “You’d just throw your hands up in the air because your life is ruined.”

Scammell-Turley agreed to testify against the teen who had been charged with arson along with him. He received no special treatment for his co-operation, Carnelos said.

The teen was found not guilty.

Cody Scammell-Turley lights up outside Ontario Court of Justice on a break from his sentencing hearing June 08, 2016. Scammell-Turley pleaded guilty to arson for setting fire to the former Wickes bumper plant building in 2014.

Carnelos said the city — which paid a $100,000 deductible — and the insurance company could pursue Scammell-Turley in the civil courts. A restitution order as part of a criminal sentence is harsher, she said. Such an order would preclude the young man from getting a pardon until the full sum was paid and it would still be owed if he ever declared bankruptcy.

McGuire agreed Scammell-Turley should be made to make some restitution, but perhaps a few thousand dollars to “send a message.”

She said, while Scammell-Turley is young and has no prior criminal record, there are aggravating factors the judge should consider.

Scammell-Turley’s brother and brother-in-law are firefighters, so his knowledge of the peril firefighters face gives him a “higher level of culpability.” She also noted Scammell-Turley never called for help, and instead watched from the Canadian Tire parking lot across the street as the flames engulfed the building.

Businesses in the area suffered because Tecumseh Road East remained closed until the day after the blaze, McGuire also noted.

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A preliminary hearing has begun for a man charged with slitting his friend’s throat and leaving the body in an alley.

Colin S. Chrisjohn, 25, is charged with second-degree murder in the June 4, 2015,  death of Amir Hayat Malik. Malik, 32, was found dead in an alley in the 500 block of Brant Street on that morning. An electrician working at a house in the neighbourhood made the grisly discovery.

A preliminary hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence for Chrisjohn to stand trial began in Ontario court this week. The hearing was adjourned Wednesday after defence lawyer Laura Joy said she was feeling ill.

Two weeks of court time has been set aside to complete the hearing.

A court order prohibits publication of evidence heard in court.

At the time of Chrisjohn’s arrest, police released surveillance footage of Chrisjohn and Malik together in the lobby of a downtown building in the hours leading up to Malik’s death. Police said the two were friends.

They also released a photo of a colourful hooded jacket Malik was wearing. After his death, Malik’s body was found in the alley shirtless.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled to resume before Ontario court Justice Ronald Marion when Chrisjohn’s lawyer is felling better.

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A trial begins today for an Amherstburg businessman charged with armed robbery and other crimes related to a 2014 incident.

Alan Joseph Quesnel, 47, is charged with robbery with a firearm, assault with a weapon, uttering death threats, pointing a firearm, possessing a firearm without a licence, possessing a weapon dangerous to the public and mischief causing less than $5,000 in damage.

The charges arise out of an incident alleged to have occurred Jan. 5, 2014 in Amherstburg.

Monday was jury selection for the trial. The jury of 10 men and two women will begin hearing evidence Tuesday.

The trial in Superior Court before Justice Renee Pomerance is scheduled for two weeks.

Quesnel is the former president of The Athletic Club, a chain of fitness clubs now known as Movati Athletics.

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Local businessman Alan Quesnel befriended a Rwandan man and for seven years gave him money, bought him a car, took him on vacations and offered him $150,000 to build his aunt a house in Africa.

Then, one night, Quesnel ordered him to kneel and put the hot barrel of a pistol in his mouth, the philanthropist’s jury trial heard Tuesday.

Quesnel, 47, is charged with pointing a firearm, assault with a weapon, robbery with a firearm, uttering threats, possessing a dangerous weapon, possessing a firearm without a licence and mischief.

Evariste Ufitinema testified he met Quesnel in 2007. Quesnel, who owned a chain of fitness clubs, had already befriended Ufitinema’s brother. On their first meeting, Quesnel told Ufitinema to take off his glasses because he wanted to look into his eyes. “He said, I can read people.’” Ufitinema said Quesnel told him he could tell he was “a good man.”

Quesnel took Ufitinema on a Caribbean cruise and paid for him to visit his brother in Edmonton. After Uftinema told Quesnel how his aunt took the two boys in after the genocide in Rwanda, Quesnel spread his philanthropy to that woman as well. He paid for Ufitinema and his aunt to visit their homeland in 2008, and offered to buy the woman a home there.

Quesnel also took Ufitinema on a trip to Haiti. There, Ufitinema said, Quesnel was known as “the rich guy.”

The following year, Quesnel convinced Ufitinema to move there to oversee his charitable works in the impoverished country.

Ufitinema said he agreed to go to Haiti for two months, but Quesnel strung him along, getting him to stay for 18 months.

Ufitinema said Quesnel never paid him. But under cross-examination by Quesnel’s lawyer Ufitinema conceded he did take money out of the charity’s account — $200 a month — for his personal use.

One Saturday night in January 2014, Ufitinema was at Quesnel’s home on Howard Avenue in Amherstburg when Quesnel hatched a plan to go to a strip club pretending to be blind. Ufitinema said he thought it was a bad idea because everyone knew Quesnel at the club.

Quesnel called a friend and told him to meet him at Studio 4 with a white cane. Quesnel donned dark glasses and brought his dog.

Ufitinema was driving the 2003 Pontiac Sunfire Quesnel had bought for him three years earlier. Howard Avenue was under construction and Ufitinema got lost. Quesnel was “paranoid” and agitated. “Where are you taking me?” he repeatedly shouted at Ufitinema. Quesnel kicked the windshield, cracking it, and broke off the turn signal arm.

Ufitinema said Quesnel calmed down and, after being stopped by police and getting directions, the pair made their way to Studio 4.

The friend with the white cane met them there. Ufitinema said Quesnel took him by the arm and told him to tell the bouncers he had lost his sight the week before.

The bouncers joked, “If you’re blind, what are you doing here?”

The bouncers let Quesnel keep his dog in the basement of the club.

The pair drank at the club. Ufitinema said Quesnel drank vodka and juice. He had a whisky.

Ufitinema said he convinced Quesnel to leave. At Quesnel’s home, an argument ensued. Ufitinema left the home, but Quesnel called to apologize and told him to come back.

Ufitinema said when he returned, Quesnel had a gun. Quesnel stepped outside and fired into the sky. He reloaded the gun — two bullets — and ordered Ufitinema to his knees.

Ufitinema said Quesnel told him to open his mouth.

“He shoved the gun into my mouth. It was hot.”

Quesnel was swearing and screaming at him, calling him a bitch. Ufitinema was certain the man who had been his friend and benefactor was about to kill him.

“I thought this was it, I’m going to die … I was praying to God, forgive me if I have sinned.”

The episode ended with Quesnel taking Ufitinema’s cellphone and ordering him to leave. Ufitinema said Quesnel followed him to his car, the pistol trained on his back.

“Don’t even think about going to the police,” he said Quesnel told him.

Ufitinema said he was scared, but went to authorities a day later.

Defence lawyer Andrew Bradie began his cross-examination with Ufitinema by asking about the nature of his relationship with Quesnel. Ufitinema denied the suggestion they were lovers.

Despite all the money Quesnel lavished on Ufitinema, Ufitinema believed Quesnel “owed” him.

Ufitinema discovered a worker in Haiti was stealing money and had her fired. Bradie accused Ufitinema of being the thief.

Ufitinema was unemployed when he met Quesnel. Ufitinema went to school, but never looked for work after Quesnel offered him the job in Haiti.

Court heard Quesnel was involved with the charity, Hearts Together with Haiti. When an uprising forced the charity workers to leave the country, Quesnel continued his charitable works through Kingsville Community Church, donating $30,000 US a month.

Ufitinema conceded under cross-examination that he had access to the church’s bank account. When Bradie confronted Ufitinema about the several times a month he would wire money out of the country, Ufitinema testified he was sending money to children in Rwanda.

Bradie suggested Ufitinema stole money from the charity, wiring money to a girlfriend in Canada and getting drunk every day.

Ufitinema returns to the witness stand Wednesday.

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Surveillance video shown in a Windsor courtroom Wednesday refuted the testimony of a man who says a local philanthropist terrorized him with a gun, firing it above his head before forcing the hot barrel into his mouth.

Evariste Ufitinema testified he ran to his car after Alan Quesnel threatened him with the gun in the early morning of Jan. 5, 2014. Ufitinema, 37, said he was so scared he had trouble finding his keys when he got to the car. Looking back nervously, he saw Quesnel following him with the gun trained on his back.

Quesnel, 47, is on trial, charged with armed robbery, pointing a firearm, assault with a weapon, uttering threats, possessing a dangerous weapon, possessing a firearm without a licence and mischief for the alleged incident involving Ufitinema.

The jury has heard Quesnel was a rich fitness club owner who befriended the Rwandan immigrant, lavishing him with money and gifts. For 18 months, Ufitinema oversaw charitable works in Haiti funded by Quesnel.

Quesnel’s Howard Avenue home in Amherstburg was outfitted with surveillance cameras, court heard. One camera above the front door captured the action in his driveway on the night Ufitinema claims a “paranoid” Quesnel threatened him with the shotgun.

Video from the camera played near the end of the court day Wednesday shows Ufitinema casually walking to his car and immediately opening the driver’s door. Ufitinema gets behind the wheel and waits in the driveway for some time before driving away.

There is no fumbling for keys, no looking back and no Quesnel following behind him with a gun.

“Totally disproven,” defence lawyer Andrew Bradie shouted at Ufitinema. Bradie accused the man of concocting the story about the gun to shake down the wealthy businessman.

“This is about money. Were you trying to make a claim against Mr. Quesnel to get some money?” Bradie asked.

Ufitinema denied the suggestion. “This has nothing to do with money.”

Alan Quesnel leaves Superior Court on June 14, 2016.

Bradie then confronted Ufitinema about a lawsuit served on Quesnel just last week. Ufitinema tried to avoid answering questions about the lawsuit by saying, “I believe that information is privileged.”

Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance allowed the questioning to continue.

“I’m suing him for emotional distress,” Ufitinema finally said.

The lawsuit appears to be for $4 million, although one line of the statement of claim references the sum of $1 billion.

“Are you suggesting I let him put a gun in my mouth to get money?” Ufitinema said.

Bradie shot back. “No, I’m suggesting he didn’t put any gun into your mouth.”

The trial continues in Superior Court.

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On his way to a strip club in January 2014, Alan Quesnel was belligerent to a police officer and carried on a charade about going blind, the local philanthropist’s criminal trial heard Thursday.

Testifying at Quesnel’s Superior Court trial, LaSalle police Sgt. Nawzad Sinjari said he came upon Quesnel on Jan. 5, 2014 in a grey Pontiac Sunfire stopped on Mike Raymond Drive near the Vollmer complex. It was 1:12 a.m., long after the recreation complex had closed, so Sinjari said he decided to question the driver, Evariste Ufitinema.

Quesnel, 47, is on trial, charged with robbing Ufitinema at gunpoint, pointing a firearm at him, assaulting him and threatening him. He is also charged with mischief, possessing a dangerous weapon and possessing a firearm without a licence.

Sinjari testified Ufitinema told him he was lost, but was “reluctant” to say where he was headed.

Quesnel piped up: “We’re (expletive) going to Studio 4, OK?”

The officer said Ufitinema told him Quesnel was going blind. When the officer noticed a crack on the windshield in front of Quesnel, Quesnel admitted he had punched it. Sinjari said Quesnel was intoxicated, so he surmised alcohol compounded the frustration Quesnel might have felt from losing his eyesight.

In the back seat of the car was Quesnel’s large dog. Court heard previously from Ufitinema that Quesnel was planning to feign blindness at the strip club.

Studio 4 bouncer Alastair Ralphs testified he was stocking beer that night when a co-worker came to fetch him.

“Your buddy’s at the door. He’s trying to bring his dog in.”

Quesnel owned fitness clubs and Ralphs knew him from working out at his gyms.

Ralphs said Quesnel was carrying a white cane, but he knew Quesnel wasn’t blind.

Ralphs said it was cold out so he took Quesnel’s dog into the basement. He tethered the dog to a brass stripper’s pole there and got into a discussion with Quesnel.

Ralphs said Quesnel was giving him a hard time about working at the club. “I should be doing something better with my life,” Quesnel told him.

Ralphs said it was the kind of conversation a big brother would have with a sibling.

“We kind of hugged it out, at the end.”

Studio 4 manager William Wiengarden said he kicked Quesnel and his dog out of the building. He had been at the front door when Quesnel had first tried to get in.

“He was wearing sunglasses and said he was blind… It was weird.”

Wiengarden said he turned Quesnel and the dog away, but learned 20 minutes later the dog was in the basement.

Wiengarden said he spoke to Quesnel, who left without incident.

Ufitinema testified this week that Quesnel pointed a shotgun at him after they returned from the bar to Quesnel’s Howard Avenue home. Ufitinema said he had dropped him off at home, but Quesnel summoned him back. Ufitinema said, when he returned, Quesnel had the gun, fired it into over Ufitinema’s head, then put the hot barrel into his mouth.

The trial has heard Quesnel had befriended Ufitinema, lavishing the Rwandan immigrant with money and gifts. Quesnel took Ufitinema on trips and had him oversee his charitable works in Haiti.

Court heard Thursday that, when arrested on Jan. 10, 2014, Quesnel was carrying a $1,500 cheque he had made out to Ufitinema. It was in a sealed envelope with the name “Evariste” written on it. Also in the envelope was a note that read, “Give me a call in a couple of days.”

The trial, originally planned for two weeks, is ahead of schedule. Assistant Crown attorney Elizabeth Brown told the court Thursday she will call no more witnesses.

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Former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson followed a drunk girl into the washroom of a downtown bar and raped her until she was soaked in her own blood, his sexual assault trial heard Monday.

Now 20, the woman testified she was a virgin until the St. Patrick’s Day encounter with Johnson in 2013 at Mynt nightclub. She said she has only “flashes of memory” from that night, but can’t imagine she would have consented to having sex with him.

Even to long-term boyfriends, she hadn’t offered up her virginity, she testified.

“My virginity is something I valued… I would not choose to lose my virginity to someone I barely know in a public bar washroom.”

This is the second time Johnson, 22, has been on trial, accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the washroom of a Windsor bar. In November, he was acquitted of sexual assault after being accused of forcing a woman’s hand onto his exposed penis at the Krooked Kilt in January 2013.

Publication bans prohibit identifying Johnson’s accusers.

Court on Monday saw the white pants the alleged victim said she was wearing the night Johnson raped her at Mynt. Assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin donned gloves and held them up. The backside was covered in blood.

The woman testified it was not menstrual blood but bleeding from Johnson tearing her vagina. She said she had bruising on her breast from where he pinched her and a bump on her head from hitting the bathroom stall during the alleged assault.

The woman said, before Johnson raped her, he forced her to perform oral sex. She said she was gagging on his penis, but couldn’t pull away because Johnson was holding her face.

The woman said she was on Prozac at the time to treat her anxiety and depression. She had been warned by her doctor not to drink while on the medication. This night, she drank about four ounces in vodka shots, a vodka and lemonade and a tallboy of beer before going to the bar

She arrived by cab with her older sister and two of her sister’s friends. She got in using her sister’s ID.

She was 16. Johnson was 18 and underaged too.

Inside was a booth of Windsor Spitfires who had played the last game of the season earlier that night. They were in the VIP section and were getting bottle service.

The woman admitted she was “buzzed” and acting “obnoxiously and inappropriately” in the bar. Video played in court Monday showed her dancing with one of Johnson’s teammates. She had her back to him, grinding up against him.

More video from inside the bar showed her later talking to Johnson by the VIP booth. They are standing close and leaning in. It was loud, she explained.

Later footage shows her going upstairs. That’s when she went to the washroom, she said. Johnson is seen moments later following her.

She said she used the toilet and emerged from the stall to find Johnson at the washroom entrance. She doesn’t remember how she ended up back in the stall with him.

Later she is seen being escorted out of the bar by her sister and a bouncer. She said she was crying and told her sister, “Ben Johnson raped me.”

Her sister put her in a cab and sent her home.

The trial continues before Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe.

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The 16-year-old girl former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson is accused of raping in a toilet stall three years ago was so drunk she could not stand and her eyes were rolling back in her head, a woman who came upon them in the washroom testified Tuesday.

“She was very intoxicated,” said the witness, one of a group of young women who were at Mynt nightclub that night to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Johnson’s alleged victim and her older sister were among that group.

The witness’s name is not being published to prevent identifying Johnson’s accuser. The accuser’s identity is protected by a publication ban.

This is the second time Johnson, 22, has been on trial, accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the washroom of a Windsor bar. In November, he was acquitted of sexual assault after being accused of forcing a woman’s hand onto his exposed penis at the Krooked Kilt in January 2013.

His trial heard Tuesday from a woman who had been standing in line to use the washroom. Johnson emerged from the first stall to open.

He was tucking in his shirt and doing up his pants.

As the woman approached the stall, she saw her friend’s younger sister inside, using the walls to stay upright.

“She is clothed, but blood, a lot of blood.”

Johnson returned to the stall with paper towels. He started wiping something off the floor. She told him to fetch the girl’s sister.

Johnson left the washroom. Neither he nor the sister returned.

The woman said the girl fell to her knees and began to vomit. A bar employee who had been cleaning the washroom started yelling at her to get the girl out. With no help on the way, she left the girl with the employee and went downstairs to find the sister.

When the sister saw the girl, she started berating her, the woman testified.

“How could you get this drunk?”

Court has heard the girl was taking Prozac for anxiety and depression. The drug intensified the effects of alcohol.

In earlier testimony Tuesday, Johnson’s lawyer, Patrick Ducharme, cross-examined the girl, now 20. Ducharme suggested she initiated the encounter with Johnson, telling him to meet her in the washroom and pulling him into the stall.

Johnson’s accuser says she has only “flashes of memory” from that night and can’t be sure what happened.

She said the effects of the alcohol and the “shock” of what was happening rendered her unable to speak.

“It’s not that you couldn’t talk, you didn’t talk,” Ducharme said.

“You didn’t raise any complaint,” Ducharme continued.

The alleged victim said she did tell Johnson, “It hurts.”

The alleged victim had returned that very day from a vacation in Mexico. She sent texts home saying she had gotten “a guy’s initials” tattooed on her breast. On the witness stand Tuesday, she said the initials were written in marker. She talked of getting “wasted” and of having “hooked up with a 22-year-old.”

Ducharme also questioned the girl about how she was grinding up against one of Johnson’s teammates on the dance floor of the bar on the night in question. He began describing her attire, saying her white pants were “the thinnest, tightest of leggings” that she wore without underwear and that she must have been able to feel the young man’s genitalia through them.

Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe interjected and Ducharme changed the subject.

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The older sister of the woman who says Ben Johnson raped her in the washroom of a downtown bar confronted him on the sidewalk minutes after the alleged assault, the former Spitfire’s trial heard Wednesday.

“What happened with my sister?” the woman said she asked Johnson after putting her bloodied and drunk sibling into a cab outside Mynt nightclub.

When the woman accused Johnson of rape during the confrontation, she said he responded, “I didn’t do anything … Are you kidding me? … I would never do that.”

Johnson, 22, is on trial, charged with sexual assault. It’s the second time he has faced such an allegation. In November he was acquitted of sexually assaulting another young woman in the washroom of another Windsor bar in January 2013.

The alleged incident in the current trial stems from an encounter between Johnson and a then 16-year-old girl on the night of March 17-18, 2013. Court has heard Johnson’s alleged victim went to the nightclub with her older sister and two of her sister’s friends to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. There they met up with Windsor Spitfires who had just played their last game of the season.

Surveillance video from outside the bar played again in court Wednesday shows the older sister and a man identified as a bouncer leading the 16-year-old girl out of the bar. The backside of the girl’s white pants are covered in blood.

In later video, the older sister is on the sidewalk with men she identified in court Wednesday as her brother, Johnson and another man.

That scene is the confrontation, she testified.

In the video, the woman is visibly angry, gesturing with her arms and leaning into Johnson in an aggressive manner. At one point, she kicks a parking meter.

“Ben Johnson just raped me,” she said her sister had just told her. When she confronted Johnson with her sister’s words, Johnson denied it, she said.

Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme suggested Johnson told the young woman he hadn’t had intercourse with her sister. “She’s on her period. We kissed and she gave me a blow job.”

The woman denied Johnson said that.

Ducharme told the court that’s what Johnson will testify to when he takes the witness stand in his own defence. The fact Johnson intends to testify was news to the prosecutor in the case. Assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin dropped his objection to Ducharme’s line of questioning when the defence lawyer told the court Johnson will “definitely” testify.

The older sister was described by a friend who also testified Wednesday as acting “crazy” upon finding her younger sibling passed out in the women’s washroom. The older sister has “a bit of a temper,” the friend said.

None of the women who testified can be named in accordance with a court order banning the publication of information that could identify Johnson’s alleged victim.

The women assumed the blood that covered the backside of the pants the girl was wearing was menstrual blood. The alleged victim has testified she learned during a medical exam that the blood was from a vaginal tear she said was caused by Johnson.

The trial continues before Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe.

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Accused rapist Ben Johnson and the big brother of his alleged victim locked eyes and stared each other down in a Windsor courtroom Thursday.

Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe had to twice tell the men to stop glaring at each other. The first time, Johnson quickly followed the judge’s direction. The brother did not.

Johnson, 22, is on trial, charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in the stall of the women’s washroom at Mynt. Court has heard the alleged assault took place during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in 2013 at the now defunct downtown nightclub.

Johnson was 18 at the time.

The brother, who was of age, testified he was at the bar too, and unhappy at the discovery that his underaged sister was there.

“I was not comfortable with her being there,” he said. “I didn’t think she should be at the bar at 16 years of age.”

Another sister, who was of age, was also at the bar.

Later, he saw the older sister yelling for a cab outside, he said.

The brother said she then approached him and told him their sister had been “(expletive) raped” by Johnson.

The brother said Johnson was nearby, smoking a cigarette. When he confronted him, he said Johnson said, “What are you talking about.”

Another friend stepped in and pulled the brother away.

He and the older sister shared a cab home to their father’s house and waited for the younger sister to arrive. His father called the cab company trying to locate the girl, who, despite leaving the bar first, had yet to get home, the brother testified.

The brother said he plugged in his dead cellphone and went for a walk. He kicked out the tail light on the older sister’s car.

When he checked his cellphone about 1 a.m., there were three missed calls from Johnson. He called Johnson and threatened him.
“Don’t go home tonight.”

Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme asked no questions of the brother.

The trial continues Monday with more witnesses called by the prosecution.

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Ben Johnson had the DNA of two females on the underwear he was wearing the night he is accused of raping a girl in the washroom of a downtown bar, the former Spitfire’s sexual assault trial heard Monday.

Forensic analysis also showed his alleged victim had the DNA of two males on the leggings she was wearing that night, as well as the DNA of one male inside her vagina.

None of the samples tested had DNA in quantities sufficient to generate a profile, a scientist from the Centre for Forensic Sciences testified.

Johnson, 22, is on trial, accused of forcing a 16-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him then having non-consensual sex with her in the women’s washroom of Mynt. His trial has heard Johnson was among a group of Windsor Spitfires at the nightclub on St. Patrick’s Day in 2013 after playing the last game of the season.

Johnson was 18 at the time.

Biologist Joseph Frappier testified the Centre for Forensics Sciences received a vaginal swab that was taken from Johnson’s alleged victim. Male DNA was detected on the swab, but not enough to generate a profile. No male DNA was detected on an external vaginal swab taken from the girl and no sperm was found on her pants.

Court has heard the clothing Johnson was wearing the morning of March 18, 2013 was seized by police and sent away forensic analysis. The testing included cutting a sample of fabric from the crotch area of Johnson’s underwear. The male DNA found matched Johnson. There was also the DNA of two females present, Frappier testified. But, because of the “complexity of the sample,” scientists could not generate a DNA profile from the sample, Frappier said.

Court also heard from a toxicologist who analyzed blood samples taken from Johnson’s accuser about seven hours after the alleged attack. Police believe, from watching surveillance video from inside the bar, that Johnson and the girl were in the washroom together about midnight. At 7:15 a.m. when the girl had blood drawn, the concentration of alcohol in her bloodstream was 91 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, Robert Langille testified.

Extrapolating back to midnight, the girl’s blood alcohol level would have been at least 164 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

The legal limit for driving is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Court heard earlier than the girl’s DNA was found on swab of Johnson’s penis after his arrest. Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe said police breached Johnson’s constitutional rights in obtaining the swab and has ruled the evidence inadmissable.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled on the constitutionality of penile swabs last week. Assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin told the court Monday he will not ask the judge to reconsider his decision.

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Former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson testified at his sexual assault trial Monday, denying he did anything more than kiss his alleged victim and let her perform oral sex on him.

“I didn’t touch her,” the NHL hopeful testified of what happened in the washroom stall of a downtown bar. Even during the oral sex, he kept his hands at his side, he said.

Johnson, 22, is charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in the women’s washroom of Mynt, a now-defunct nightclub in downtown Windsor. Court has heard the girl and her older brother and sister were in the bar with the Windsor Spitfires celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in 2013.

Johnson said the girl approached him in the bar and pulled him into her twice for a kiss. While other witnesses have testified to the girl’s intoxication, Johnson said Monday he did not notice the smell or taste of alcohol on her.

“I’ve always had a crush on you,” Johnson testified the girl told him. Then, she invited him to meet her upstairs.

“Whether she beat me up there, I don’t know.”

In earlier testimony, witnesses said they found the girl in a washroom stall that night bleeding profusely from her genital area, her eyes rolling back in her head. Johnson said the girl vomited in the stall and he noticed what he thought was a menstrual stain on her white pants, but that, otherwise, “she seemed fine.”

Johnson said he was outside the washroom, sitting on a sofa with his cousin who was bumming a cigarette from a woman. His accuser emerged from the women’s washroom, took him by the right arm and pulled him into a stall with her, he said.

“She closed the door and locked it.”

The girl proceeded to kiss him, Johnson said. The girl then undid his button-fly jeans and pulled down his underwear, he said.

Apart from Johnson telling the girl after she performed fellatio for five minutes that he wasn’t “getting hard,” neither of them spoke, he said.

Court has heard the girl had bruising on her left breast she says came from Johnson pinching her. She also had a bump on her head she said resulted from her hitting her head on the wall inside the washroom stall during the alleged assault.

The girl, who testified she was a virgin until the night Johnson raped her, was also bleeding profusely from her vagina.

Johnson denied even touching the girl, much less having intercourse with her.

Johnson said he was in the stall when the girl turned toward the toilet and threw up. He did up his pants and left the stall to retrieve paper towels to clean up the mess.

There were a few drops of vomit on the toilet seat and more on the floor, Johnson said. Holding up his hands in court, he said the vomit on the floor formed a circle about three to four inches across.

He said as he returned to the stall with the paper towels, the girl was on her knees, her head still over the toilet. He noticed a stain he thought was menstrual blood on the backside of her white pants.

Johnson said he cleaned up the vomit. “Don’t tell anyone,” he said the girl told him before he left her in the stall.

Under cross-examination assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin challenged Johnson’s version of events.

Johnson said he “helped” the girl by “cleaning up the puke.”

Kerwin suggested it wasn’t vomit Johnson wiped up, but ejaculate.

“You weren’t helping her at all. You were helping yourself.”

Johnson denied the suggestion.

Police arrested Johnson later that same night at the home where he was billeted, seizing the clothing he was wearing. On his boxer briefs he wore, they found a stain of blood on the inside of the waistband.

Johnson testified those were not the same underwear he was wearing at the club. As is his ritual, he changes his underwear before going to bed, he said.

The blood was old, maybe from him taking a puck to the face on an earlier date, he testified.

Forensic specialists could not determine whose blood it was.

Johnson returns to the witness stand Tuesday.

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A woman who housed accused rapist Ben Johnson while he played with the Windsor Spitfires gave explosive testimony that quickly fizzled in his sexual assault trial Tuesday.

Fran Vernes said another of her billets, Jordan DeKort, told police the girl Johnson is accused of raping was bleeding before the alleged assault. The girl alleges she was bleeding as a result of Johnson tearing her vagina during the sexual assault.

Johnson, 22, is on trial, accused of forcing intercourse on a drunk 16-year-old girl at Mynt, a now-defunct nightclub in downtown Windsor. Court has heard the girl, her older sister and her sister’s friends joined a group of Windsor Spitfires at the club on March 17, 2013 to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Johnson, in testimony earlier in the day on Tuesday – his second day on the witness stand – admits to having a sexual encounter with the girl in the women’s washroom that night, but denies having intercourse with her.

Vernes said she was fast asleep in bed when she heard banging on the door about 3:30 a.m. on March 18, 2013. She answered the door after looking out the window and seeing a police cruiser outside.

Vernes said police had an arrest warrant for Johnson. She said they also wanted to talk to fellow Spit Jordan DeKort, who was also billeted at her home and had been at the bar with Johnson that evening.

Vernes said she roused DeKort who was so drunk he put his pants on inside out. She then stood by while he was interviewed by police. She said she remembers DeKort telling police that he saw what he believed was a menstrual stain on the girl’s pants when he arrived at the bar that night.

DeKort said otherwise when he testified near the start of Johnson’s trial last month.

Before Vernes took the witness stand, Ducharme told the court he intended to use her to “impeach” DeKort and discredit his testimony.

But under cross-examination by assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin, it was Vernes’ testimony that fell apart.

Vernes at first said she couldn’t remember when she first told someone about what DeKort allegedly said.

“I told my lawyer,” she said. Under questioning, she admitted the lawyer she spoke to was Ducharme, Johnson’s lawyer. Pressed further, she admitted she discussed DeKort’s alleged statement for the first time with Ducharme on Monday.

Vernes admitted she had been following media coverage of Johnson’s trial. She denied having read or heard anything about the alleged victim bleeding.

Vernes said had been billeting Spits players for 12 years.

“I was like a mother to them.”

She said Johnson was with her for three years and described herself as “loyal” to him.

The trial resumes next week with closing submissions from the prosecution and defence.

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