Jimy’s Variety in Leamington was a drug addict’s paradise — fentanyl packets tucked into stacks of greeting cards, oxycodone hidden in a sack of rice.

The store’s namesake, Jimy Al-Ubeidi, was accused of trafficking in the contraband. Wednesday, an Ontario court judge found him not guilty.

“On all the evidence, I have to say he is probably guilty, but probably is not enough,” Ontario court Justice Donald Ebbs said in acquitting the shopkeeper.

Al-Ubeidi, 52, was arrested Aug. 27, 2014 after police raided his Erie Street South convenience store. There, they found 28 full and partial fentanyl patches and 210 tablets of oxycodone.

At Al-Ubeidi’s home, police found 70 codeine tablets in pill bottles with the labels removed. Al-Ubeidi pleaded guilty to possessing the illegal narcotics and was fined $975 Wednesday.

At the time of his arrest, Al-Ubeidi was on bail on drug charges that stemmed from a raid on his store seven months earlier.

Ebbs said the prosecution didn’t prove the drugs were Al-Ubeidi’s. “It can’t be said he has exclusive possession and exclusive control of the item in the store without further evidence from the Crown.”

Ebbs said the police did a good job of cataloguing what they found, but key pieces of evidence were lacking. There were no business records entered as evidence, nor did police do surveillance on the store to show what hours Al-Ubeidi worked.

“The investigation was cavalier,” the judge said.

Al-Ubeidi was charged along with Sattar Al-Shabawi, 52. Al-Shabawi was released on bail and never showed up for trial. Police have a warrant for his arrest.

The trial heard Al-Shabawi was Al-Ubeidi’s business partner.

Also charged with the drugs found in the store was Fahat Robiah, 58. The prosecution against Robiah was stayed because the man has a medical condition that makes him unable to stand trial.

Al-Ubeidi’s wife, Manon Lalonde, 42, was originally charged with possession of the codeine pills found in their home. Charges against her were dropped as part of a negotiation that saw Al-Ubeidi plead guilty to possessing the narcotics.

Al-Ubeidi will return to court Monday when another Ontario court judge is scheduled to deliver her decision in other drug charges. Those charges relate to a raid on Al-Ubeidi’s store in January 2014.

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A Leamington convenience store owner accused of selling drugs to kids walked out of court a free man Monday after being twice acquitted of the allegations.

“Two years I’ve been in jail,” said Jimil (Jimy) Al-Ubeidi, 52, beaming as he left Windsor’s Ontario courthouse.

Al-Ubeidi was first arrested on Jan. 13, 2014, after police found a cache of narcotics – cocaine, oxycodone, hydromorphone tablets and fentanyl patches – in a safe at Jimy’s Variety on Erie Street South. Al-Ubeidi was released on bail, but was subsequently kept behind bars after police again found drugs in his convenience store in August of that same year.

Ontario court Justice Micheline Rawlins said, while Al-Ubeidi ran the store and used the safe, she could not tie him to the drugs found inside.

“He denied any knowledge of the drugs in the safe,” said Rawlins, summarizing Al-Ubeidi’s testimony at trial.

Al-Ubeidi was charged along with his business partners, Fahat Robiah, 58, and Sattar Al-Shabawi, 52.

Al-Shabawi is on the lam, having fled the jurisdiction after being released on bail. The prosecution against Robiah was stayed because the man has a medical condition that makes him unable to stand trial.

Al-Ubeidi was also charged under the federal Excise Act for unstamped tobacco products found in his store. Monday, the federal drug prosecutor asked the court to withdraw those charges.

Defence lawyer Evan Weber said Al-Ubeidi paid a high personal price as a result of the drug charges. He was separated from his wife and two young children during his custody.

Al-Ubeidi’s trial began in February 2015. Originally scheduled for three consecutive days, it dragged on for 17 months.

“It has been an ordeal for him,” Weber said.

Al-Ubeidi himself said his mother died while he was in jail and his sister and her children, nine and 10 years old, were killed in Iraq by ISIS in a Baghdad terrorist attack.

Last week, another Ontario court judge acquitted Al-Ubeidi for drugs found in his store during an August 2014 raid. Police found fentanyl patches in the cash register and in a stack of greeting cards and oxycodone tablets in a sack of rice.

Al-Ubeidi pleaded guilty and was fined $975 for codeine tablets found in his home. In exchange for his guilty plea, charges were withdrawn against his wife, Manon Lalonde, 42.

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Former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson’s explanation of how he came to be in a bathroom stall with a bloodied 16-year-old girl is “absurdity,” his sexual assault trial heard Tuesday.

In his closing submissions in the NHL hopeful’s sexual assault trial, assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin said Johnson’s testimony was fraught with “internal inconsistencies” and “doesn’t bear the ring of truth.”

Johnson, 22, is charged with raping a girl in the women’s washroom of Mynt, a now-defunct downtown nightclub, during a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in March 2013. Johnson admits to being with the girl in the stall, kissing her and receiving oral sex from her, but denies having intercourse with her.

He says the girl pulled him into the stall and began kissing him before undoing his pants and performing oral sex for eight minutes. During that time, he never got an erection, he said.

Johnson’s defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme, said the court should be wary of the alleged victim’s testimony. She mixed alcohol with Prozac and has only “flashes of memory” from that night. Her testimony, Ducharme said, is “peppered with inconsistencies and memory gaps.” She assumed, from her vaginal bleeding, that she had been raped, when really, she just could have been menstruating, Ducharme said.

Witnesses at trial testified to the girl being extremely intoxicated. A cab driver who took her to her father’s home in the early morning hours of March 18, 2013, testified to the girl vomiting and falling in and out of consciousness. A female friend testified to finding her in the washroom stall unable to stand and with her eyes rolling back in her head after Johnson emerged from that same stall tucking in his shirt and doing up his pants.

“Drunkenness is not the same as incapacity to consent,” Ducharme told Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe.

The girl first told her sister she had been raped as she was escorted out of the bar. Ducharme asked the judge to consider the circumstances under which the girl made the statement. The sister was angry with the girl for being drunk. “What better way to deflect her sister’s accusations… than to put the blame on Ben Johnson.”

Ducharme said the girl’s rape accusation came out of “regret” for her behaviour.

But Kerwin said medical experts testified to injuries consistent with the girl’s version of events. She said she remembered hitting her head on the wall of the washroom stall as Johnson was thrusting his penis into her from behind. A photo taken at hospital showed a bump on her forehead.

An inconclusive DNA test of a vaginal swab taken from the girl detected the presence of male DNA, Kerwin said.

A medical exam showed the girl was bleeding from fresh vaginal tears, including one that completely transected her hymen. It supports the girl’s testimony that she had been a virgin until that night, Kerwin said.

But Ducharme pointed out the exam could not rule out the possibility the girl was menstruating. He also reminded the judge a physician testified it was possible the girl suffered a vaginal tear while “grinding” against another Spitfire player on the dance floor that night.

In his closing arguments, Ducharme again pointed out the girl was wearing thin leggings for pants. The trial heard she wore no underwear, making the dance floor penetration scenario possible, Ducharme said.

The judge reserved his decision. The case will be spoken to in court next month to set a date for the ruling.

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A young woman accusing former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson of raping her in a washroom stall three years ago has launched a $3.95-million civil lawsuit against the NHL hopeful.

The 20-year-old woman, whose identity is protected in a separate criminal proceeding against Johnson, has also named Mynt nightclub in her lawsuit. She claims the now-defunct downtown bar, its owners and employees allowed underaged people like herself to become drunk and vulnerable, then failed to protect them.

She claims the bar knew or ought to have known that Johnson, who was also underage, “could pose a danger to others because of his impairment by alcohol,” the lawsuit states.

The contents of the statement of claim have yet to be proven in court.

Johnson, 22, is currently before the criminal courts, charged with sexually assaulting the same young woman. Johnson is accused of forcing the then-16-year-old girl to perform oral sex before having intercourse with her in the women’s washroom of the bar.

Johnson says the oral sex was consensual. He says he never had vaginal intercourse with the girl.

The Superior Court judge who heard the case has reserved his decision.

Johnson was served with the civil suit at the Windsor courthouse during his criminal trial. The lawsuit was filed in London in March, but not served on Johnson until this month.

While Johnson’s father, Kevin, accused the young woman of waiting until after she had testified in the trial to serve his son with the lawsuit, her lawyer said the timing was not strategic.

“We were having trouble serving him in Calumet,” said Paul Ledroit, referring to the village in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from which Johnson hails.

Ledroit said his only concern about the timing of the lawsuit was with rules that dictate civil cases must be filed within two years of a person turning 18. The lawsuit was commenced five days before the young woman’s 20^th birthday.

Along with the statement of claim, the young woman has filed notice that she wants her case heard by a jury.

Johnson’s criminal lawyer, Patrick Ducharme, said Wednesday he had not seen the civil lawsuit and had no knowledge of Johnson being served with it. Ducharme did not raise the multimillion-dollar lawsuit during his cross-examination of the young woman during the criminal trial.

In her civil suit, the young woman claims she suffered both physical and emotional pain because of the alleged sexual assault. The 18-page statement of claim says her education and employment have been impaired and she now has an inability to “engage in normal human relations.”

“She has suffered terribly,” Ledroit said, explaining the girl had to seek therapy after the alleged assault.

“This is tremendously traumatic to a young woman.”

Neither Johnson nor the other parties in the lawsuit have filed statements of defence with the court.

Johnson’s criminal trial heard the girl was at Mynt to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in March 2013. Members of the Windsor Spitfires hockey team, who had just played their last game of the season earlier that day, were also there. Surveillance video showed the girl and Johnson talking near the dance floor before they separately went upstairs to where the washrooms were located in the bar.

Johnson testified the girl told him to meet her upstairs. Once there, she pulled him into a stall in the women’s washroom where she performed oral sex on him, he said.

The prosecution says the girl was too intoxicated to consent to any sexual activity, much less vaginal intercourse that left her bloodied and bruised.

The young woman testified in the criminal case she had been a virgin until her encounter with Johnson. The statement of claim in her civil suit does not include this detail.

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A young arsonist who torched an abandoned industrial building in 2014 was sentenced Thursday to five months in jail and ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution for the $1.3-million fire.

Cody Scammell-Turley, 20, hugged his sobbing mother tightly before being led out of the courtroom to begin serving his jail sentence. “I’m terribly sorry for what has happened,” he told Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean who handed down the sentence.

Scammell-Turley pleaded guilty to arson for the June 2014 fire at the former Wickes bumper plant on Tecumseh Road East. Court heard Scammell-Turley, who was 18 at the time, and a then-16-year-old boy were in the abandoned building painting graffiti on the walls and using a cigarette lighter to set small fires. They had lit some papers on fire and thought they had extinguished the flames before leaving the building, court heard. They later watched in panic from across the street as the building went up in flames.

Calling the massive fire “a mischief gone bad,” defence lawyer Lisa Carnelos had asked the judge to be lenient with her client. The City of Windsor, which owned the vacant building, had shut off the utilities and removed asbestos in preparation for demolition.

Cody Scammell-Turley lights up outside Ontario Court of Justice on a break from his sentencing hearing June 8, 2016. Scammell-Turley pleaded guilty to arson for setting fire to the former Wickes bumper plant building in 2014.

Carnelos argued the fire saved the city the cost of razing the building. But, noting the city paid a $100,000 deductible on the fire and its insurer paid out the $1.3 million claim, Dean said both parties may pursue Scammell-Turley in civil court.

Dean agreed with Carnelos that it would be unfair to saddle Scammell-Turley with a full restitution order as part of his sentence.

“It would debilitate his ability to be rehabilitated,” Dean said.

The younger teen who was with Scammell-Turley was acquitted at trial.

Regardless, Scammell-Turley “wanted to take responsibility” for the fire, Carnelos said. “That was his choice. He was resolute about that.”

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

Dean noted Scammell-Turley’s troubled upbringing, citing a history of family violence and neglect.

Yet, he has no prior criminal record and is capable of becoming a contributing member of society, Carnelos said.

“This was a situation where things got out of control,” she said. “This was not an offence motivated by greed or revenge.”

Carnelos noted Scammell-Turley will likely serve two-thirds of his sentence, or about three months. After that, he will be on probation for two years.

Dean ordered Scammell-Turley to submit to a DNA test for the national database used by police to solve crime. He must also pay a $200 fine that goes into a fund to help crime victims.

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A robber who hogtied a Leamington woman at gunpoint in a violent home invasion and the getaway driver who helped plan the attack were each sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison.

Philip Boutros, 41, and Brett William Pierce, 28, worked together at Coco Paving in 2012 when the plan was hatched to rob a wealthy Leamington couple, court heard. Boutros and his friend, Jason Robert Morris Raffoul, 39, planned the robbery, exchanging incriminating text messages police later discovered.

Boutros and Pierce were convicted of break and enter, robbery, wearing a disguise during the commission of a crime, assault with a weapon and forcible confinement. Boutros was also convicted of possession of stolen property for which Superior Court Justice Steven Rogin Tuesday imposed a $1,000 fine in addition to the prison sentence.

The pair were also charged with firearm offences, but the prosecution could not prove the weapon used was a real handgun or an imitation or starter’s pistol.

Rogin called the home invasion a “very serious offence,” which has left lasting emotional and physical scars on the victim. Noting the victim was struck on the head with what she believed was a handgun, he said the robbers used “gratuitous” violence.

On Feb. 12, 2012, Raffoul posed as a pizza delivery person, showing up at the door of a home on Long Beach Drive in Leamington late at night. As the woman who lived there opened the door, at least two masked men barged in.

One of the robbers struck her on the head with a handgun, leaving a gash that needed staples to be closed. She was forced onto the floor and bound with zip ties. Pierce’s DNA was found on one of the plastic ties used on the woman.

The men rifled through the home, stealing Rolex watches and other jewelry, expensive purses and the contents of the woman’s wallet.

The woman’s bank card was used to withdraw cash in the hours following the robbery. Video surveillance footage showed Raffoul using the card in a bank machine.

Raffoul pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to 4½ years in a federal penitentiary. He testified against Boutros and Pierce at their trial.

Pierce’s ex-girlfriend testified she received a Louis Vuitton purse from Pierce. She believed the purse came from the robbery.

Charged along with Pierce and Boutros were Devin Munwelll Alderton, 30, and Michael Dorsey, 38. Alderton and Dorsey were acquitted at trial.

Defence lawyer Linda McCurdy said Pierce, a black man with aboriginal heritage, had a troubled upbringing. His father was a violent alcoholic and is currently serving a penitentiary term. The family lived in poverty in bad neighbourhoods. Despite this, he excelled in school as a child. At the age of 15, he was struck by a car and suffered a head injury that affects his cognitive skills to this day.

While he racked up two convictions for uttering threats and breach of probation since the 2012 home invasion, he had no prior criminal record.

Court heard Boutros comes from a stable, supportive family. He has been steadily employed and supports a child who lives with his ex-wife in Kitchener.

“Quite frankly, I am surprised at his participation in this offence,” the judge remarked.

Boutros is currently before the courts on drug charges.

Both men were taken into custody following Tuesday’s sentencing hearing. But both are appealing their convictions. Defence lawyer Maria Carroccia said Boutros has had no breaches while free on bail and expects he will again be released pending appeal.

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The killer of a man found dead with his throat slit in an alley last year will be sentenced for manslaughter next month.

Colin S. Chrisjohn, 25, had been charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter while his preliminary hearing in the case was underway in Ontario court this week.

Chrisjohn killed Amir Hayat Malik, 32. Police say the two were friends. Malik’s body was discovered in June 2015 in an alley behind Brant Street between Aylmer and Glengarry avenues. Two electricians working at a Brant Street business found the body.

Malik died of massive blood loss.

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.

Malik was wearing a colourful jacket in the footage. When his body was discovered, Malik was shirtless.

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As former Windsor Spitfire Ben Johnson awaits a decision in his second sexual assault trial, his case has attracted the attention of the law school at a Halifax university.

A law professor at Dalhousie University has written the Superior Court, where the NHL hopeful’s latest trial was heard, requesting a copy of part of the court transcript. Specifically, Elaine Craig has requested a transcript of the cross-examination of the young woman who has accused Johnson of raping her.

In her letter, Craig said she is researching “sexual assault lawyering,” protecting the identity of alleged victims’ and “improving complainants’ trial experience.”

Johnson, 22, is charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in the women’s washroom of a downtown bar in 2013. His trial ended in July 19. Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe, who heard the case, said Friday he will deliver his ruling in the case on Sept. 1.

But in setting the decision date, Munroe alerted the prosecution and defence to the request from the Halifax law professor.

Given that there is publication ban on the identity of Johnson’s accuser, the court reporter who would normally provide the transcript forwarded the letter to the judge.

“Because of the non-publication order, the court reporter won’t give that up without my approval,” Munroe said.

Munroe has asked the assistant Crown attorney prosecuting the case and Johnson’s lawyer to “weigh in” on how the request should be handled.

Defence lawyer Evan Webber, who appeared in Superior Court Friday on behalf of Patrick Ducharme, the lawyer who represented Johnson at trial, said he will forward the letter to Ducharme. Webber said he doesn’t want the issue to sidetrack the judge in delivering his ruling in the case.

“There’s an issue with Mr. Johnson and his professional obligations,” Webber told the court. Those obligations, Webber said, begin in mid-September.

Johnson is currently playing professional hockey in the United States. He was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in 2012, but has never broken out of the minor leagues.

The current allegations against Johnson are the second time the Michigan native has been accused of sexual assault. Last year, Johnson was acquitted of charges related to an incident alleged to have occurred in the washroom of another Windsor bar. In that case, a young woman said Johnson forced her hand onto his exposed penis.

The case currently before the courts alleges forced oral and vaginal intercourse.

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DJ Cassady had been drinking and was texting while speeding 190 kilometres per hour down E.C. Row Expressway when he slammed into a motorcycle, killing its 66-year-old driver, Superior Court heard Monday.

DJ Cassady, right, leaves the Superior Court of Justice in Windsor on Sept. 27, 2016. Cassady has pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death in connection with a fatal 2015 motorcycle crash.

It was “the trifecta” of bad driving, said assistant Crown attorney Adam Campbell, asking the sentencing judge to send the 24-year-old man to prison for four to six years.

Cassady, whose real name is David Kenneth, but goes by DJ — short for David Junior — pleaded guilty Monday to criminal negligence causing death. A charge of impaired driving causing death is expected to be withdrawn.

Cassady was westbound on E.C. Row the night of July 28, 2015 after being at a friend’s house. He blew past two cars at Jefferson Boulevard before hitting motorcyclist Donald Russell about 10:55 p.m.

Russell, an Amherstburg grandfather and caregiver to his physically handicapped wife, was returning from work as a truck driver. Police determined Russell was driving “responsibly” down the road when Cassady hit him from behind, Campbell said. Russell’s Honda motorcycle went up and over the black 2007 Infiniti Cassady was driving. Russell died at the scene.

Russell’s heartbroken family — his wife Andrea, sons Scott and Ian and sisters Wendy Luxford and Lisa Spencer — read victim-impact statements in court Monday.

They spoke of their profound sense of loss. Every time they hear a motorcycle, they think of their loved one, half-expecting him to pull up.

Andrea had to be moved out of the house she shared with her husband of 40 years. On top of the physical ailments she has suffered with for years, she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder since her husband’s death.

“There is no more life for me anymore,” she said, sobbing as she struggled to address the court.

Ian Russell pushes his mother Andrea Russell’s wheelchair after they both gave victim impact statements at Superior Court on Sept. 26, 2016, in Windsor, Ont.

Son Ian Russell works as a volunteer in Mexico together with his wife. Since his father’s death, Ian has exhausted his savings trying to be present for his mom. He said he will be moving back here permanently.

Caring for Andrea fell primarily to son Scott, who took his mom into his home after his father’s death. He and his wife slept on the sofa so his mom could have their bed, he said.

“She not only lost her husband, she lost her home and her neighbours.”

Russell’s sisters spoke of no longer being able to drive on E.C. Row Expressway.

“You have destroyed our family,” said sister, Lisa, looking in Cassady’s direction.

Cassady stared straight down during most of Monday’s hearing.

Even as the prosecutor used a big screen at the front of the courtroom to show photos from the 123-page police report into the crash, Cassady averted his eyes.

Cassady’s lawyer, Andrew Bradie, asked the judge to consider a sentence of two years in prison followed by three years’ probation. Cassady and his father, a recently retired Windsor police inspector, have approached the local public and Catholic school boards about launching a distracted driving program. Bradie suggested making the speaking series a term of probation.

Bradie gave the court a package of letters written by family and friends attesting to Cassady’s good character. Cassady is a “kind, thoughtful, exceptional young man” who exercised “less than one minute of terrible conduct,” Bradie said.

Bradie said it was always Cassady’s intention to plead guilty and spare his victim’s family the trauma of a trial.

It took more than a year for that to happen through no fault of his own, Bradie said. Because Cassady’s father was a local police officer, an out-of-town prosecutor had to be assigned to the case.

The sentencing hearing continues Tuesday before Justice Thomas Heeney, a regional senior judge brought in to hear the case.

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On what will likely be his last day of freedom before prison, DJ Cassady offered a tearful apology in Superior Court Tuesday to the family of the Amherstburg man he killed on E.C. Row Expressway last year.

Cassady, whose real name is David Kenneth, but goes by DJ, short for David Jr., read a prepared statement before the judge hearing his case retired to consider what sentence he will impose Wednesday on the 24-year-old man. While the statement was addressed to the family of Donald Russell, assembled in the front row of the courtroom, Cassady read it without making eye contact with them.

Russell, 66, was returning from work on his motorcycle the night of July 28, 2015 when Cassady slammed into him from behind in the westbound lanes of the expressway near Jefferson Boulevard. Cassady had been drinking, and data from the 2007 Infiniti he was driving showed he was travelling 190 kilometres per hour. He told an officer at the scene he had been texting and didn’t see the motorcycle in front of him.

Cassady pleaded guilty Monday to criminal negligence causing death. A charge of impaired driving causing death is expected to be withdrawn in exchange for his guilty plea.

Russell, who court heard was a loving grandfather and the primary caregiver for his physically handicapped wife of 40 years, died at the scene.

“It was never my intention to cause such heartache,” said Cassady. “I will never forget or forgive myself.”

Russell’s sisters told the Windsor Star the words of apology should have come sooner than a sentencing hearing 14 months after the crash. They were also angry to discover Tuesday that Cassady, who comes from a long line of Windsor police officers and whose father, Dave Sr., was a Windsor police inspector at the time of the crash, had been receiving special treatment at the courthouse.

Russell’s family — including his widow who uses a wheelchair — were made to submit to airport-like security searches at the public entrance of the courthouse.

Cassady, meanwhile, did not go through security and was ushered into the courthouse Tuesday through a door not accessible to the public. On Monday, he left the building through a back door restricted to judges and other court staff.

Court staff filed a complaint about the security breach. A spokesman for the Ministry of Attorney General would not comment Tuesday about the complaint. “Any questions or concerns pertaining to court security for both Windsor courthouses should be directed to the Windsor Police Service,” Brendan Crawley said in a written response to a request for an interview.

Windsor police dispatched an inspector, Tammy Fryer, to the courthouse Tuesday. She had three separate conversations with Cassady’s father, who recently retired from the force. Cassady and about a dozen family members lingered in the courthouse for nearly two hours before Cassady left through a public door for the first time since his sentencing hearing began Monday.

Cassady’s stepmother is a Windsor police officer as was his grandfather, Len Skinner.

“I understand fully the optics,” Windsor police Chief Al Frederick told the Star Tuesday. He said he would need a public complaint to investigate any special treatment being afforded Cassady by police officers in the courthouse.

“Breach of protocol is a misconduct if it’s proven and we are very good at investigating our people.”

Frederick would not say what steps if any he’d taken since being alerted to Cassady’s treatment, other than to stress Cassady left through a public entrance Tuesday.

An assistant Crown attorney from London and a regional senior judge from out of town have been brought in for Cassady’s case.

While defence lawyer Andrew Bradie has asked Justice Thomas Heeney to sentence Cassady to two years in prison, assistant Crown attorney Adam Campbell said the acceptable range would be four to six years.

Bradie suggested a two-year sentence include an additional three years’ probation during which Cassady would visit schools and speak to students about the hazards of distracted driving.

Campbell asked that the judge revoke Cassady’s licence for 10 years. Bradie said a driving prohibition of five years, minus the 14 months he hasn’t been allowed to drive since the crash, would be more fitting.

“The public does not need protection from him,” Bradie said.

Heeney is to deliver his ruling on the sentence Wednesday.

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Windsor police have launched an internal investigation into preferential treatment given to a police officer’s son during his sentencing hearing in Superior Court this week, says the city’s mayor.

Mayor Drew Dilkens, who is also chairman of the Windsor Police Services Board, said Friday he wants a member of the public to complain so the results of the investigation can be released.

“We certainly encourage anyone who has a complaint to make it,” he said. “We welcome those complaints.”

David (DJ) Cassady, whose father recently retired as a Windsor police inspector and whose stepmother is also on the force, had a three-day sentencing hearing this week in Superior Court. Cassady, 24, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing the July 28, 2015 death of motorcyclist Donald Russell, 66. Cassady, who had been drinking, was driving 190 kilometres per hour while texting on E.C. Row Expressway when he ran into Russell from behind.

Cassady was ushered in and out of the courthouse through doorways not accessible to the public. Unlike the victim’s family – including Russell’s widow who uses a wheelchair – Cassady was not made go through the security checkpoint at the front of the courthouse where a metal detector and searches of bags take place. 

“That behaviour wasn’t acceptable,” Dilkens said Friday. “It should never have happened.”

Windsor police officers are responsible for courthouse security.

Dilkens said police Chief Al Frederick sent an email to members of the Police Services Board explaining he had launched an internal investigation. “As soon as he was made aware of it, he acted immediately,” Dilkens said.

In earlier interviews, Frederick said the Police Act prevents him from making internal investigations public. Complaints from the public, however, result in hearings that are “transparent.”

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The family of a teenage girl who crashed her car and died after working at the Shores of Erie International Wine Festival is suing the festival, an organizer and her employers for $3.6 million.

Emily Bernauer’s parents, Christian and Kimberly, are seeking damages of $2.55 million. Her brother Christian E. Bernauer is seeking $700,000, sister Priscilla is seeking $200,000 and maternal grandparents Lenard and Olga Beaudoin are claiming $150,000.

They have filed the suit against the festival, Sobeys Inc., Sobeys Capital Inc., Amherstburg Sobeys store owner Renato (Rennie) Rota and Rota’s wife, Anne, who was one of the festival’s organizers.

Emily Bernauer, 18, died in a single-car crash Sept. 6, 2014 on Concession 2. Police say the underaged girl had alcohol in her bloodstream. The lawsuit alleges Rennie Rota provided Emily Bernauer with a bracelet indicating she was of age to drink and that the alcohol found in her bloodstream had been supplied by Rota’s wife.

None of the allegations contained in the statement of claim have been proven in court.

None of the parties named in the lawsuit have yet to file statements of defence with the court.

Reached Friday, Karen Gyorgy, festival chairwoman, referred inquiries to the lawyer for the festival’s insurer. That lawyer did not return calls.

Similarly, a spokeswoman for Sobeys did not return phone messages.

The lawsuit claims Emily Bernauer was allowed to drink even though those serving her knew or ought to have known that she was not of legal drinking age and “that she was impaired or would become impaired.”

The lawsuit alleges no one stopped Emily from driving when she left the festival premises despite her being “obviously intoxicated.”

At the time of the crash, police say, in addition to alcohol in her bloodstream, Emily had marijuana in her system and may have been texting when her car left the roadway, hit a mailbox and flipped. She was not wearing a seatbelt and was partially ejected from the vehicle.

In separate court proceedings, the festival is still facing charges under Ontario’s Liquor Licence Act. Charges were withdrawn against Rennie Rota and members of the festival board.

That case goes to trial in November.

The civil case, still in its early stages, has no court dates set.

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A former local Scouts leader, accused last year of trying to lure a child online, will not have to stand trial.

Robert Brownlie, 21, had a preliminary hearing in Ontario court this week. Ontario court Justice Donald Ebbs ruled Wednesday there was not enough evidence to proceed to trial. Ebbs dismissed the single count of luring a person under the age of 16 for a sexual purpose or for the purpose of child abduction.

Windsor police received a complaint in May 2015 from a parent about an online conversation. Windsor police’s Internet child exploitation unit investigated and Brownlie was arrested later that same month. Brownlie was a Scouts leader at the time.

Brownlie is no longer involved with Scouts Canada, John Petitti, Scouts spokesman said Wednesday. “His membership was terminated when he was charged.”

Petitti said Brownlie can now appeal his termination.

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A Colchester father convicted of dangerous driving for a 2008 crash that killed his 16-year-old son is back in jail after the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal Thursday.

David McLennan, 55, was sentenced in 2013 to nine months in jail, followed by two year’s probation, and a one-year driving ban. He spent a week in jail before being released pending appeal.

The Ontario Court of Appeal dashed his hopes that his conviction would be overturned Thursday, ruling that he should begin serving his sentence despite the “enormous tragedy” that the crash represents.

“I am not persuaded that the trial judge made any error,” wrote Justice Jean MacFarland on behalf of the appellate court. Of the sentence imposed after trial by Superior Court Justice Terry Patterson, she said, “Indeed it is at the very low end of the range for a dangerous driving conviction.”

McLennan was driving home on July 24, 2008 when he lost control of his restored 1970 Mustang on Creek Road in Amherstburg. The car hit a ditch, went airborne and flipped several times through a farm field. Everyone in the car was ejected. His son Dylyn, who had been in the back seat, died.

McLennan had driven to Amherstburg that day to pick up his son from driving school. He had taken along a neighbour for the ride. In addition to the beers the neighbour brought along for the road, the pair stopped at a bar along the way. When they picked up Dylyn at an Amherstburg home after his driving lesson, they drank some more.

McLennan admitted to drinking a total of four beers and a shot of tequila. He was charged with impaired driving causing death, but the jury acquitted him of the charge.

But, hearing McLennan had been performing stunts with his car, burning rubber twice and attempting to do a doughnut, the jury convicted him of dangerous driving causing death. The trial also heard from a witness who testified McLennan told him he had been driving too fast around a curve when he lost control.

“While there were mitigating factors here that the trial judge took into account, there were also aggravating factors,” the court of appeal said. “Speed was involved, there was the consumption of alcohol and erratic driving preceding the accident.”

The appellate court noted that, while McLennan did not have a prior criminal record, his driving record was marred by “various highway traffic convictions.” One of McLennan’s speeding tickets came after the time of the crash that claimed his son.

McLennan’s lawyer at trial and on appeal said he is still reviewing the decision. “We’re very disappointed,” said Michael Gordner. Of the prospect of a further appeal, Gordner said, “We’re looking at all options.”

Gordner had argued that the jury’s verdict was unreasonable, the prosecutor in the case was unfair and that the judge made errors in his pre-trial decisions and instructions to the jury.

The appeal court dismissed all those arguments.

Gordner said the crash continues to take a toll on McLennan and his family. “The family continues to grieve for their tragic loss.”

The appeal was heard May 30. McLennan was ordered by the court to surrender himself to the South West Detention Centre Wednesday, the day before the decision on the appeal was to be handed down.

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Sheri Rueda was half-asleep, lying in bed with her seven-year-old daughter, when the “clingy” boyfriend she was trying to dump came into the room and poured gasoline over them.

Rueda testified Monday at the trial of Kenneth Kormendy, 44, charged with three counts of attempted murder and five arson-related crimes for an Oct. 24, 2015 fire at the Balfour Boulevard home Rueda shared with her children.

Rueda was home with Felicia, who was just one at the time, and Isabel, 7, who was left clinging to life after the fire.

“He poured gas on us,” said Rueda of what transpired after Kormendy came into the bedroom that night wanting to talk about their relationship and trying to convince her to come to bed with him.

In measured tones, Rueda testified Kormendy had come into the bedroom smelling of gasoline. She sent him away to wash up. He came in again asking her if their relationship was really over. That time he didn’t say a word as he left.

He returned with a can of gas Rueda said he poured out over the bed and “all over the room.” In his other hand, Kormendy held what Rueda believed was a lighter. “I see a spark. I see a flicker,” she said, describing how she recognized the sound the lighter made.

Rueda was unclear on how she got Kormendy out of the room. At the preliminary hearing in the case, a transcript of which was read out in part in court Monday, Rueda testified she “pushed” Kormendy out of the room. On Monday, she testified she “led” him out, saying she doesn’t recall touching him.

Rueda said Kormendy was in the hallway trying to push the bedroom door open. Rueda was inside, using her entire body to keep it closed.

Rueda said Kormendy poured gasoline on the outside of the door. “I heard the gasoline falling on the floor.”

Then came the flames.

“I heard a big swoosh sound.” Flames came up from under the door, catching Rueda’s jogging pants on fire, she said.

She testified she backed away from the door toward the window where she took off her pants before trying to rouse her sleeping daughter.

“I jumped out the window assuming she was behind me,” Rueda testified. When she realized her daughter wasn’t coming, she called out her name. “There were flames coming out of the window and I burned my hands.”

The little girl stuck her head out and Rueda pulled her outside. Rueda then went to neighbouring homes, calling for help.

Believing one-year-old Felicia was still inside, Rueda flagged down a cab carrying two passengers. All three men — the cabbie and his two fares — ran into the burning building.

On the lawn, she spotted Kormendy, holding Felicia.

“He’s the one who set the fire,” she told the men who had run to the building to help. She said she recalls telling them to take Felicia away from him.

Isabel, meanwhile, was sitting outside, screaming. “She was all black,” Rueda said. “She said she was going to die.”

Rueda said she didn’t realize how badly the little girl was burned.

Rueda wiped tears as she looked at a photo of Isabel taken in hospital. Isabel suffered burns to much of her body — her hands, arms, back, chest, legs, feet and face.

Rueda said, at the time of the fire, Kormendy was set to move out of her home. She had met him through an online dating site in August and let him move in the next month.

Rueda described him as “clingy” and “very controlling.” He didn’t like it when she visited family or went out with friends.

Her father didn’t like him.

She said things progressed too quickly in the relationship. “He moved in too quickly.”

Rueda’s third daughter, Sarah, then 9, was not home that night. She was sleeping over at her grandma’s.

Kormendy’s trial continues Tuesday before Superior Court Justice Christopher Bondy.

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Family and friends of Sheri Rueda leave the Superior Court of Justice during a break from the trial of Kenneth Kormendy on Oct. 17, 2016.

After having his cab stopped by a distraught woman screaming about a fire, Mazin Markos ran into a burning house to save a stranger’s baby.

“I never thought of anything else but the baby,” Markos testified Tuesday at the trial of a man charged with deliberately setting fire to a home on Balfour Boulevard.

Kenneth Kormendy, 44, is charged with three counts of attempted murder and five arson-related charges in the Oct. 24, 2015 blaze. The home Kormendy is accused of torching is where Sheri Rueda lived with her children. Kormendy had been living in the home, too, after meeting Rueda two months earlier on an Internet dating site.

Rueda testified Monday she had asked Kormendy to move out. Then, one night as she lay in bed with her seven-year-old daughter, Kormendy poured gasoline over them and lit the house on fire.

In excited tones that reflected the crisis that confronted the night of the fire, Markos described how he came to find himself inside the smoke-filled house searching for a baby that, unbeknownst to him, was already outside.

Markos had two men in his cab, one a regular he knew as “John.” He had just pulled into a driveway to drop off one of the men when a woman ran up to his cab screaming for help.

Her house was on fire. Her baby was inside.

Markos said he and his two fares ran to the house. Markos said he saw one of his passengers run around to the back of the house. Markos ran to the front door.

Inside there was smoke and flames. “There was fire everywhere, big fire, small fire.” He spotted a purse and threw it outside.

One of his passengers had made his way into the living room and was just standing there amid the flames. Markos thought the man was in shock. Markos grabbed him by the arm and led him outside.

Windsor cab driver Mazin Markos speaks with media outside the Superior Court of Justice in Windsor on October 18, 2016. Markos had just testified in the Kenneth Kormendy trial and recalled how he rushed into a burning home to save a stranger’s baby.

Markos went back inside and spotted two closed doors in a hallway. One of the doors was engulfed in flames. On the floor right in front of it was a gas can.

Markos said he kicked the can out of the house. While doing that, he noticed a man standing in the front yard holding a baby.

He said he can’t remember who told him, but Markos said he learned the baby was the same one he’d gone inside the house to find.

Markos said the mother was screaming that the man holding the child had set the fire. Markos said the man tried to show him his arms, saying he’d been burned, too.

“I said, ‘I don’t care,’” Markos testified, explaining he was more concerned with the child’s safety and the man staying put until police arrived.

Court has heard the baby was named Felicia. She was just a year old. She escaped the fire unharmed.

Her sister, Isabel, then 7, wasn’t so fortunate. Court heard from a plastic surgeon Tuesday who testified Isabel suffered burns to 15 per cent of her body, including her hands, feet and face.

Today, a year after the fire, Isabel does not have full use of her hands and feet, Dr. Christopher Scilley testified. She can’t make a fist or stretch her toes and ankles. She has already undergone surgery for skin grafts, and will require several more to allow her skin to stretch as she grows.

“She has a severe scar on her face,” Scilley testified. The little girl has psychological issues and, as is common with children in pain, she is unco-operative on followup visits to his London burn clinic.

The trial Tuesday also heard from an investigator from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office who gave her opinion on how and where the fire started. Skye Lorimer testified she could deduce from the smoke and charring patterns inside the house that the fire began in the hallway outside a child’s bedroom.

The door was completely consumed and its jamb had remnants of gasoline on it, Lorimer testified. She said the fire would have travelled under the door into the bedroom, igniting gasoline vapour inside.

The trial is scheduled for the rest of the week.

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“Look at the mother.”

With those words, accused arsonist Kenneth Kormendy tried to divert attention away from himself as the prime suspect in a Balfour Boulevard house fire last year. His new girlfriend was unhinged, he told police in a videotaped interview played at his trial Friday. Kormendy implied she set fire to her own house with her children asleep inside.

Kormendy, 44, is charged with trying to kill Sheri Rueda and her two daughters – Isabel, 7, and Felicia, 1. He is also facing five arson-related criminal charges. Felicia was unharmed. Isabel was badly burned and will require repeated surgeries as she grows.

“I’m not the crazy one,” Kormendy told the police officer who conducted the interview about 10 hours after his arrest.

Kormendy stuck to that story on the witness stand when asked if he actually believed Rueda had started the fire. “It had to have been,” he said, looking plaintively at the judge.

In a heated cross-examination by assistant Crown attorney Walter Costa, Kormendy offered details about the night of the fire that differed from what he said on the video. “There’s a fair amount of things that are vague,” Kormendy agreed, explaining he was suffering from lack of sleep in the video.

His memory got better with time as he went over the events in his head and with writing in his journal, he said. “Miraculously your memory is better,” Costa said sarcastically.

On the video, Kormendy could not tell the officer where in the house he was when the fire began, or the details of how his right hand got burned.

“You hadn’t formulated the lie yet,” Costa said.

Kormendy said everything happened so quickly, some details escape him.

“I’m going to connect the dots for you right now,” Costa said. Costa then, sentence by sentence, went through what Rueda said happened.

Kormendy was a “controlling” boyfriend who was upset his relationship with Rueda was ending, Costa began. After pestering her about the relationship as she readied her children for bed, Rueda finally told him they were through. Kormendy returned to the room where Rueda lay with Isabel and poured gasoline over them.

Throughout the rendition, Kormendy denied starting the fire. “No, sir,” he’d say. “No, you’re wrong.”

Kormendy admitted he did not stop at the window of the bedroom where Rueda and her daughter lay as he ran to the back of the house to rescue Felicia from her crib.

“You thought these people were going to burn and die and you did nothing,” Costa said. “You did this.”

The trial continues Monday with closing submissions from the prosecution and defence.

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Having sex with a girl too drunk to consent is a “serious crime of violence” that needs to be denounced, said the Superior Court judge who sentenced fallen hockey star Ben Johnson Tuesday to three years in prison.

“You violated her. You injured her both physically and mentally,” Justice Kirk Munroe told the former Windsor Spitfire. It was “forcible and criminal.”

Johnson, 22, was convicted of sexual assault for raping a 16-year-old girl in the women’s washroom of  the now-defunct downtown nightclub Mynt in March 2013. Johnson, who was 18 at the time, forced the girl to perform oral sex before having vaginal intercourse with her. Afterward, the girl was found in the bathroom stall barely conscious, with profuse vaginal bleeding.

Johnson, at trial, denied having intercourse with the girl, but said the oral sex was consensual. His defence included discussion of what the girl was wearing, the way she was dancing and how much she had to drink.

Ben Johnson opens the door at Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Windsor, Ont., before his sentencing hearing on Oct. 25, 2016.

In an interview on the courthouse steps after the sentencing, the girl’s mother said the judge’s words go a long way to combatting “rape culture” and society’s tendency to blame and shame victims.

“People questioned her actions, questioned what she wore… None of that gives anyone the right to violate a woman.”

The mother, who can’t be named to protect her daughter’s identity, said the family is relieved this case is finished. “This is now in the rear-view mirror,” she said. “We can now move on as a unit, as a family… I feel that justice was served.”

At the end of the sentencing hearing, Munroe addressed the family and said, “I pray for your peace.” He told the Johnson family he prays for them, too.

“We appreciated that,” said the victim’s mom. “The judge was always thorough and always sensitive.”

Munroe spoke of “society’s abhorrence” for rape. It “denies women the right to exercise freedom of choice,” he said.

Munroe noted all the things Johnson has going for him — his young age, that this was his first conviction for any crime, that he has a good work ethic and that he has the support of his family and community. But, the judge said, “The weight to be given to this is diminished by the nature of the crime.”

Munroe reiterated his findings after the 11-day trial. “The young woman at the time was so drunk as to be incapacitated,” he said. “She was incapable of consent.”

Ben Johnson and his wife Kate walk towards Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Windsor, Ont., on Oct. 25, 2016. Johnson was sentenced to three years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in a washroom stall of a now-defunct downtown Windsor nightclub.

Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme had told the court Johnson has already been punished through the loss of his NHL entry contract with the New Jersey Devils.

The judge rejected his submission that the judge should also consider the fact the girl and her family have named Johnson in a $3.95-million civil suit.

Munroe disagreed. “He gets no credit for the victim in this case seeking redress in the civil courts.”

Assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin had asked for a sentence of 3½ to 4 years.

Munroe said he did not want to impose a sentence that would “cripple” Johnson’s ability to become a productive member of society. Court heard Johnson is taking online business courses and recently married.

And, added the judge, “This sentence is not to exact revenge.”

In addition to a penitentiary term, Johnson will be registered in Canada as a sex offender, meaning, for the next 20 years, he must always keep police apprised of his address, employment and details like what kind of car he drives.

The judge also imposed a 10-year weapons prohibition.

Windsor police Sgt. Sean Bender, who investigated the case, met with the victim’s family after the sentencing. “This is step one in their healing process,” he said. Of the sentence, Bender said, “I think he was more than fair.”

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At just 24 years of age, Zoltan Thomas Zoldi has a criminal record that would make a grizzled convict blush — three robberies, two break and enters, two assaults, uttering death threats, and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.

Zoldi was sentenced Wednesday to five years in a federal penitentiary for his latest string of crimes. Because of how much time he has spent in jail while awaiting to admit his guilt, his sentence was reduced by 16 months.

On May 13, Zoldi and an accomplice went into Hunter Pharmacy with an imitation handgun and ordered the five employees to the ground. Zoldi jumped over the counter and took 150 to 200 fentanyl patches. The drugs were never recovered.

Just a week and a day later, he was threating a man on Tuscarora Street. He was carrying a knife and police found an imitation handgun nearby.

At the time, Zoldi was free on bail on weapons charges stemming from a January 2015 raid on his apartment. Inside, police found a rifle with a banana clip on his bed. Police also seized 94 bullets. Zoldi was on conditions not to possess weapons of any kind.

Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe said Zoldi was getting off easy with a five-year sentence. That was the sentence jointly recommended by the Crown and defence as part of a plea bargain.

“If you didn’t come in front of me with a joint submission, you would get more, probably much more,” Munroe told Zoldi.

“Given your record, you are not going to get any more chances,” the judge continued. “If you want to spend the rest of your days in jail … you will get there.”

In the meantime, Munroe said, he prays Zoldi doesn’t hurt someone.

“You have to change your lifestyle, son.”

Zoldi has been convicted in the past for a home-invasion robbery. Soon after the opening of South West Detention Centre, he went on a rampage inside and smashed up the showers.

After being admonished by Munroe for being late for the sentencing hearing, defence lawyer Laura Joy told the court that Zoldi is seeing a counsellor to fight a drug addiction.

“He maintains sobriety,” Joy said.

He has a supportive family and his girlfriend is a “good girl” who will be a positive influence on him.

“He is very young,” Joy said. “We can’t just throw away the key on him.”

In addition to the prison sentence, Munroe imposed a lifetime weapons prohibition on Zoldi and ordered that he let police to take a sample of his DNA for the national databank used to solve crime.

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As far as most collections of child pornography dealt with in Canadian courts go, Brandon D. Taylor’s was relatively small, but it included images described as “particularly disturbing” and “horrific.”

Taylor, 24, was sentenced Friday to 16 months in jail followed by three years’ probation. He pleaded guilty to one count of accessing child pornography and one count of making child pornography available.

One video found on his computer chronicled a lifetime of abuse against one girl who grows up before the viewer’s eyes. In one part of the video she about six or seven twirling in a dress while her naked buttocks and genitals are being filmed. In other images obviously shot over the following years until she is about 13, she is performing graphic sex acts.

Assistant Crown attorney Elizabeth Brown called that video “particularly disturbing.”

In all, there were 306 still images and 21 videos found on Taylor’s computer.

Taylor, a former University of Windsor student, was arrested in March 2015 after an Internet provider discovered child pornography being shared in a chat room. Police traced the video back to Taylor, who had downloaded it from another source. Taylor never paid for any of the material, nor did he produce any of it himself.

Taylor co-operated with the police investigation, one of the mitigating factors in his favour at sentencing.

Taylor, addressing the court, said he understands the images he collected depict abuse. “I don’t want to undermine any of the progress these children have made since being abused. Sharing them obviously undermines that.”

Ontario court Justice Guy DeMarco said he has dealt with cases where the accused person had more than 30,000 images stored on his computer. “This is on the low side,” DeMarco said. But, he added, “One image of this kind is too many.”

“The evil of this crime is that without a market for it, these children would be spared this abuse.”

As part of his sentence, Taylor will be on the national sex offender registry for life and can’t work or volunteer with children for a decade.

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