Latest news with #CrownProsecutor
CTV News
18 hours ago
- CTV News
Mom of missing Montreal toddler ‘in great distress,' will return to court for bail hearing in July
A three-year-old Montreal girl seen in St. Albert, Ont. moments after being found following a four-day search on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (Courtesy/Noovo Info) A bail hearing has been scheduled for next month for the mother of a three-year-old Montreal girl who was missing for three days before being found on an Ontario highway. The toddler was found Wednesday on the side of Highway 417 near St. Albert, Ont. after her mother reported her missing on Sunday. An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) drone spotted her alone after police believe she spent the entire time all by herself with no food or water. The girl's mother appeared in court again on Friday at the Valleyfield courthouse after she was arrested by Quebec provincial police Monday evening and charged with one count of child abandonment. The Crown prosecutor requested and was granted a publication ban to protect the young girl's identity. As such, the name of the girl's mother, or anything else that would identify her, cannot be published. The Crown is opposing her release from custody. A judge scheduled a two-day bail hearing on July 3 at the Valleyfield courthouse as the prosecution waits to receive more evidence from police. The accused mother was remanded into custody at the Leclerc detention centre for women in Laval and was ordered not to communicate with the victim or her father. Missing Montreal toddler A screenshot of a TikTok video of a mother and her child. The mother has been charged with one count of child abandonment after the girl went missing for three days. (Source: Noovo Info/TikTok) No new charges were laid on Friday. Her lawyer, Olivier Béliveau, told Noovo Info that he has not requested a psychiatric evaluation for his client at this time. Béliveau described her as a 'woman who is in great distress' and that she was extremely relieved when she learned that her daughter had been found on Wednesday. With files from CTV News' Olivia O'Malley and Noovo Info - This is a developing story that will be updated.
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Man identified in attempted abduction cold case with black-and-white photo 43 years later
The New South Wales District Court has heard Warren John McCorriston is wanted on charges in Queensland, after admitting to the attempted abduction of a teenager near Newcastle more than four decades ago. In April the 64-year-old pleaded guilty to attempting to abduct the woman with the intention of having sexual contact with her. In agreed facts tendered to the District Court in Newcastle, he admitted to detaining the 17-year-old girl for advantage at Gateshead, south of Newcastle, on a night in 1980, when he was 19. On the night of the crime, the woman got off a bus near her house after going to the movies in Newcastle to see the film 10. Minutes later the man approached in a red car. McCorriston got out, chased the woman, said he had a knife and dragged her towards his car. She broke free, hid in bushes near neighbouring houses, before he left in his car. "The Crown contends, and the offender accepts, that his intention was to force her into his car so that he could seek to have sexual contact with her," the police facts stated. In the District Court on Thursday, McCorriston was identified as the man responsible for the abduction attempt for the first time, after the court lifted a non-publication order. Crown Prosecutor Paul Marr told his sentencing hearing about the day the woman identified her attacker. "One can only wonder the impact on her, 43 years later she chooses one of 20 people in a black-and-white photo array and she chooses him. "He is prosecuted and he admits he is the person who accosted her on that evening. Agreed facts tendered in court said the girl told close friends at the time, but did not report McCorriston to police until 2023. "This occurred when the victim was watching a television show about Gordana Kotevski, a 16-year-old girl who went missing from Charlestown in the mid 1990s," the police facts said. "She rang Crime Stoppers after watching the television program." McCorriston is due to be sentenced on Thursday, June 26. Defence barrister Ben Bickford told the court McCorriston was only a teenager himself at the time of the offending. "None of [the] submissions I've made are intended to downplay this or how frightening it was for the victim," Mr Bickford said. Mr Bickford said his client was remorseful and on a path to rehabilitation. Mr Marr said McCorriston could not blame youth, saying he is wanted for alleged offending in his 50s in Queensland. "There are a number of outstanding allegations that the offender is yet to face in Queensland," Mr Marr said. "The date of the allegations has [the] offender at about 58 years of age at the time of the allegations being made."
CTV News
3 days ago
- CTV News
Alberta lawyer resigns licence, admits to improper relationship with complainant
A courtroom is seen at the Edmonton Law Courts building, in Edmonton on June 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson A former Alberta Crown prosecutor has given up his law licence after he admitted to having an inappropriate relationship with a complainant in a criminal case he was prosecuting. The Law Society of Alberta cited former Lethbridge Crown prosecutor Darwyn Ross for the inappropriate relationship earlier this year. A panel of law society benchers accepted Ross's resignation at a hearing today, along with an agreed statement of facts that included his admission to engaging in the relationship. The panel heard Ross was prosecuting a domestic violence matter in 2021 when he and the complainant shared meetings and communications that were of a 'personal and sexual nature.' Ross had been a practising lawyer in Alberta for 20 years, but hasn't worked in law since taking medical leave in 2021 before leaving the Crown's office one year later. As a prosecutor in Lethbridge, Ross tried a few high-profile cases, including one where a teacher in a Hutterite community admitted to abusing children with weapons for more than a decade. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025. Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Major update after air force pilot was accused of staging wife's lawnmower death
An air force pilot accused of killing his wife and staging her death to look like a lawnmower accident has been charged with breaching bail. Robert John Crawford was charged with murder and interfering with a corpse in October 2024, months after his wife was found dead near a ride-on mower west of Brisbane. The 47-year-old is accused of strangling his wife, Frances Elizabeth Crawford, in a 'murderous rage' then moving her body to stage her death to look like a late-night accident. Ms Crawford was found dead near the mower at a rural Upper Lockyer property in July 2024. Crawford was granted bail in the Queensland Supreme Court in May on strict conditions after almost seven months in custody. Conditions included a $250,000 surety and a night-time curfew. Crawford was charged with breach of bail on Saturday. He has reportedly entered into a new bail undertaking and is due to next appear on the matter in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on August 14. Crawford had called emergency services about 3.40am on July 30, 2024 and told them he found his wife at the bottom of a retaining wall and a lawnmower had fallen on her. He told police his wife got up during the night to move the lawnmower away from automated water sprinklers. Prosecutors previously said Crawford was charged on the basis of 'inconsistencies' between his statement to police and expert analysis of the forensic evidence. Crown prosecutor Chris Cook previously said the forensic report favoured strangulation as the cause of death rather than pressure from the ride-on's steering wheel. During an April bail hearing, defence barrister Saul Holt said 'very weak' interpretations of forensic evidence had been used to charge his client. Crawford's murder charge is set to be heard on October 8 at Ipswich Magistrates Court for committal proceedings.
ABC News
4 days ago
- ABC News
Erin Patterson had no reason to murder in-laws with toxic mushrooms, defence tells jury
Erin Patterson's defence barrister has told the jury in her triple-murder trial that the "devoted" mother had no motive to deprive her children of their "wonderful" grandparents. Ms Patterson, 50, has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder over a beef Wellington lunch she hosted at her regional Victorian home in 2023. The trial of Erin Patterson, who stands accused of using a poisoned meal to murder three relatives, continues. Look back at how Tuesday's hearing unfolded in our live blog. To stay up to date with this story, subscribe to ABC News. On Monday, prosecutors told the jury Ms Patterson had engaged in four substantial deceptions as part of the alleged murder plot. Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said these were a lie to the guests about cancer, the "secretion" of death cap mushrooms in a "nourishing meal" of individually parcelled beef Wellingtons, feigned illness after the lunch and a sustained cover-up as guests fell critically ill. On Tuesday morning, Dr Rogers wrapped up her closing address by telling the jury a fifth deception had been played upon it, when the accused spun a "carefully constructed narrative" in court in a bid to fit the evidence against her. She said "perhaps the starkest" of these was Ms Patterson's evidence about plans to undergo gastric-bypass surgery a few months after the lunch. During her evidence, Ms Patterson told the court she had booked an appointment for gastric-bypass surgery at a clinic in Melbourne and had lied to relatives about potential cancer treatment as a cover story. When she was told in cross-examination that the clinic did not offer gastric-band surgery, Ms Patterson said she must have been "mistaken" and she had also been considering liposuction. "There's no way that the accused's earlier evidence can be twisted to fit that new claim," Dr Rogers told the jury. The prosecution alleged several other lies were told by Ms Patterson in the period surrounding the lunch, including admitted lies to police about owning a food dehydrator and foraging for mushrooms. "Erin Patterson told so many lies it's hard to keep up with them," Dr Rogers said. Dr Rogers told the jury Ms Patterson was "not a credible witness" and significant parts of the defence case that rested solely on her evidence should be closely scrutinised. She also told the jury it should disregard any claim from the defence that Ms Patterson's actions after the lunch were the result of "innocent panic" rather than a sustained cover-up. The prosecutor said any parent who believed their children may have consumed death cap mushrooms would "move mountains" to get them to hospital, in contrast to Ms Patterson's initial reluctance to take her children out of school. Dr Rogers also told the jury that Ms Patterson's venting to Facebook friends about her in-laws showed that the accused was "leading a duplicitous life when it came to the Pattersons". "She presented one side, while expressing contrary beliefs to others," Dr Rogers said. In closing her address, Dr Rogers told jurors they should make their deliberations based on the facts before them. "You may not want to believe that anyone could be capable of doing what the accused has done," she said, describing the alleged actions as "horrible", "cold" and "beyond comprehension". "But look at the evidence, don't let your emotional reaction dictate your verdict one way or the other." In his closing address, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC told the jury the prosecution had been "cherry picking" evidence that suited their case, while "disregarding inconvenient truths" that challenged it. He told the jury if they believed there was a reasonable possibility that death cap mushrooms were added to the meal accidentally and a reasonable possibility that Ms Patterson did not intend to kill or cause serious injury to her guests, then they should find her not guilty. The lawyer said the prosecution case lacked a motive, which would usually be "fundamental" to proving the required element in the charges of intent to kill or seriously injure. Mr Mandy told the jury there had been evidence during the trial that demonstrated a warm relationship existed between his client and her in-laws. "Erin Patterson had a motive to keep these people in her world so that they could keep supporting her and her children," he said. "And there's absolutely no doubt that Don and Gail had a great relationship with [their grandchildren] … absolutely no doubt that Erin was devoted to her children. Mr Mandy told the jury it should regard a period of tension that arose between Erin and Simon Patterson over financial matters as a "brief spat" about child support which was "resolved amicably" before too long. Mr Mandy said there was no proof to support the idea that this tension could have formed a reason for Ms Patterson murdering her husband's parents and aunt and uncle. "It's an unsatisfactory piece of evidence," he said. Mr Mandy told the jury an "intelligent person carefully planning a murder" in the way alleged by the prosecution would know that they and the meal they had prepared would come "under suspicion" and that they would be in the "spotlight". He said Ms Patterson's actions after the lunch — including disposing of the dehydrator at a tip and paying with her own bank card — were born out of panic and not guilt. "If you're planning a murder, what's the one thing you really should plan to dispose of? That's the murder weapon," Mr Mandy said. He suggested to the jury that if the deadly meal had been premeditated, Ms Patterson "would've disposed of [the dehydrator] months before and never told anyone she had one". "It speaks volumes about her state of mind," he said. Mr Mandy is expected to continue delivering his closing address for the defence on Wednesday.
