Former Cadets major faces sex assault charges after military police re-examined a closed case | 24CA News
A former main with the Canadian Forces Cadet group is going through three sexual assault prices in civilian court docket after army police reopened a case three years after it was shut over lack of proof, 24CA News has realized.
Kenneth Richards, 70, a former main with the Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service (COATS), is going through three sexual assault prices filed by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Services (CFNIS) in July 2021.
The prices stem from a grievance filed in 2017 by a subordinate. 24CA News has granted anonymity to the alleged sufferer at her request and is figuring out her as “Cassandra.”
CFNIS investigators initially closed the investigation into Cassandra’s grievance towards Richards in 2018 after interviewing only one witness, in response to data from the investigation reviewed by 24CA News.
Cassandra stated new CFNIS investigators took one other take a look at her case in early 2021 after she reached out to them with considerations concerning the end result. She stated she contacted army police after discovering an Ontario cadet unit employed Richards, who had by then retired, as a civilian teacher.
“The system is really stacked against people coming forward,” stated Cassandra in an interview with 24CA News.
Professional requirements investigation on maintain
COATS is a part of the Canadian army’s reserves and is concentrated on the supervision, administration and coaching of Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers — a pair of youth growth applications for Canadians aged 12 to 18.
Richards is presently going through a jury trial with the Ontario Superior Court. No trial date has but been set.
David Hodson, the lawyer representing Richards, stated his shopper wouldn’t present remark.
Five army cops concerned within the preliminary investigation of Cassandra’s grievance — together with two who are actually retired — now face knowledgeable requirements investigation that has been paused till the conclusion of Richards’ trial, in response to data reviewed by 24CA News.
Cassandra filed a grievance in August with the Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) over how her case was initially dealt with. The MPCC, following commonplace process, despatched the grievance to the army police skilled requirements workplace, which opened the investigative file.
The MPCC will open its personal case if Cassandra is dissatisfied with the end result of the skilled requirements probe.
Cassandra’s grievance named Maj. David Hitchcock, Warrant Officer Michael Bekkers and Sgt. Matthew Hackett. The three have been members of the CFNIS unit at CFB Borden that originally investigated her grievance towards Richards.
Another allegedly flawed investigation
24CA News just lately revealed that Hitchcock and Bekkers have been additionally concerned within the allegedly flawed 2018 sexual assault investigation of a male non-public accused of sexually assaulting a feminine non-public in a brush closet at CFB Borden, positioned about 100 km north of Toronto. Hackett was peripherally concerned on this investigation, in response to data beforehand obtained by 24CA News.
Hitchcock, the unit’s commanding officer on the time, signed off on a cost bundle compiled by Bekkers that beneficial charging the non-public with sexual assault and forcible confinement. A regional army prosecutor rejected the advice.
A June 2020 MPCC assesment stated the sexual assault investigation into the broom closet incident was “inadequate,” the cost bundle lacked a key element and the way in which army cops performed interviews with the complainant and suspect “suggests a lack of experience and/or training.”
The alleged sufferer within the case, who 24CA News recognized as “Jane,” has since filed for a personal prosecution with the Ontario Court of Justice to cost Oleksii Silin, now a corporal, with aggravated sexual assault and forcible confinement. Silin denies the allegations.
A listening to scheduled for late January will decide whether or not Silin will likely be formally charged.
An knowledgeable advised 24CA News that Jane’s case confirmed the army wants to permit for a civilian overview of sexual misconduct instances on the request of alleged victims.
In an emailed assertion, the Canadian Forces Military Police stated “It will not comment on any individual member of the CFNIS.”
Transfer of army instances to civilian authorities
National Defence Minister Anita Anand pledged final yr to switch new army sexual misconduct instances into the arms of civilian authorities.
Louise Arbour, a former Supreme Court justice and UN Human Rights commissioner, beneficial the change after she was appointed in 2021 to research the roots of army sexual misconduct as scandal engulfed senior Canadian Forces management.
Arbour advised MPs final week throughout an look earlier than a House of Commons committee that the army was “dragging their feet” on the change.
Civilian authorities have to date declined 40 of 97 instances despatched to them by army police over the previous years
Widespread sexual misconduct additionally afflicts the Reserve Force, in response to findings by Morris Fish, a retired Supreme Court justice whose report on the army justice system was tabled on June 1, 2021, within the House of Commons.
Quoting 2018 Statistics Canada knowledge, Fish’s report stated that about 600 members of the reserves reported a sexual assault within the earlier 12 months, totaling about 1,500 incidents. Women reported incidents at six occasions the speed of males, in response to the report.
Fish beneficial the Canadian Forces strike a working group to find out how greatest to carry reservists to excessive requirements and make them accountable for “sexual misconduct and hateful conduct.”
The Department of National Defence stated in an emailed assertion {that a} working group “has been created and meetings have occured.” The assertion stated the advice was “complex and contemplates” adjustments to legal guidelines and laws.
The division listed the reserve advice amongst an inventory of these it deliberate to start implementing within the “short term” in an announcement issued following the June 2021 tabling of Fish’s report.
Jurisdictional confusion plagued 2017 investigation
The 2017 investigation into Cassandra hit issues from the very starting, in response to Cassandra’s written grievance to the MPCC.
The army police investigators initially balked at opening the case over jurisdictional confusion — Cadets are thought-about a part of reserve power members and, as such, fall below army justice jurisdiction in restricted circumstances, together with drills, coaching, when they’re in uniform or on obligation.
The investigation, led by Hackett and supervised by Bekkers, with Hitchcock because the commanding officer, interviewed only one witness and the complainant earlier than formally closing the case 13 months after it began.
According to data from the investigation, Bekkers “conducted a detailed review” of the investigation and advised Hackett to shut the case as a result of there was “no reasonable grounds to believe a sexual assault has been committed.”
Hitchcock filed a memo in May 2018 stating that the “lengthy investigation” had resulted in “insufficient grounds to lay charges.”
Three years later, the CFNIS assigned new investigators to the file who reopened the case on the finish of February 2021.
This time, investigators interviewed seven witnesses and laid three sexual assault prices towards Richards in civilian court docket. The prices stemmed from three incidents that allegedly occurred in February and April 2017.
Cassandra, who advised her story twice to army police, is now getting ready to inform it a 3rd time in court docket.
“I asked myself the question, ‘What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?’ What I would do is tell my story and tell the truth about what happened to me,” she stated in an interview with 24CA News.
“It takes a great deal of strength to come as far as I have and it is in the face of great fear.”
