Month: January 2024

Ottawa Police Prosecutor Vanessa Stewart Likens Detective Helen Grus to Serial Rapist-Murderer Russell Williams

Hearing Officer Superintendent Chris Renwick allows outrageous comparison over defense objections

Stewart Court Attire

Every time we think that the internal hearing against Ottawa Police Detective Helen Grus can’t get any wilder – Prosecutor Vanessa Stewart yells “HOLD MY BEER!” and once again proves us wrong.

Accompanying her outrageous courtroom behaviour with fashion statements and hi-heeled boots that rival anything seen on Ottawa’s Gladstone Strip, Prosecutor Stewart seems to have little sense of decorum and propriety. Every day she makes the hearing into a theatre of the absurd where the audience can’t even guess at her next act.

You can’t make this up!

On Wednesday, January 10, 2024 Prosecutor Vanessa Stewart cross-examined defense witness Ottawa Police Service Sergeant Major (retired) Peter Danyluk.

In earlier testimony Danyluk described Detective Helen Grus as having a calm demeanor when she spoke with him about her investigation and concerns with the mRNA Covid ‘vaccines’.

Prosecutor Vanessa Stewart then despicably likened ‘calm demeanor’ Detective Helen Grus to ‘calm’ Serial Rapist – Murderer Russell Williams

Prosecutor Stewart – “You would agree that good people can make bad decisions.”

Witness Danyluk – “Anybody would agree with that. Yes.”

Prosecutor Stewart – “You would agree with me, people who appear calm can make bad decisions?”

Witness Danyluk – “Yes”

Prosecutor Stewart – “So people who appear calm can make bad decisions. I can give you a specific example. In the course of your career, did you ever have a chance to watch the interview of Russell Williams?”

Witness Danyluk – “Possibly”

Prosecutor Stewart – “I’m going to suggest that during the video of his interview Russell Williams was extremely calm.”

Defense Counsels Bath-Sheba van den Berg and Blair Ector – “OBJECTION!”

At this exchange the public gallery looked at each other in amazement, shaking their heads and wondering what idiocy would be next. They didn’t have long to wait…

Defense Lawyers Allege Criminal Witness Intimidation, Obstruction of Justice by Professional Standards Inspector

Insp. Hugh O’Toole

At a little after 3pm just before Detective Grus was to testify in her own defense, lead counsel Bath-Sheba van den Berg and co-counsel Blair Ector informed Hearing Officer Chris Renwick that Professional Standards Inspector Hugh O’Toole had sent an intimidating and threatening email to Detective Grus just prior to her scheduled testimony.

The email threatened that if Detective Grus gave certain evidence and referred to certain Ottawa Police documents in her testimony, the Ottawa Police Professional Standards Unit would launch another investigation against her.

This email was sent directly to the witness as she was about to testify – not to her defense lawyers.

In the chaos that followed Prosecutor Vanessa Stewart also threatened Detective Grus – stating that Stewart had “Put (Grus and her lawyers) on Notice” about the use of certain Ottawa Police documents as evidence. By her comments, Stewart also revealed that she had prior knowledge about the threatening email and was probably in collusion with Inspector O’Toole in delivering the threat.

My next report will provide full details of the threats to Detective Grus and an update on further developments.

After consultation with some of my lawyer friends, I am of the strong opinion that the intimidating and threatening email from Ottawa Police Inspector Hugh O’Toole meets the criminal threshold for:

– Intimidating a Justice System Participant (CC 423.1 (1) b),

– Obstruction of Justice (CC 139 (2) AND (3) )

Next Hearing Date – About February 14 / 15, 2024

When the hearing adjourned on Thursday, January 11, 2024 the parties were discussing the next hearing dates to be confirmed on or about February 14 / 15, 2024 – but no date has yet appeared on the Ottawa Police hearings website.

News Media Articles about the latest chaos in the Detective Grus Hearing

January 13, 2024 – (Jason Unrau – True North) Witness intimidation accusation mires misconduct hearing for Ottawa cop who probed child deaths

January 12, 2024 – (Vlad Tepes Blog) A few words about the Helen Grus hearings in Ottawa

January 11, 2024 – (Robert Kraychik – Rebel News) Ottawa cop facing discipline tribunal warned not to cite police docs minutes before testifying 

January 11, 2024 – (Matthew Horwood – The Epoch Times) Chaos Erupts at Hearing of Ottawa Detective as Lawyers File Report Accusing Superior of Witness Intimidation

January 10-11, 2024 – (Vlad Tepes – RAIR Foundation) Exclusive Trial Update on Helen Grus: Canadian Police Target Own Detective for Daring to Question Role of ‘Covid Vaccines’ in Death of 9 Babies

January 10, 2024 – (Matthew Horwood – The Epoch Times) Lawyers Accuse Officer of Witness Tampering, Intimidation of Detective Who Looked Into COVID Vaccine, Child Deaths

For more, see the ‘Detective Grus Case’ tab at the top of my website.

Donald Best

January 24, 2024 – 1045am Eastern Time

Farewell to dear friend Padre Michael Cassidy

Merchant Marine, Toronto Police, Whitchurch-Stouffville Police, Padre Canadian Armed Forces, Navy League… Private Investigator

Pastor Michael Maurice Cassidy passed on Sunday, January 14, 2024, at 89 years. Each of us would do well in our lifetime to have the respect and love that this faithful servant garnered.

As a young and self-confessed “pretty rough” merchant marine sailor, Mike fell so in love with Irene in post-war Britain. But his future wife wouldn’t even speak with him unless it was at church under the watchful eyes of her parents and the congregation. Irene was attracted to Mike, but she had her standards.

And so, Michael first heard The Word – and it took. Irene and Mike immigrated to Canada and produced two daughters and five grandchildren.

Michael served as a Constable with the Toronto Police and Whitchurch-Stouffville Police before founding a licensed Private Investigation Agency in Barrie, Ontario where I first met him about 1988.

Family First

Family always came first for Michael and Irene, and so it was he left the police service. As Michael told me, it was no contest when he had to choose between his family and a job he loved. He was my support and counsel when I later made that same choice – even hiring me as a private investigator and teaching me to thrive in that profession.

Canada’s Abandoned Warriors

Starting in earnest with the first Gulf War in 1990, for over three decades Padre Cassidy devoted himself to bringing care and healing to Canada’s military veterans. He was a regular fixture at Remembrance Day Ceremonies and military parades, but his most important work was always one-on-one with the injured, damaged, and destroyed warriors that Canada so shamefully abandoned – and continues to abandon.

Goodbye Mike, and thank you.

Pastor Michael Maurice Cassidy’s family and friends celebrated his life and laid him to rest on Saturday, January 20, 2024.

Ottawa Police Tribunal Biased To The Core Against Detective Helen Grus

Natural Justice Denied: The Fix is In

Hearing Continues January 8, 2024

  • Detective Grus Not Allowed to See Her Own Handwritten Duty Book
  • Tribunal Refuses to Allow Expert Defense Witnesses
  • Tribunal Allows Prosecutor’s Conflict of Interest: Sister-in-Law is Prosecution Witness.
  • Tribunal Allows Dishonest Prosecution Strategy of Preventing Cross-Examinations

There is little doubt that “The Fix Is In” for the trial of Ottawa Police Detective Helen Grus – who is charged with Discreditable Conduct for conducting an alleged ‘unauthorized’ investigation into a potential connection between mothers’ mRNA injections and the deaths of breastfeeding infants in a cluster of nine infant deaths.

For many observers, the final straw occurred when Hearing Officer Chris Renwick refused to allow Grus to examine her own hand-written duty book for January 30, 2022.

The prosecution alleges that Detective Grus’s on-duty investigative phone call to the father of a deceased infant on January 30, 2022 was improper. Grus made notes that day in her Duty Memo Book – but the Tribunal refuses to allow the veteran Detective to see her own official notes she made on the very day that the prosecution alleges she committed an on-duty offense.

Please read the above paragraph again so you can fully comprehend the injustice and illegitimacy of process faced by Detective Grus and her defense lawyers.

Trials Officer Supt (Retired) Chris Renwick

While the Memo Book Decision is a prime example of the Hearing Officer’s bias and unfair conduct, it is only one of many biased and unfair decisions – major and minor – that Superintendent Renwick made during the initial ten days of the Grus disciplinary hearing. The hearing continues January 8, 2023.

Every day of the hearing so far has seen multiple instances where the Tribunal’s bias was so open that the public gallery often gasped or guffawed at the outrageousness of it all. Each day journalists and the public also witnessed institutional and personal biases that further stacked the deck against Detective Grus.

Natural Justice Denied

The principle of Natural Justice is a cornerstone of Canadian society. In short, Natural Justice means that a court has a duty to act fairly.

There are principles of Natural Justice that cannot be violated without bringing a legal process into disrepute. These principles include…

  • An unbiased court and decision maker.
  • Just and Fair procedures and rules, known and applied fairly.
  • The accused’s right to know the case against them.
  • The right to be heard, to be allowed to present an unobstructed defense, and to have access to information and evidence that might support a defense.
  • The right to cross-examine prosecution witnesses, and to not be unfairly obstructed.
  • The right to a decision and rationale for that decision.

To protect an accused’s fundamental right to a fair trial in our adversarial system of justice, both prosecution and defense must have equal footing. The court should not be biased in its decisions or in its application of court procedures.

In the Detective Grus trial, the hostile bias has been so open that the coming verdict is already evident to many observers – even before the defense rises to present its case on January 8, 2024.

Ontario Superior Court Denies Defense Motion – Refuses to Interfere Until Tribunal Finishes

I have obtained from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice certain public documents filed with the court by both Detective Grus’s defense lawyers and by the Ottawa Police Service lawyers.

To the extent that I can without violating bans on publishing names of involved families and other Identity Information, I will be publishing redacted copies of all publicly available court documents on my website at the Grus Case List.

Public observers and journalists await the continuation of the hearing on January 8, 2024 – for what promises to be the most biased and out-of-control legal procedure that most of us have ever seen.

Defense Counsel Bath-Sheba van den Berg

Defense lawyers had asked a Court for a Judicial Review and other relief, but as is the norm the Court refuses to interfere with a Tribunal that is in-progress. In short, the current outrageously-biased hearings will have to finish before Grus’s lawyers are allowed to take steps towards overturning the coming verdict that is now completely evident.

Here is a paragraph from a court document filed by defense on November 27, 2023…

“The disciplinary proceedings against the Applicant concerning one count of discreditable conduct have been riddled with procedural unfairness towards the Applicant from the outset. The Applicant has been subjected to constant and continuing denial of disclosure by both the Prosecutor and the Tribunal as well as partiality of the Tribunal, which has become apparent in a ruling made on November 26, 2023 with respect to the Applicant’s request for expert witnesses to support her defence.

This context is important because it sets the stage for understanding why this Judicial Review is not premature and should be allowed based on the exceptional circumstances of a breach of natural justice, apprehension of bias, and want of jurisdiction. Further, Christopher Renwick ought to remain as a respondent in the Judicial Review for the reason that his submissions will assist the Court in being fully informed.”

From November 27, 2023 defense submission: APPLICANT RESPONSE TO ‘FACTUM OF THE RESPONDENT/MOVING PARTY, CHIEF OF POLICE, OTTAWA POLICE SERVICE’

Future articles will publish extensive details of the Tribunal’s and Ottawa Police Service’s incredibly open bias against Detective Grus. The Tribunal’s open bias will undoubtedly form the foundation of an appeal that must be filed should Hearing Officer Renwick convict Detective Grus.

This week I’ll be bringing daily coverage of the continuation of the hearing where Detective Helen Grus is not allowed to effectively defend herself.

For now, I’ll leave you with this observation from the first ten days of hearings…

Hearing Officer Chris Renwick’s approval of Prosecutor Vanessa Stewart’s outrageous conflict of interest and weaponization of objections to protect her sister-in-law – a prosecution witness – brought the entire legal process and the Ottawa Police Service into disrepute.

Prosecutor Stewart continually interrupted the defense lawyers’ cross-examinations of prosecution witnesses – even objecting to questions before the defense even started to speak the question. This weaponization of objections was and is a purposeful strategy to deny Detective Grus’s right to cross-examine the witnesses against her.

During the first ten days of public hearings Stewart’s outrageous behaviour, theatrics, and visible contempt for defense lawyers – and occasionally even rudeness to the Hearing Officer -was unhindered. The transcripts I made from my recordings are unbelievable to anyone with any court experience.

Public observers and journalists await the continuation of the hearing on January 8, 2024 – for what promises to be the most biased and out-of-control legal procedure that most of us have ever seen.