Romance takes an ugly turn

SELKIRK -- The rocky romance between a Manitoba Crown attorney and an RCMP officer culminated in two ugly confrontations -- one inside a courtroom, the other inside a police station -- that left several victims of crime unwittingly caught in the crossfire.

New details emerged Tuesday of the relationship between Cpl. Jeff Moyse and prosecutor Debbie Buors, specifically its impact on the administration of justice. Moyse is on trial this week for criminal harassment of Buors but has denied wrongdoing.

Buors is claiming a continued pattern of threatening, intimidating behaviour following their break-up in December 2008. The pair had started dating in April of the same year.

Sue Stirling, a victim services worker with the provincial Justice Department, told court how a "serious escalation" of their issues triggered a tense scene inside the Powerview RCMP detachment on March 12, 2009.

Buors, who handled the court circuit for the area, went to the station to interview two crime victims for upcoming trials as part of a pre-arranged meeting. But Moyse refused to let her go inside the building, telling a junior officer she was barred from the premises.

Stirling tried to play peacemaker while the victims waited in a lobby area.

"He was very forceful. His eyes were bulging, forehead sweating, fists clenched," Stirling said of Moyse. Buors was equally defiant about her position, telling Stirling "He can't stop me; I've got work to do, there are clients waiting."

Both sides made threats to call their superiors, but cooler heads eventually prevailed and Buors was allowed access to one interview room. Stirling told court Tuesday the embarrassing incident was unacceptable.

"Whatever was going on between them had taken on a whole new dimension. We had gone from a private arena to a public arena," said Stirling.

Stirling described another disturbing confrontation that occurred inside a Powerview courtroom in January 2009. Buors was preparing for a trial that day when Moyse appeared, asking her "Why are you angry with me?" Buors told him "I can't deal with this right now," but then went to another room with him. She returned a short time later, clearly upset, telling Stirling she needed to adjourn the scheduled hearing.

"She said 'I just need to get out of here,' " said Stirling. "At court that day, it seemed there was a major shift in how they interacted with each other. The professionalism seemed to be missing."

Buors was on the witness stand Tuesday morning, saying she reached her "breaking point" when she sent a sharply worded email to Moyse on March 11 -- the day before the police station incident. In it, Buors wrote she was putting Moyse "on notice" she would seek a restraining order and/or criminal charges if he had any further contact with her.

"I will not tolerate your abuse any further," she wrote in her final sentence.

Moyse's lawyer, Gene Zazelenchuk, accused Buors of trying to cause trouble by going to his client's workplace the very next day, knowing he was on duty.

"The only thing you were doing was baiting the bear," said Zazelenchuk, questioning why Moyse would allow Buors to get anywhere near him based on the threatening email.

"That's not true. We were two professionals. We should have been able to act like ones," said Buors. She went to police with the harassment complaint days later.

"It made me realized the situation was out of control. It had to be addressed," she said.

Zazelenchuk grilled Buors on her role in the relationship, including the fact she still owes Moyse more than $4,000 worth of cash and property for which the officer is now suing her in civil court. Buors also admitted she has recently been the subject of two provincial wage garnishment notices after failing to pay numerous speeding tickets in her name.

Buors blamed her troubles on the sudden deaths of her parents and troubles at home with her teenaged son.

"After everything I had been through... I couldn't get out of bed some days," she said. Stirling said she knew Buors was having a tough time but didn't believe it was impacting her work.

"She was distracted to the point the only thing she could really focus on were her files," she said.

Buors insisted she did nothing wrong, saying Moyse was the instigator and frequently blamed her friends and co-workers for their relationship going south. Her sister, Catherine, testified Tuesday how Moyse called her in late December 2008, claiming Buors was a "crazy lady" who might harm herself. Buors then phoned an hour later, screaming Moyse had broken into her house and was holding her arms behind her back.

"She was screaming to 'get this psycho out of my house,' " she said. Police were never called and no charges filed for that incident.

Special prosecutor Ryan Rolston is expected to conclude the case against Moyse today by calling several of Buors' colleagues in the Crown's office to testify.

www.mikeoncrime.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 3, 2010 A3