Officer’s assault trial delayed by absence of boy

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This article was published 25/09/2018 (2732 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The trial for a Winnipeg police officer accused of using excessive force on a 12-year-old boy was delayed Tuesday because the boy didn’t show up in court.

Christian Paul Guyot, 44, a 17-year member of the Winnipeg Police Service, is charged with one count of assault stemming from an arrest of the boy in August, 2017. His two-day trial was scheduled to begin in Winnipeg provincial court Tuesday, but neither the boy nor his mother could be found.

The boy, who is now 13 years old, is the Crown’s key witness in the case, Brandon Crown attorney Kaley Tschetter told Judge Ryan Rolston Tuesday. Rolston issued a warrant for the boy’s arrest and didn’t grant the Crown’s request to adjourn the trial to a later date.

The trial is expected to go ahead Wednesday with the one remaining Crown witness: a female relative of the victim. Tschetter said the woman was in court Tuesday but was reluctant to testify because her four-month-old baby was in hospital. She asked the court to show “some compassion” by not calling the woman to testify right away.

“Our case, I would suggest, is stronger with (the 13-year-old boy) as he is ultimately the victim, but we are still in the position to be proceeding either way,” Tschetter said in court.

The boy’s mother was served with a subpoena on his behalf in July, notifying her prosecutors intended to have him testify against the officer. Tschetter told the judge she arranged to meet with the boy and his mother last week, but they didn’t show up to that meeting. She asked for the judge’s permission to adjourn the trial, saying the boy is due to appear in court on a breach charge later this week.

Defence lawyers Hymie Weinstein and Lisa Labossiere objected to the delay, saying they were ready to proceed Tuesday.

Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) recommended Guyot be criminally charged after the unit looked into an excessive force complaint involving the 12-year-old boy. The IIU launched an investigation into the alleged assault last September and the charge was laid at the end of November. In a news release at the time, the IIU stated the boy wasn’t hurt, but that IIU civilian director Zane Tessler “has determined there are reasonable and probable grounds to believe a criminal offence occurred.”

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay