Health fears over key witness

Mike Duffy’s lawyer says the health of a key witness in his client’s fraud trial is so grave, the man must take the stand quickly.

Gerald Donohue is a former CTV colleague and longtime friend of Duffy who received about $65,000 worth of contracts from the now-suspended senator over the course of several years. Duffy then had Donohue pay for various expenses on his behalf.

The Crown alleges Duffy used Donohue to funnel money from his office budget to pay for things the Senate wouldn’t normally cover, such as a personal trainer and a makeup artist. It was hoping to call Donohue to the witness stand early in the trial, but health problems have delayed his appearance.

On Wednesday, Duffy’s lawyer, Donald Bayne, suggested those health problems could be worse than many originally thought and that Donohue should be called to testify as soon as possible.

“Mr. Donohue’s health is a grave concern and every reasonable effort should be made to get him in next week because he may not be with us,” Bayne told Justice Charles Vaillancourt. “He was in hospital recently, and I don’t want to invade his privacy about the details of his health concerns, but they are grave.”

The comments came as Vaillancourt was ordering the trial’s proceedings suspended until Monday, at which point Bayne and the Crown will argue over whether a Senate report can be tabled as evidence. The report, which says there were gaps in Senate spending rules, could be key to Duffy’s defence.

Bayne, who unsuccessfully opposed the three-day break and asked that more witnesses be called Thursday and Friday, said that “in Donohue’s absence, the Crown would be quite content to proceed with these charges just on the paper evidence.

“But the full story needs to be out about Mr. Donohue and his involvement,” he added.

Vaillancourt said he had no doubt that the Crown prosecutors wanted to have Donohue testify as soon as possible, “and next week seems to be hopefully in the agenda.”