Pot doc wants charges tossed
Coe Hill physician cites unreasonable delays to trial in medical marijuana fraud case
BELLEVILLE - Defence for a physician in Coe Hill, 90 kilometres northeast of Peterborough, who was stripped of his medical licence is asking the criminal charges against the doctor be tossed over what they claim is unreasonable delays to reach trial.
Court officials confirmed Friday arguments for the application will be heard April 18, ahead of a three week trial slated for September for Rob Kamermans and his wife, Mary, a nurse who was also charged in relation to the distribution of medical marijuana prescriptions.
The case encountered several delays over the five years it will take to get to trial, including appeals and the accused changing counsel.
Kamermans was charged in August 2012, but his committal to stand trial for a raft of charges including fraud, money laundering and forging medical marijuana prescriptions across several provinces wasn’t concluded until July 2016.
The Supreme Court has set 30 months as the top of the range for delays, unless the matter is complex.
The application, filed at the Quinte Consolidated Courthouse, asserts “this is not a particularly complex case.”
According to the defence, “the Crown has never indicated that the case was particularly complex or that it needed significant time to prepare for trial.”
It’s now up to the judge to decide who is responsible for aspects of the delay.
The application obtained by Postmedia Network indicates the delay breaches the ceiling established. It states the total delay in this case from the date of the information until the last day of the anticipated three-week trial will be 1,871 days or 61 months.
According to the filing, the defence claims it’s only responsible for 628 days or 20 months of delays.
“The balance of almost 41 months clearly exceeds the presumptive ceiling for unreasonable delay,” the application reads. “There were no exceptional circumstances that would justify such long delay.”
The document states the case got rolling from January 2012 when officers executed search warrants at the Kamermans’ medical practice and home, seizing thousands of medical files.
It talks about the Kamermans suffering serious emotional, mental and physical prejudice caused by the delay.
“In all the circumstances, the significant and intolerable delay of the applicants’ case violated their rights,” it states.
Kamermans’ certificate to practise medicine was revoked in July by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
They also ordered Kamermans to pay costs to the college in the amount of $28,098 within six months of the date that the order was finalized.
Kamermans punishment.
“On Aug. 24, 2016, Dr. Kamermans appealed the Discipline Committee’s decision to the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice,” the disciplinary committee stated.
“The hearing that will consider allegations related to Dr. Kamermans’ medical marijuana practice was adjourned pending the outcome of the criminal proceeding,” Kathryn Clarke, a senior communications co-ordinator for the college said. “In the meantime, his licence to practise medicine has been revoked.”
Appeal hearings, disputing some of the counts, snarled the criminal case despite Kamermans being committed to stand trial following a preliminary hearing which concluded in 2014. refuted the
“Judge Stephen Hunter didn’t commit (to stand trial) on the forgeries and once I won that they (defence counsel) appealed it,” prosecutor Jodi Whyte told Postmedia Network last summer. “It went to the Court of Appeal. They sent it back. Justice Hunter reconsidered and committed him on those charges.”
Kamermans’ defence made fruitless attempts to kibosh Whyte’s bid to indict Kamermans on forgery linked to documents signed on behalf of the patients.
The family practitioner and his wife have been committed to stand trial for a host of charges including substance trafficking, fraud, proceeds of crime and money laundering linked to medical marijuana.
“He’s facing Whyte said.
The charges also stretch across several provinces including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec.
Kamermans is also accused of defrauding OHIP. eight counts,”