Mastermind Toys store opens

50th location for national toy store chain open at Lansdowne/ The Parkway

Peterborough’s Mastermind Toys store is now open to the public.

Defence and Crown counsel are awaiting Justice Robert Scott’s ruling on whether or not the criminal charges against a Coe Hill physician stripped of his medical licence should be tossed over claims of unreasonable delays to reach trial.

Both legal teams presented their arguments, with the defence pressing for the charges to be stayed while Crown attorney contends that the prosecution was at fault for most of the delays.

“I’m going to try and get you a decision, if I can, this week,” Justice Scott said. “It’s an important matter. I don’t want to be a part of any delays myself. I will get back to you.”

Arguments for the application

The 4,715-square-foot toy store has opened in the Byers Creek Plaza at 995 Lansdowne St. W. on the southwest corner of Lansdowne St. W. and The Parkway.

According to a release from the company, it’s the 50th store for the national chain, which was started by brothers Andy and Jonathan Levy in 1984 in a 300 square foot were heard Tuesday, ahead of a three week trial slated for September for Rob Kamermans, whose licence to practise in this province was revoked last July, and his wife, Mary, a nurse who was also charged in relation to the distribution of medical marijuana prescriptions from the operation in Coe Hill, about 90 kilometres northeast of Peterborough.

The case has encountered several delays over the five years it will take to get to trial, including Crown appeals and the accused changing counsel.

Fo l l o w i n g t h e h e a r i n g , Kamermans’ lawyer Dan Stein said it’s his calculation that there was a delay of 61 months.

“It’s an application to have the charges stayed because of delay,” Stein told Postmedia Network. “We acknowledge that a little location in North Toronto.

The chain is now in five provinces and has plans to open more new stores.

Grand opening celebrations are planned for May 4 to 7, with in-store promotions, loot bags, treats, plus a visit from a Hatchimal, according to the release.

After the toy store was first proposed over a year-and-a-half of the fivean-a-half years was caused by the need to retain counsel. We don’t argue that part of the delay was our fault, but we do argue that there was about 41 months that should be explained by the Crown.”

It’s Stein’s opinion that his client’s rights were violated and the charges should be stayed.

“We’re waiting on the reasons and we will get them hopefully in a few weeks,” Stein said.

Kamermans was charged in Aug. 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. in 2015, it hit a bump when local lawyer Ann Farquharson appealed city council’s rezoning for the store to the Ontario Municipal Board, arguing that the city shouldn’t be rezoning for a toy store and that such stores should be located in downtown Peterborough.

The OMB rejected the appeal last

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. June and then construction began as part of a redevelopment of the existing plaza at that corner.

NOTES: Mastermind Toys is open in Peterborough on weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m .... The phone number is 705748-6230.

“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 Jan. 2012 when officers executed search warrants at the Kamermans’ medical practise 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.