Court releases details of Backer’s charter challenge
Offer no clue as to ex-investment adviser’s whereabouts during 18-month absence
Court documents released Monday shed no light on where Harold Backer went after he rode his bike off the Coho ferry in November 2015 and disappeared for 18 months.
Victoria provincial court Judge Adrian Brooks gave the Times Colonist and other media access to a defence document alleging police breached Backer’s charter rights a number of times during the investigation that led to his arrest in April 2017.
The 12-page document sets out the search warrants and production orders for Backer’s financial data that will be challenged in hearings before Backer’s trial begins.
On Nov. 3, 2015, the former Olympic rower and mutual fund salesman told his wife he was going cycling on the Galloping Goose trail. When he didn’t return home, people believed he had gotten lost or been injured.
But Backer’s disappearance took on a different tone when investment clients received a letter from him, expressing remorse for decisions he made that cost them money and taking responsibility for their financial losses.
In the letter, which some initially thought sounded like a suicide note, Backer said he ran a pyramid scheme and there was no way he could pay back the losses his clients experienced. The letter was sent to 15 clients and arrived at their homes within a day or two of his disappearance.
Backer resurfaced in April 2017. He was charged and has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud over $5,000.
In September 2017, Backer’s lawyer, Joven Narwal, filed notice of application alleging Backer’s rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been breached by Victoria police. The Times Colonist and other media outlets applied for access to the document.
On Monday, when Brooks released the document to the media, he noted that Narwal had not been required to file the charter notice.
The document shows that on the day Backer disappeared, a Victoria police officer searched his cellphone.
Two days later, on Nov. 5, 2015, Victoria police seized his cellphone, iPad and computer tower from suite 500 at the Regent Hotel. On Nov. 6, police extracted data from the cellphone and iPad, then searched the data.
On Nov. 9, police seized copies of credit card statements from the suite at the Regent Hotel and a computer tower from his office at 103-732 Cormorant St.
Backer is arguing that these searches and seizures, which were conducted without a warrant, violated his right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
Backer is also arguing that information to obtain the search warrants, executed on Nov. 27, 2015, referred to illegally obtained evidence, contained misrepresentations and omissions and made “bald assertions.”
Backer is also alleging that he was not promptly informed of the reasons for his arrest and “not promptly informed of the reasons for his re-arrest for 13 counts of fraud over $5,000.”
The challenges are expected to be heard in June.
Brooks found the release of the document would not risk Backer’s right to a fair trial.