Alleged stalking victim was afraid, mother says
Court hears details of vehicles seen near daughter’s home at trial of three officers
The alleged victim in a police corruption case was afraid and depressed when her biological mother, Shannon Peterson, visited her at her Calgary home in September 2012, court heard Wednesday.
Peterson said when she stayed with Akele Taylor for about a week, her daughter kept the blinds closed at all times and talked of being followed every day.
“She couldn’t eat,” Peterson testified. “She was upset. She was so skinny. These people were harassing her day and night. She was really depressed. At times she wanted to commit suicide.”
Peterson appeared as one of several witnesses called by the Crown on Wednesday in the ongoing trial of three Calgary police officers.
Anthony Braile, Bryan Morton and Bradford McNish face charges of bribery and unlawfully using a police computer system.
Braile, who has since been fired from the Calgary Police Service over an unrelated incident, faces an additional charge of criminal harassment and McNish an extra allegation of breach of trust by a public officer, while Morton faces both additional accusations.
The charges stem from incidents between Aug. 11, 2012 and 2015. All three entered not-guilty pleas at the start of the proceedings on Feb. 5.
It is the Crown’s theory that former Calgary police officer Steve Walton hired the three accused to conduct surveillance on Taylor, the former girlfriend of wealthy Calgarian Ken Carter, in the midst of a child-custody dispute between the couple.
Peterson told court she observed vehicles near her daughter’s condo complex, including SUVs, marked police cars and what looked like undercover police vehicles.
“She was afraid for her life, and she knew she was being stalked and watched,” said Peterson.
She described a number of unusual incidents that took place during her Calgary visit, including a moment when she said her daughter’s vehicle was surrounded on Bow Trail by Steve Walton’s vehicle in front, Heather Walton’s vehicle behind and a marked police car on the right.
The Waltons and Carter are scheduled to go to trial in September.
Former Calgary police officer Brad Kuryk told court he did two days of surveillance work for Walton.
“I was told that the client and the target, the woman, were estranged and there was a custody battle ongoing, and that our objective was to surveil the target just to see what she did, where she went, who she met, kind of a lifestyle type of surveillance, we would call it,” he said.
Kuryk said he was informed that a GPS device had been installed on the surveillance subject’s vehicle, and that the subject was looking for surveillance. He described an incident of following Taylor to a storage locker.
“Prior to, I learned that our objective was the client had some property that was in possession of the target and that the target had placed some of the property, they believed, in the storage locker,” he said. “So if the target went anywhere near a storage locker, that would have been of interest to the client.”
Kuryk said he was paid $1,000 a day by Walton to conduct the surveillance work.
Insp. Joe Brar, another witness called by the Crown, told court that Calgary police officers are not allowed to conduct outside business that could be a conflict of interest with their job, including surveillance work or working for a private investigator.
The trial will continue Thursday.