Man accused of harassing Montgomery wins bail breach appeal

A man awaiting a new trial on charges of criminally harassing outgoing Côte-des-neiges—notre-dame-deGrâce borough mayor Sue Montgomery has won an appeal overturning a conviction for violating one of his bail conditions.

In March 2019, Robert Michael Edgar was convicted on one count of failing to comply with an undertaking after he attended a March 2018 city council meeting at Montreal city hall and asked a question in which he complained about Montgomery’s past behaviour while Montgomery was in an adjoining room and heard the intervention.

The trial judge found that Edgar had “passed” a message to Montgomery by asking his question in city council chambers, which the judge concluded was a breach of Edgar’s bail condition ordering him not to communicate in any way with Montgomery.

He was sentenced to a three-year probation order that included several conditions.

However, a ruling issued on Aug. 30 by Quebec Superior Court Judge Myriam Lachance says the trial judge “made errors of fact and law,” in part by interpreting “what constitutes a ‘communication’ too broadly.”

Lachance’s decision also calls the sentence imposed on Edgar “demonstrably unfit.”

Among other things, there was “no direct evidence regarding what message the appellant wanted to convey or what his purpose was,” the ruling says.

As well, the wording of the bail condition that had been imposed on Edgar did not contain the words “directly or indirectly” and did not mention “contact,” Lachance writes.

The judge says Edgar knew that city council was Montgomery’s workplace and recognizes that he interfered in her life for the past 20 years.

However, Lachance’s ruling says the combined effect of those circumstantial considerations “does not further allow the impugned inference to be drawn.”

In June 2019, Quebec Court Judge Flavia K. Longo found Edgar not guilty of three counts of criminal harassment.

Longo said that while Edgar harassed Montgomery by repeatedly confronting and criticizing her, his actions were not criminal because they did not make her fear for her safety.

Edgar’s acquittal was overturned by Quebec Superior Court Judge Pierre Labrie in March of this year.