Judge troubled by officer’s acts

Another constable’s testimony secures drug trafficking conviction

Ottawa police Const. Craig Fairbairn has only been on the job for five years, but in that time has earned a reputation as a rising star whose instincts make him a solid backup on the street, and on Wednesday, a judge ruled he was just as trusted a backup in the witness box.

In fact, Justice Timothy Ray said that if it wasn’t for Fairbairn’s testimony at a drug trial, there would have been “serious doubt” about the case.

The judge noted that the arresting officer, Const. Nicolas Benard, has had trouble telling the truth.

“This case is troubling because I must weigh the evidence of a police officer who is not only a proven liar, but lied at the preliminary inquiry, and was unresponsive in evidence before me. I remind myself that Const. Benard is a professionally trained witness who, according to him, has given evidence on countless occasions, but whose evidence had all the hallmarks of either a liar, or someone who did not understand their obligations in the witness box,” the judge said.

“He obfuscated, avoided the question, answered the question he wished had been asked, and generally was unresponsive. … To put it bluntly, how would I know when he (Benard) is being candid and truthful, and when he is not? … Here we have the unfortunate situation of a police witness who has created suspicion about the reliability of his own evidence through his own obfuscation and untruths,” the judge said.

In the end, the judge found the accused, Jean Rompre, guilty of drug trafficking on the strength of Fairbairn’s evidence.

“I found Const. Fairbairn to be straightforward and believable,” the judge said when he ruled Benard’s traffic stop was reasonable.

Police said the drug trafficker ran a red light in the By Ward Market on the night of May 28, 2012.

The man’s defence lawyer said at trial that his client never ran a red light. Either way, after stopping the accused, the court heard that Benard found more than three kilograms of marijuana in the trunk and $71,000 in cash in a Size 9 shoebox.

Though the judge said Fairbairn corroborated most, if not all, of Benard’s version of events, it should be noted the backup officer was called after the drug trafficker had been pulled over.

Const. Benard testified he did everything by the book after the accused ran the red light. He called for backup, and when he found the loot — the most cash he’d ever seized — he took the unusual step of calling in a sergeant to help document and bag the money.

The Ottawa officer testified that he wanted to make sure there would be no doubts about the case. Benard also made sure the accused was present when the cash was counted so there wouldn’t be a question if money went missing.

Benard is still being haunted, notably in court under cross-examination, for the mistake of his career back in 2009.

In fact, Benard testified that he’s been grilled about his history of lying as many as 30 times in court since it happened.

The drug trafficker who was found guilty Wednesday is on bail awaiting sentencing. He is a new father and has a four-week-old baby girl who was in court for the judge’s guilty verdict.