Lawyer alleges RNC misconduct
Wild World pet shop owners arrested, but denied access to legal counsel: attorney
One of the country’s most prominent human-rights lawyers flew from Ontario to Newfoundland and Labrador Sunday, eager to address what he describes as misconduct involving the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in Corner Brook.
Doug Elliott is representing Alan Garrard, the owner of the yet-to-open Wild World pet shop on Humber Road. Police searched the store under warrant on Thursday, June 16, arresting Garrard and his partner, Taj Paris.
No charges were laid against Paris, while Garrard stands accused of improper storage of a firearm and ammunition, with a September court date. This came following six and seven hours of police questioning respectively, Elliott said.
Neither of the two men has a criminal record, he added.
Elliott first became involved while the pair was still in police custody on Thursday night. He received a call from Garrard’s mother in Ontario. She was distraught, he said, based on an interrupted phone call with her son.
“They clearly thought it was a big joke,” he said of the RNC, describing his interactions with police by phone thereafter.
He started by being unable to reach individual lawyers in the province and then could not get through to legal aid’s 1-800 number from outside the province. See LAWYER, page A3
Finally calling the RNC direct, to determine Garrard’s situation and halt any ongoing interrogation, he said he was told by the RNC to wait for return calls, which never came.
He was forwarded to a voicemail, he said, and later laughed at by an RNC employee after expressing his sense of urgency, given it was over an hour after he first spoke with police and asked to be connected with Garrard.
Elliott said he has never seen the like in more than 30 years of practice and generally “received a response more consistent with a frat house than a police detachment.”
Above all, the attorney said he was ultimately denied access, being told by a senior officer that Garrard had obtained a lawyer in-province when he had not — as Garrard told Elliott the following day (The Telegram was not able to confirm the officer’s name, provided by Elliott, prior to press time).
“I don’t know how they run things at the RNC, but I can tell you that in Ontario a police officer who conducted himself in that way would be fired,” Elliott said.
On Sunday, Garrard confirmed for The Telegram that Elliott is his attorney. He also, via online text message, said the lawyer “speaks the truth” claiming he was denied access on that day.
“It’s at least incompetence, but the fact this is a bi-racial, gay couple in Corner Brook and they’re mainlanders, I find it impossible to believe that had nothing to do with it,” Elliott said of the search of the store by police and the response thereafter.
None of the allegations have been directly addressed by police.
None of the allegations have been proven.
Responding to questions from The Telegram, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary provided a statement saying the police cannot discuss the details. The investigation leading to the search and initial arrests is ongoing and the case is also now before the courts.
“With respect to any allegation of misconduct related to both officer and civilian employees, I wish to advise that, if any member of the public brings question to the integrity of police investigation, persons can contact the RNC professional standards section of the Public Complaints Commission,” stated RNC Sgt. Kent Kelly.
Elliott said he was due to arrive in St. John’s Sunday night and he will register with the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador as soon as its office opens on Monday morning.
“After I’ve registered with the Newfoundland bar, I will be calling on the minister of Justice and (RNC) chief (Bill) Janes and demanding an explanation,” he said, saying the gun-related charge should also be dropped.
Questions and allegations were circling the Wild World shop before the arrests last week, but almost entirely focused on animal care.
A Facebook page titled “Boycott Wild World pet store” carried one claim after another, focused on the store owners and the animals they were promoting online, or bringing into the shop, as they prepared their enclosures and store space.
By the posts, there was plenty of rumour and little clear fact, with the same being pushed to the city council, the SPCA and RNC.
“If this is true (which I have no proof of) …,” began one commenter on the message board, before adding a screen grab of a random claim one man had killed a peacock.
Wild World gained a new level of attention with the theft of a nine-foot boa constrictor named Venus in late May, recovered by Garrard from a duffel bag stored in the basement of a home of someone who had communicated via social media to facilitate the snake’s return.
Elliott said, at this point, the men have filed several reports of their own with police, and it is not expected their shop will open, as their house will now go up for sale and they will leave town.