Independent observer was confused about role
Retired judge David Riche gives testimony
“Had I known what was involved in this thing, I wouldn’t have touched it with a 10-foot pole.” Retired judge David Riche
More than 15 years after retiring from the bench, former Supreme Court justice David Riche was picked up at his home and driven to Mitchell’s Brook, to the house where Donald Dunphy had been shot.
Riche offered testimony Wednesday at the inquiry into Dunphy’s death, and recalled the “rickety old car” of the police officer who took him to the scene on his first of three visits to Dunphy’s home.
Riche was hired as an independent observer to ensure the RCMP investigation into the shooting was conducted thoroughly, without favour or bias. The specific public concern was the perception of preferential treatment for the officer who had shot Dunphy, RNC Const. Joe Smyth, and the concern of police bias.
But what is an independent observer? What can and should they do?
“I’ve never heard the term before,” Riche said, adding he’s still unsure of the meaning, and what his powers and duties were, despite being presented with a signed copy of his terms of reference on the stand. Riche said he doesn’t remember reading it.
“Had I known what was involved in this thing, I wouldn’t have touched it with a 10-foot pole,” he said of the case.
He wanted to outline his entire involvement in the case and detail his findings, but was held back by Commissioner Leo Barry, who asked him to respect the process and answer questions as they are asked, as other witnesses have.
Riche did comment openly on his interactions with police investigators, who he said urged him not to try to investigate the case on his own.
“I was reprimanded for investigating,” he said, indicating that happened more than once.
“What was I supposed to do, just hang on the wall like a picture?”
The questioning moved to Riche’s written report, with the former justice contradicting evidence from the chief medical examiner and suggesting Dunphy’s body had been moved after the shooting, but inquiry counsel and the commissioner clarified he had no direct evidence to support those statements.
Lawyer Jerome Kennedy, representing Smyth, later questioned Riche on comments made to reporters from multiple news outlets in 2016, given the terms of reference the judge had signed and a clause on confidentiality.
Riche said his understanding at the time, his assumption, was his report had been released and he was therefore free to talk about some of the details.
Challenged on the point, Riche was asked if he contacted the RCMP to see if his report was indeed released before he spoke about it, or agreed to do media interviews. The judge did not respond with a direct yes or no.
“They probably didn’t want to hear from me,” he said of the RCMP.