Court of Appeal Stays Conviction due to ‘Torture’ by Toronto Police | Toronto Star
A man “tortured” by a Toronto police officer to obtain a confession for a 2009 robbery has had his convictions stayed in a scathing judgment by Ontario’s top court.
Neil Singh and his alleged accomplice were deliberately intimidated, threatened, beaten and denied their right to counsel by police, wrote Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Robert Blair on behalf of the three-judge panel, noting “Canadian society cannot tolerate — and the courts cannot permit — police officers to beat suspects in order to obtain confessions. Yet, sadly, that is precisely what happened in this case. One of the two police officers who participated in the beatings apparently thought, as he said, that ‘it’s part of (his) job’ to do so.”
“Indeed,” he continued in a footnote, “the conduct in this case might well be characterized as ‘torture’ under the Criminal Code.
Neil Singh’s original trial lawyer, Fariborz Davoudi, was delighted by the“remarkable” ruling.
“Obviously, this is Canada. This is not North Korea, and the police should not be resorting to these kinds of tactics. For the most part they don’t, but occasionally when it does happen, the message has to be sent,” he said, adding that the “right result was achieved” to send a message to police “bad apples.”
Singh was arrested along with Randy Maharaj several months after $350,000 worth of copper piping was stolen from a Crane Supply warehouse in Toronto. Both were charged with robbery and unlawful confinement.