Assault Conviction – Controversy

A decision by a Kingston judge to delay sentencing a Queen’s student so he could attend a summer internship has resulted in a call for the judge to be removed from the bench.

An online petition on Change.org calling for the removal of provincial court Judge Allan Letourneau has over 12 thousand signatures.

22 year old Chance Macdonald pleaded guilty in April to common assault against a 16 year old girl but wasn’t sentenced until last week.   Macdonald will serve his 88-day sentence on weekends.

He was originally charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement of the girl at a Gananoque hockey players rookie party in October of 2015.

The petition doesn’t dispute the sentence – but says delaying sentencing so Macdonald could attend his internship is sickening and demonstrates the administration of justice in Ontario is highly dependent on the class and wealth of the defendant.  It calls for Letourneau’s removal from the bench for bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.

 

https://www.change.org/p/the-association-of-ontario-judges-remove-letourneau-from-the-bench-for-bringing-administration-of-justice-into-disrepute

 

The victim has now spoken out in messages to the Toronto Star saying she didn’t realize the charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement were being dropped and she wasn’t allowed to read her victim impact statement in court.

 

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/09/05/i-thought-i-was-safe-victim-in-kingston-assault-case-says.html

 

Frosh Week – Streets Closed

Partiers took to the streets in the Queen’s student ghetto last night and Kingston Police wound up closing both University Avenue and Aberdeen Street.

Police had to escort an ambulance to an apartment on University Avenue and responded to numerous noise complaints.  Constable Fil Wisniak posted a message on his Twitter account saying it wasn’t as bad as previous nights.  One person was charged with two liquor act offences after trying to run from police patrolling the area on bicycles.

Vandalism

Three Kingston teenagers have been charged with some nasty vandalism on Labour Day.

The 15, 16 and 17 year old were caught running from a school portable on Seventh Avenue around 4am on Monday.  The windows of the portable were smashed, a fire extinguisher had been discharged and wires had been ripped out of a utility closet,

They’ve also been charged with damaging the tires of up to five vehicles in the area.

School Bus Driver – Napanee

The start of the school year involved a bit of adventure for five students in Napanee.

Their school bus wound up in a ditch on Bridge Street near Oliver Road around 8am yesterday.

Nobody was injured.

The four students from Prince Charles Public School and one from Napanee District Secondary School were picked up by another bus and delivered to school.

The 68 year old male bus driver has been charged with making an unsafe move.

New Deputy Chief

Kingston Fire and Rescue has hired the former manager and fire chief of Greater Napanee Emergency Services as its newest deputy chief.

Kevin Donaldson will start his new duties in Kingston on October 2nd.

Donaldson is currently enrolled in Humber College’s Fire Service Executive Management Certificate program.

He started his fire service career as a volunteer with the Stone Mills Township Fire Department in 1995 and joined the Napanee fire department in 2014.

Filed under: Aberdeen Street, Allan LeTourneau, Assault Conviction, Frosh Week, Napanee, New Deputy Chief, School Bus Driver, Streets Closed, University Avenue, Vandalism