Moncton Forum

2006/12/06

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Closer ties help resolve conflict between residents, students
Group formed to address problems between UdeM students, Sunny Brae homeowners

December 6, 2006

The Sunny Brae residents committee was founded after a number of problems with loud parties and wild behaviour erupted in the area around l'Université de Moncton in recent years.

The problems reached an all-time low in May when police were called to deal with fighting, racing, vandalism, public intoxication and loud parties on the last day of classes.

Now the group formed to combat such behaviour has sent representatives to Moncton city council this week to talk about how closer ties between university students and long-term residents have started to turn things around.

Brian Gallant, president of FEECUM, the university's student government, and Marie Noel Ryan, a Sunny Brae resident, told council how many issues are now being resolved before they become serious problems. The group of community members, student leaders and representatives of the City of Moncton and Codiac RCMP has in fact had one sure, if paradoxical, sign it's making headway with its activities.

"We have fewer participants now because we have fewer problems now," Noel Ryan said.

Among the committee's concrete actions was the distribution of hundreds of pamphlets in the neighbourhood explaining the responsibilities and recourses for residents, students and landlords in the area.

Produced with the help of the city and Acadie Press, the pamphlet is filled with practical advice and information, everything from suggesting residents get to know new neighbours before there are conflicts arising to detailing the laws on excessive noise, dangerous or unsightly premises, and the Liquor Control Act.

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Fredericton

Drug addiction continues to beget robberies - top cop
December 6, 2006

It's still the same old story.

Drugs beget crime and domestic violence still fuels the majority of the city's sexual assaults, says Fredericton Police Force Chief Barry MacKnight.

The third-quarter statistical report from the chief didn't contain any startling changes in crime trends in the capital city.

So far this year, the city has had 33 robbery cases. That matches statistics for the same time period in 2004 and 2005.

But flashback to 2001 to 2003 and the city had a peak of 22 robberies for the first nine months in each of those years.

"The trend line is increasing," MacKnight said Tuesday after presenting the figures to the city's public-safety committee.

The engine behind robbery continues to be fuelled by drugs, he said.

There have been eight cases of sexual assault in Fredericton so far this year. That's up 27 per cent from the same time period in 2005.

A study into the spike in sexual-assault figures earlier this year showed the cases are primarily linked to relationship problems and aren't random assaults on victims in public places.

On the drug scene, Fredericton appears to have been bypassed by the bulk of the crystal meth woes that appear to have crested in Central Canada.

"We don't know why there's not more here," MacKnight said.

Some crystal meth may be sold here, but often drug dealers pawn it off as ecstasy, he said.

There's no such thing as quality control in the illicit-drug world and drug dealers have few qualms about peddling drugs by different names, MacKnight said.

"You're buying a product ... from a criminal," MacKnight said.

Police filed 94 drug charges so far this year, up from the typical average of 30 per year.

There were some bright spots in the police statistics. Common assaults, for example, declined slightly.

Thefts of motor vehicles dropped 53 per cent and frauds dipped 14 per cent. Property crimes declined and residential break and enters receded.

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Drug trade continues to fuel crime
December 6, 2006

FREDERICTON - It's still the same old story. Drugs beget crime and domestic violence still fuels the majority of the city's sexual assaults, says Fredericton Police Force Chief Barry MacKnight.

The third-quarter statistical report from the chief didn't generate any startling changes in crime trends in the capital city. So far this year, the city has had 33 robbery cases. That matches statistics for the same time period in 2004 and 2005. But flashback to 2001 to 2003 and the city had a peak of 22 robberies for the first nine months in each of those years.

"The trend line is increasing," MacKnight said Tuesday after presenting the figures to the city's public safety committee.

There have been eight cases of sexual assault in Fredericton so far this year. That's up 27 per cent from the same time period in 2005.

"We're continuing to address those as we can, but none of them are simple," MacKnight said of the robbery and sexual assault figures. A study into the spike in sexual-assault figures earlier this year showed the cases are primarily linked to relationship problems.

On the drug scene, Fredericton appears to have been bypassed by the bulk of the crystal meth drug woes that have crested in central Canada. Some crystal meth may abe sold here, but often drug dealers pawn it off as ecstasy, he said. There's no such thing as quality control in the illicit drug world and drug dealers have few qualms about peddling street drugs by different names, MacKnight said.

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Sexual assault statistics spark call for action
Province has highest per capita rate in country, report says

As Nova Scotia marks a national day on violence against women today, women’s group say helping victims of sexual assault must become a top priority.

"Sexual assault in Nova Scotia is a serious problem; only 8 per cent of sexual assaults are ever reported to police," said Brigitte Neumann of the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

Const. Jeff Carr, Halifax Regional Police spokesman, said there were 264 sexual assaults reported in Halifax in 2001. This number rose to 311 in 2005.

Nova Scotia’s sexual assault rate was 40 reported incidents per 1,000 people in 2005, which is the highest per-capita rate in the country.

In comparison, the lowest per-capita rate was found in Quebec, where 11 sexual assaults were reported for every 1,000 people, according to a new report, Sexual Assault in Nova Scotia: A Statistical Profile, prepared by the Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

Jackie Stevens, community educator at the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, said the victimization of young girls is an ongoing problem in Nova Scotia.

"We hear a lot of situations where young girls are being targeted by older males, sometimes in relation to (the) Internet and sometimes not."

She said the centre most often encounters women who have been sexually assaulted by someone they know.

Women continue to be victims of drug-induced sexual assault, said Ms. Stevens.

"We’ve heard situations of people being at house parties, with people that they know and trust, and being drugged, right through to someone going to a bar."

Avalon’s nurse examiners found that date-rape drugs were suspected in 30 of the 98 cases they responded to between April 2005 and March 2006.

Other groups that are vulnerable to sexual assault include women using drugs or being ‘pimped out’ for drugs as well as women with mental illness, Ms. Stevens said.

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2006/12/07

Armed robbery suspect charged

Second suspect sought in armed robbery at scrap yard

December 7, 2006

 

Codiac RCMP need the public's help to find this robbery suspect.

A Moncton man was charged with armed robbery in Moncton provincial court yesterday in connection with a Tuesday incident at a metal scrap yard.

David Francis O'Connell, 28, was arrested yesterday morning and brought to court in the afternoon. He was charged and remanded until Dec. 21 for election and plea.

Codiac RCMP Cpl. Mike Gaudet says more charges are pending, including firearms charges.

On Tuesday, a black SUV pulled into D.R. Scrap Metals at 180 Edinburgh Dr. One man jumped out and entered the business.

He pointed a firearm at the employee and demanded money, but the employee grabbed the gun and fought with the robber. The firearm was discharged into the ceiling during the tussle and the robber received multiple blows that bloodied his face.A second robber joined the fight, but when another employee showed up, they fled with some cash.

Codiac RCMP has several officers working on the case and one suspect was identified yesterday morning. Police went to a residence at Lutz and St. George Streets around 10 a.m. and found him inside.

It's not clear if the man arrested was the first or second robber to enter the business on Tuesday.

They're still looking for a second suspect who is described as six-feet tall and 200 pounds with short dark hair. He's in his early 20s. Police have released a composite sketch of the second suspect.

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2006/12/23

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Nova Scotia

Man faces assault charge in Parks case
Mom believes an injustice has been done
 

NEW MINAS — RCMP have charged a Kings County man with assaulting Christopher Scott Parks, who was found dead near a bog after he was reported missing last month.

The body of Mr. Parks, 19, was discovered Nov. 15. He had last been seen 12 days earlier at a house party on Lawrence Road, near the wooded area where his body was found.

He was assaulted after arriving at the party, although an autopsy showed he died of exposure.

Police announced Friday they have charged Wade Russell Morarity, 20, of Morden with assault in the attack on Mr. Parks.

RCMP met with the Parks family Thursday to let them know about the development, said Const. Al Philpott.

He said there are no other arrests pending, acknowledging the family still has concerns about the case.

Mr. Parks’s mother Angela said the family feels the charge should have been a more serious one, like aggravated assault or assault causing bodily harm.

Generally speaking, assault causing bodily harm involves incidents resulting in significant injury, while aggravated assault involves use of a weapon.

"We’re very devastated," Ms. Parks said Friday. "There are still a lot of things that are unanswered to us."

She doesn’t know and hasn’t heard of Mr. Morarity.

"I really don’t know what to say right now," she said. "We strongly believe an injustice has been done. It isn’t over."

Mr. Parks’s body was found after a massive search involving police, ground teams, helicopters, divers and friends and family members.

Glenn Banks, a retired police officer the family asked to look into the case, told The Chronicle Herald earlier this month he advised the family to push for a magisterial inquiry into their son’s death.

Although he said he wasn’t privy to police information, he was concerned they hadn’t followed up leads in this case. He said he learned Mr. Parks had been beaten twice by three or four people at the party, and partygoers were reluctant to talk, he said, adding there was underage drinking at the house that night.

Rumours have circulated in the community for some time that Mr. Parks’s body was dumped where it was found, but Const. Philpott said there is no evidence to suggest that the body was put or dragged there.

Mr. Morarity will appear in Kentville provincial court for arraignment Jan. 29.

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New software could have inadvertently downloaded child porn, Crown says

The Crown has given a Dartmouth man the benefit of the doubt and dropped two child pornography charges against him.

In March, Halifax Regional Police charged Joseph Hanna, 38, of Lakeshore Park Terrace, with possessing and accessing child porn. But the charges were withdrawn in Dartmouth provincial court this week because of insufficient evidence.

Crown attorney Craig Botterill said Friday that defence lawyer Joel Pink "wrote to us after the charges were laid and provided us with a technical explanation of how his client might have inadvertently acquired child pornography on his computer."

He said it had to do with a software application Mr. Hanna was running on his computer while he wasn’t home and how child porn might have been downloaded without his knowledge.

"We took the technical details of that possible explanation and ran it by our forensic experts," Mr. Botterill said, adding the defence also provided a report from its own independent forensic expert saying it was possible.

"Our experts looked at and came to the same conclusion that it was possible," he said.

Mr. Botterill said since Mr. Hanna’s explanation could reasonably have been true, and "it was the sort of thing in the circumstances we couldn’t disprove," the charges were withdrawn.

"This is rather a unique situation," he said. "The facts he presented us with are facts that we very seldom see in these investigations.

"I wouldn’t want to get into detail about what his specific argument was because then everybody will claim it as a defence." Mr. Botterill said. "But in this case it turned out that it could possibly have been true."

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British Columbia

The Province

Police are bracing for a gang war in B.C. with the imminent release of an Indo-Canadian mobster from jail.

"There will be shootings for sure. For the most part, it's bad guy versus bad guy but if you interfere in their business, if you are in the wrong nightclub at the wrong time, you're totally at risk," said Vancouver Det. Const. Doug Spencer. "They really don't care. They're not good with verbal skills, these guys."

The mobster who police worry will be the flashpoint for the violence is Peter Adiwal, 27. He has been linked to the multi-ethnic Independent Soldiers gang whose nominal leader Paul Dosanjh, 28, was gunned down while Adiwal was in custody in 2004.

The Soldiers have been without strong leadership since then.

Adiwal is serving seven years stemming from the kidnapping and beating of Sukhjit Singh Basi in 2003. Adiwal is due for release in January. His twin brother Mike Adiwal is already out on parole for the same offence.

"Peter's the stronger person of the two. His reputation precedes him," Spencer said.

When Peter hits the streets, he will most likely attempt to unite the disparate elements of the Independent Soldiers under his leadership, Spencer said.

"A bunch of other guys think they run the [Independent Soldiers] show," Spencer said. "[Peter's] going to completely take control."

And, Spencer added, there is concern that Adiwal's pending release will kick off a spate of violence over the unsolved 2004 shooting murder of Adiwal's best friend, Phil Hothi, who died alongside former high-school basketball star Herman Dhillon. The two men were shot dead at accused drug dealer Tommy Chan's East Vancouver home. Chan, 30, was shot in a downtown nightclub last May and died in hospital.

The grisly toll will rise when Peter Adiwal is freed, Spencer predicted.

Once the Independent Soldiers are unified, Spencer said, the focus will shift to battles with established criminal organizations such as the UN Gang and the Hells Angels as all try to carve out or maintain their place in B.C.'s lucrative drug trade.

The expected clash between the UN Gang and the Soldiers is of particular concern because both groups are up-and-coming and eager to establish dominance.

"If they run into each other for whatever reason, it's all-out war," Spencer warned.

Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force said Adiwal is well known to them.

"We're aware of who he is, we're aware of his previous activities and we're aware of what he may get back into when he's released," Kirk said.

Two members of the Independent Soldiers were arrested in Kelowna last week with a loaded 9 mm handgun, a crossbow, 18 9-mm gun barrels, cash and paraphernalia related to the gang, police say.

It is the first time Independent Soldiers have been arrested in the Central Okanagan.

"If they view Kelowna as a place they can make money, they will come here," said Const. Annie Linteau.

The reason the Soldiers are branching out to the Okanagan is pretty clear, according to Spencer -- police know them too well in the Lower Mainland.

"They're up there setting up grow houses," he said. "There's not going to be enough clients. That's when they're going to collide [with other gangs in the city]."

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RIVAL GANGS

- The Independent Soldiers are a loosely affiliated group of primarily Indo-Canadian gangsters involved in marijuana grow-ops, cocaine and guns.

The gang originated in southeast Vancouver and was once known as the Sunset Boys because they were active around the Sunset Community Centre. Former leader Sukvinder Singh Dosanjh died in a car crash last fall. His brother Gerpal Singh "Paul" Dosanjh died in a hail of gunfire in an East Vancouver restaurant in March 2004.

- The UN Gang is a relatively unknown quantity that surfaced in Chilliwack and Abbotsford about four years ago. The gang takes its name from the United Nations because of its members' diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Indo-Canadians, Persians, Caucasians and Asians. They are known to be violent and well armed. Police sources say the gang has established a chokehold on the drug trade in the Downtown Eastside.

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 BC, Under the gun: 1,000 incidents since Jan.2006

If you thought flying bullets were an American problem, take a look at the Lower Mainland's record.
 

The Province

 
Any day now, law enforcement officials will log one of the Lower Mainland's most chilling statistics of the year -- the 1,000th firearm either used in a crime or seized by police since Jan. 1.

This is the first year police departments in the Vancouver area have co-operated in a new system of recording gun-related incidents. What they've found should be unsettling to anyone who still thinks of gun violence as an American problem.

Even before Thursday's shooting in North Vancouver, Lower Mainland police this year had recorded 985 firearms associated with crime. That includes 379 semi-automatic pistols, 28 revolvers, 139 other handguns, 76 rifles, 66 shotguns, 88 assault rifles and 12 modified weapons -- along with 197 various reports of unseen guns described in "shots fired" alarms.

In the past five years, 195 British Columbians have died in gun-related homicides.

High-profile shooting incidents such as the recent tragedies at Montreal's Dawson College and at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania have served as powerful reminders of what some experts describe as a North American gun epidemic.

In B.C., the problem has been more a day-to-day battle as police deal with a flood of illegal handguns.

Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force says the majority of weapons used in Lower Mainland crimes are handguns that have been smuggled across the U.S. border -- part of a lucrative trade in drugs and weapons.

"We're looking at all sorts of avenues other than vehicles in bringing guns across the border and that includes walking across, throwing them across and even driving through fields," says Kirk.

Last month, police arrested a man in Vancouver's West End who had 127 semi-automatic Czech-made handguns in his possession. Kirk says these guns had been imported legally by a licensed dealer.

Just how many illegal guns are out there is anyone's guess, but here's an indication of how commonplace -- even fashionable -- they've become. In July, a group of police officers dining at a Boston Pizza in Burnaby arrested four teenagers, one a girl, on weapons charges. The teens were at the next table.

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Suburbs become haven for firepower
 

The Province

"Drive-by shooting rattles neighbours."

"Surrey boy, 15, lucky to survive shooting."

The headlines from the Vancouver suburbs tell the story. If you still think of gun violence as an inner-city problem, you're at least two years behind the times.

In Abbotsford alone this year, there have been 11 shootings and police have seized more than 40 firearms.

Sgt. Casey Vinet says he's alarmed not just by the number of guns police are finding in homes, bars and cars -- but by their firepower.

Like the Russian AK-47 assault rifle they seized recently when they were called to a dispute between several men gathered in a parking lot.

"It's the friction between crime groups that leads to most of the problems," says Vinet. "It's the young men connected to these groups who are using guns more than ever -- not only to protect themselves but also in terms of spin-off crimes like violent attacks, kidnappings and extortions."

Police in New Westminster say they too have seen a huge increase in guns on the street.

"Two years ago it was very rare to recover handguns from somebody in a bar or in a car," says Staff Sgt. Casey Dehaas. "Now it's happening several times a month that we're recovering weapons."

Surrey RCMP Cpl. Roger Morrow says his detachment has received "hundreds" of gun calls this year.

"We've had a lot of complaints about shots being fired, drive-by shootings, people with handguns," he says.

"By the time we track the person down and find them, a lot of them are pellet guns."

On the detachment's website recently, he placed his own service pistol among a variety of these "fake" weapons and asked the public to pick out the real one.

He says most people failed -- proving just how useful these non-lethal weapons can be for criminals.

"You can't tell the difference," says Morrow.

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Bullets, bodies and the fear factor

The Province

Think of your favourite scary movie scene and the first time you saw it. Made you jump, didn't it?

Now recall how you reacted to the same scene the second time you saw it -- not quite the same reaction. The same psychological response can hold true for gunshot wounds.

Someone expecting to be shot -- a soldier in combat, for example -- may be able to power through the shock of the violence and keep on moving before they succumb to the physiological effects of their wounds. History is full of stories of fighting men shot many times who pressed on to seize their objectives despite their wounds.

Fear and expected outcomes also play roles in how people respond to being shot. Someone afraid of pain, injury or death will react differently from someone without fear.

A handgun victim hit in a vital area -- the spine, the base of the brain -- will most likely drop dead. But an ultimately fatal handgun shot to the heart does not necessarily kill immediately. The body can keep functioning for as long as 60 to 90 seconds.

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Manitoba

Winnipeg Sun

Bad guys kept police busy in 2006

There was no shortage of high-profile crime-related stories in Manitoba this year, many of which made headlines across Canada and internationally.

From pedophiles to undercover informants to biker massacres to people shooting cops, our quiet little province had its fair share of trouble. Here's the Sun's take on the Top 10 local crime stories of 2006:

1. HUNT FOR A PEDOPHILE

On July 26, the Winnipeg police put out a routine-looking press release about a 14-year-old boy from Fort Rouge who had been missing a few days, and mentioned he may be in the company of an unnamed man.

Nobody knew at that time the man was convicted pedophile Peter Whitmore. 
 

But by the time cops found the boy six days later, along with a 10-year-old Saskatchewan boy in an abandoned farmhouse, the whole world was watching. It was every parent's worst nightmare.

Whitmore had befriended the families of both boys,  and then allegedly abducted and raped them.

The ordeal ended Aug. 1 after a 10-hour standoff with police at an old farmhouse near Kipling, Sask.

2.  BANDIDOS MASSACRE

There were months of suspicion. Reports of "burly men from Manitoba," a red SUV with Manitoba plates, rumours among bikers.

The city woke up June 16 to learn three Winnipeggers had allegedly played a part in one of the bloodiest massacres to occur in Canada.

On April 8, the bodies of eight men -- all members, prospects or associates of the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang -- were found stuffed in several vehicles near Shedden, Ont. Only a few days later, five people were charged in relation to what police called "an internal cleansing" of the gang.

Despite those arrests, speculation about a "Manitoba link" wouldn't cease until the June morning when cops busted three Winnipeg Bandidos -- Dwight Mushey, Marcelo Aravena, and Mike Sandham, a former police officer who had switched sides and became the president of the local biker club.

Each man was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder and shipped off to Ontario in chains to face trial.

3.  PHOENIX SINCLAIR

Although almost nobody noticed her death for nine months, no Manitoban is now likely to ever forget the name Phoenix Sinclair.

The little girl who was allegedly beaten, tortured and neglected by her mother and her mother's boyfriend died in June 2005, but her death wasn't made public until March when her mother, Samantha Kematch, and her boyfriend Karl McKay were arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

The public was outraged such neglect and abuse could occur, and that no one appeared to take notice when it ended.

Hell hath no fury like Kim Edwards, Phoenix's former foster mother, who took Child and Family Services to task for not properly looking after the girl and refused to let the media lose sight of the story.

Edwards' efforts -- as well as pressure from Manitobans who became even more outraged when the all-too-similar case of Heaven Traverse was revealed a few weeks later -- helped push the Doer government to review CFS from both the inside and the outside. It may also be the reason Christine Melnick lost her job as family services minister.

4.  THREE COPS SHOT

Police didn't expect trouble when they went into a Jubilee Avenue home looking for drugs the night of Dec. 7. How wrong they were.

Three officers came out as shooting victims, and 21-year-old Daniell Anderson was injured after he allegedly pumped a couple of shotgun blasts at police from behind the bathroom door. One officer was hit in the abdomen, one in the hand and forearm and one in the leg.

It was the first time a Winnipeg cop was shot on duty since May 2002.

Anderson's innocent-looking, baby-fat face was splashed across newspapers and TV screens across Canada, and the shootout inside his house had people talking about everything from SWAT teams to neighbourhood drug connections. His parents and girlfriend were arrested a week later for drug trafficking after cops revealed they'd found plenty of pot in the family home.

5.  BAD YEAR FOR HELLS

It wasn't the best of years for the Manitoba chapter of the Hells Angels.

Jeff Peck, Ian Grant and local chapter president Ernie Dew have spent most of the year behind bars. They were among 13 people arrested Feb. 15 and charged in relation to an undercover police operation called Project Defense, which saw a wire-wearing police informant infiltrate the biker gang and allegedly buy large quantities of cocaine and crystal meth.

For more than a year, a Winnipegger named Franco Atanasovic -- who knew some of the bikers as acquaintances from over the years -- allegedly bought drugs off the gang members and others, all the while reporting his adventures directly to his police handlers. Atanasovic stands to make more than $500,000 for his efforts.

Meanwhile, six of the people he helped bring down have pleaded guilty, including Dew's wife Vera. Sentences have ranged from three to seven years in jail.

Two others are out on bail, while the remaining five are still awaiting their trial behind bars.

Atanasovic has been placed in the RCMP's witness protection program.

6.  CRITICAL CLASH

Call it Hippies vs. The Machine.

Before May 26, few people had ever heard of Critical Mass. But after what happened that day, every cop, cyclist, journalist, student activist and anarchist in town had the last Friday of every month circled on the calendar.

The loosely-knit, leaderless group first appeared on police radar screens in early May, when some of its members were ticketed during a demonstration against a military exercise being held in Winnipeg. But the whole city stood up and took notice a few weeks later when the group's monthly protest bike ride turned into an old-fashioned melee.

Although the chaos in downtown Winnipeg was recorded by media and amateur video, both police and protesters stand by their own vastly different version of events.

The cops ticketed or criminally charged seven riders, alleging some protesters repeatedly refused to obey their commands and assaulted officers, among other things. The riders claimed cops used excessive force and even had undercover officers trying to pick fights.

7.  WEAPONS- TRAFFICKING RING BUSTED

On Aug. 8, more than 100 heavily-armed cops stormed two properties in the Interlake.

What they uncovered was the alleged base of operations for a weapons-trafficking ring that supplied machine-guns and other firepower to crime groups across Canada.

Cops found several hundred thousand dollars worth of stolen vehicles and other property, as well as Second World War-era Sten submachine-guns, homemade .22-calibre "pen" guns, rifles, shotguns, a grenade launcher, ammunition and three working cannons. Police also found a kilo of cocaine and more than two pounds of pot at the property of Alvin Luprypa. The other property raided belonged to Elwyn Evans.

Police allege machine tools found at Evans' home were being used to make and refurbish guns, which were then sold and eventually ended up in the hands of criminals across Canada.

Luprypa and Evans have now been charged with a combined 54 offences.

8.  DISREGARD FOR LIFE

One of the worst examples of a total disregard for life took centre stage in the spring.

It started when the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority took the unprecedented step of releasing a public warning March 21 about Sudanese immigrant Clato Lual Mabior who is HIV-positive. The WRHA and police were worried he might be having sex with people without disclosing his condition.

That was big news in itself, but even veteran cops were surprised when more and more girls kept coming out of the woodwork to say they'd been victimized.

Two weeks after his arrest, cops had a running count of 45 potential victims and said there were possibly many more. Mabior is now facing the possibility of several life sentences for aggravated sexual assault. He goes to trial next May 22.

Detectives said most of his victims were minors, some as young as 12, and that he was preying on runaways and girls in care, plying them with booze, drugs, food and a place to party.

9.  LIL' FIRESTARTERS

At an age where many kids are still learning to tell time and spell, several Winnipeg youngsters were learning how to set fires.

In June, the Winnipeg arson strike force picked up an eight-year-old North End boy for torching an empty apartment block and two semi-trailers full of furniture. The same kid had been warned a few months earlier after arson detectives linked him to more than 20 garbage bin fires.

In late July, a pair of cousins, seven and eight, were fingered for starting more than 20 fires of their own -- including one that destroyed an Aberdeen Avenue house and left its residents homeless.

The action shifted from the North End to Gilbert Park in the fall, where in the space of three weeks kids as young as five torched a shed with a 14-year-old boy locked inside, burned up a vacant suite in one of the units, and tried to set Billy Mosienko Arena on fire. A couple of the kids were involved in more than one incident.

All of these little firebugs got tongue-lashings from the cops and were referred to the Youth Fire Stop Program, but that's it, since no one younger than 12 can be criminally charged.

10.  PATIENTS ON THE LOOSE

The fall of 2006 saw no less than three dangerous mental health patients give their escorts the slip.

The first to do so was Earl Joey Wiebe, who on Sept. 27 ran from his escorts during a routine medical visit to the Health Sciences Centre from his residence at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. Wiebe, turned himself in to police in Victoria, B.C., after two weeks on the lam.

Ten days after Wiebe surrendered, Ian McKenzie ran away during an escorted walk outside the PsychHealth Centre at HSC.

By the time another potentially dangerous PsychHealth Centre patient, Derrick Reimer, ran away in late November and was caught a few hours later, the provincial opposition was scratching their heads.

"If we don't fix that problem it's going to continue to happen and eventually there is going to be a tragic situation," said Tory justice critic Kelvin Goertzen.

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2007/01/02

NB

Shooting, 16 year old injured, Lake George, N.B.

On Monday, January 1, 2007 at 4:16 pm, members of the District 2 RCMP responded to a residence on Highway 635 in Lake George, where a 16 year old boy had been shot in the abdomen. He was transported to the hospital and is stable condition.

Nova Scotia

Stabbing leaves man near death
 

The Daily News

DARTMOUTH - A Dartmouth man has been charged with a brutal New Year's Eve stabbing that left a 53-year-old victim clinging to life in hospital.

Shawn Patrick Newman, 26, was charged with attempted murder, assault and weapons charges shortly after the 9:21 p.m. attack.

The violent attack began when the victim, a passenger in a car travelling west on Dartmouth's Boland Road near Victoria Road, noticed a woman standing in the middle of the road. The female driver of the car beeped on the horn to get the woman to move, and the woman got into an argument with the couple in the car.

When the victim got out to talk to the woman in the street, a suspect came up and stabbed him repeatedly in the upper body, said Halifax Regional Police Sgt. Dave Reynolds.

"He's in pretty bad shape. He's suffering life-threatening injuries," Reynolds said.

'Still with us'

"He's still with us, and we're hoping it stays that way."

The victim got back in the car and was rushed to the QEII Health Sciences Centre, where he had surgery. Police arrested a suspect shortly afterward.

Neighbours didn't seem to have seen or heard much.

Marshall Grover, who lives across the street from where the stabbing happened, had friends over Sunday night for New Year's, and didn't realize anything had happened until the police came knocking.

"We don't have any problems in the area," Grover said.

Dorothy and Stewart Briggs built their house in the area when the Northbrook subdivision opened 50 years ago.

Out for a walk yesterday, the couple said they don't go out after dark anymore in their neighbourhood.They've installed a security system in their house and their car, and sometimes worry that's not enough.

"What's happening with this neighbourhood?" Dorothy Briggs asked.

Still, Stewart Briggs said he's happy to see police have set up a community office at the old Northbrook School site and make frequent bike and foot patrols through the nearby parks.

"It makes you feel a bit safer."

-

The Halifax Herald
 

A Halifax man who reportedly tried to stop a fight between a man and woman on New Year’s Eve in Dartmouth underwent emergency surgery for multiple stab wounds he suffered during a confrontation with the two.

The stabbing occurred at about 9:20 p.m. Sunday on Boland Road near Victoria Road.

Halifax Regional Police did not identify the victim, but The Chronicle Herald learned he is Stephen Downey, 53, of Halifax, a shipper/receiver with the Defence Department.

The victim’s son, Stephen Nelson, said Mr. Downey is regaining strength after being stabbed in the abdomen and near the heart.

"It was very scary," Mr. Nelson said Monday.

He said Mr. Downey and his wife were driving on Boland Road with their daughter Michelle and two other women when they came upon the fighting couple. Nobody knew who they were, but they looked intoxicated.

Michelle, who is pregnant, tried telling the woman to get away from the abusive man, but that advice was ignored.

"She (the woman on the street) started cursing and calling them very bad names and banging on the car," Mr. Nelson said.

At that point, Michelle got out of the van to speak with the woman. That’s when Mr. Downey stepped out to get his daughter back in the car, but was confronted by the man.

"The guy just lunged at him," Mr. Downey said. "It just happened real fast. My dad didn’t realize he was stabbed until he was back in the van."

The Downey family drove away from the scene, picked up Mr. Nelson and drove to Halifax, where they called police.

Sgt. Wayne Grantham, watch commander with Halifax Regional Police, said officers went to the stabbing victim and got him some help.

"When we arrived, we called the EHS (Emergency Health Services) and they took him to the QEII," he said.

No weapons were recovered from the scene and no one else was injured, Sgt. Grantham said.

Just after midnight, police had a man and woman in custody for questioning in the stabbing.

A 26-year-old man was later charged Monday with attempted murder, assault and weapons offences. He will appear in Dartmouth provincial court today.

Mr. Nelson said the arrest is good news for the family.

"That makes us feel so much better."

He called the stabbing a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time but also thinks it shows how violent the times are getting.

"We live in a society of weapons now. It’s getting closer to everybody’s home."

Mr. Nelson has been to the hospital to visit his father, who is unable to speak but can nod or wink.

"I told him I loved him and stuff," he said.

=============

Thieves ransack Fortress Louisbourg

The Halifax Herald 

LOUISBOURG — The Fortress of Louisbourg has been invaded again — this time by vandals and antique-seeking thieves.

Cape Breton Regional Police say someone broke into five separate reconstructed buildings in the 18th-century fortified town sometime overnight Saturday, destroying artifacts and possibly stealing valuable national treasures.

"Security were doing their final rounds Sunday morning and that’s when they discovered these breaks," investigating officer Sgt. Gerard Kennedy said Monday.

"There was damage done in each building — some things were thrown and tossed around," he said, adding that fortress staff would have to do a complete inventory before it is known what was taken.

The break-in had tongues wagging and local residents wondering how someone could get to the fortress, located a few kilometres from the town of Louisbourg, since traffic is prohibited near the national historic site. Sgt. Kennedy said there is 24-hour security on the site and most of the back access roads to the fort are gated.

During the tourist season, visitors can get to the fort only by a park-operated bus.

"It’s not an easy place to access," Sgt. Kennedy said.

Gary Peck, a lifelong Louisbourg resident who owns a convenience store near the entrance to the park, said he has never heard of someone breaking into the fort, which is a 10-minute bus ride from the visitor centre.

"Oh, sometimes a tourist will walk in inadvertently in the afternoon, but you can’t get in. You can’t get in the back road because there is a gate and a watchman there," he said.

Fortress administrators could not be reached Monday.

Construction of the French fort began in 1719. The fort fell in 1758 when the English invaded and destroyed it. In 1961, the Canadian government began to reconstruct some of the town’s buildings, including an opulent king’s bastion, a chapel and numerous homes, soldiers barracks and garrisons. To date, a quarter of the original fort has been recreated.

===

Teen injured during attempted robbery

A 15-year-old boy suffered facial injuries after he refused to hand over his belongings to a teenage mugger in Dartmouth early Monday morning.

The boy was walking with a friend on Lakefront Road at about 1:10 a.m. when he was approached by two males, described as being about 17 years old.

The pair demanded money from the boy. When he refused, the two older teens beat him up.The boy was able to make his way home and called police. He was taken to Dartmouth General Hospital, where he was treated for facial injuries and released.

===

Pizza delivery driver hit in head, robbed

A pizza delivery driver was attacked in Halifax early Sunday morning.

Halifax Regional Police said the driver was confronted by two men in the 2700 block of Windsor Street. One pulled out a gun and demanded money.

The attackers hit the victim in the head and fled with some cash. The driver was later treated for a head injury.

==

Cigarettes stolen during corner store heist

Two suspects robbed a Needs store at 182 Victoria Rd. in Dartmouth early Sunday morning.

At 5:20 a.m., the two males entered the store and threatened the clerk with a metal bar and demanded cigarettes.

One suspect is described as five-foot-eight and wearing a green jacket and blue jeans. There was no description available for the second suspect.

The vehicle thought to have been used in the robbery was described as a dark Chrysler.

There were no injuries in the robbery.
===

Group robs man walking on Halifax Common

A group of men attacked a Halifax man on the Halifax Common early Saturday morning.

Halifax Regional Police said the 26-year-old victim was crossing the Common at about 1:30 a.m. when six other men approached him and demanded his MP3 player.

He was assaulted and knocked to the ground.
===

Woman’s money taken during mugging
The Halifax Herald

A woman was mugged in Dartmouth late Friday night.

Halifax Regional Police said the woman was walking in the 200 block of Wyse Road when a man approached her from behind, grabbed her neck and held a weapon to her head.

He demanded cash, which the woman handed over.

The victim didn’t report the robbery until Saturday morning.
===

Robbery charges laid against 17-year-old

A 17-year-old boy is facing robbery-related charges after someone stole some cigarettes from a Lower Sackville corner store Friday night.

Halifax RCMP said a teenage boy entered the Needs convenience store at 1005 Sackville Dr. at about 10:15 p.m. He got into an altercation with the clerk before taking off with a couple of packs of smokes.

RCMP officers executed a search early Saturday morning and arrested a suspect.

He is being charged with robbery and a couple other offences as a result of the incident, police said.

===

Man arrested after shots fired into home

SYDNEY — Police arrested a man at his Lingan Street residence Monday afternoon after shots were fired into a home in Whitney Pier.

No one in the home was injured.

Sgt. Gerard Kennedy of Cape Breton Regional Police said a man in his 40s has been charged with "several serious" offences and will appear in Sydney court today. He said he couldn’t speak about the specific charges until the man appeared before a judge.

A man in his 30s was stabbed in the hand in the same community on Sunday. Police say there may be a connection between the two incidents. That man, whose name has not been released, was treated at Cape Breton Regional Hospital and released.

Sgt. Kennedy said the man is not co-operating with police. So far, there are no suspects.

===

Woman dead, two arrested in New Glasgow

CBC News

Two people were arrested Monday night after a woman's body was found in a house in New Glasgow.

After finding the 21-year-old woman dead, police went to a second house on Nelson Street, said Const. Ken Macdonald, with New Glasgow police.

"They arrested one male suspect, one female suspect and safely recovered one baby girl," he said.

Police are calling the woman's death suspicious, but are not releasing details.

Macdonald said the investigation continues into the suspicious death, the first in New Glasgow in 15 years.

===

PEI

Knife-wielding robber holds up convenience store
 
CBC News

Charlottetown police are looking for a man after an armed holdup at the Parkdale Irving on St. Peters Road early Friday morning.

A man wearing a mask and armed with a knife entered the store at about 1 a.m. and made off with a quantity of cash, police say.

The store clerk was not hurt.

Officers say the robber left in a black pickup truck.

They are looking for a black Ford Ranger with a tarp and two snow shovels in the back.

Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to call city police.

===

Woman shot in the face

A woman who was shot in the face in east-end Toronto this afternoon has died.

The woman, believed to be in her 50s, answered her door shortly after 3 p.m. and was attacked.

The gunman immediately fled the scene. Police said they have not ruled out domestic violence.

The victim is believed to be Toronto's first homicide of 2007.

===

Florida sex offender arrested in southern Ontario
 
The Canadian Press

A man described by police in Florida as a violent sexual predator and wanted by authorities in that state was arrested early Monday by police in Woodstock, Ont.

The man, who has not been identified, is wanted by the Duval County Sheriffs Department in Jacksonville because he left Florida and failed to register his new address.

Police in Woodstock say they were tipped by a citizen who walked into headquarters Sunday, and told them he met the man during a social event and became suspicious.

The citizen made an online check of a Florida sex offender registry and discovered the man was wanted.

===

Killer fires point blank as woman answers her door

Toronto Sun -- A church-going mother of two opened the door of her Scarborough home yesterday to a gunman who wished her a happy New Year before shooting her in the head at point-blank range and killing her in broad daylight.

Toronto police arrested a male suspect after the shooting death of a woman in her Malvern home yesterday.

The woman, identified by friends as Jean Springer, was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital and pronounced dead after the 2:30 p.m. murder at 71 Snowball Cres. in the area of Markham Rd. and Sheppard Ave E., where she lived with her husband, Ray, and two adult sons.

Springer grew up  in Trinidad.

She is Toronto's first homicide victim of 2007. It's believed she was in her 60s.

"She just opened the door. Someone said, 'Happy New Year' and shot her," said Diana, a neighbour and family friend who spoke to Springer's youngest son, Anton, after the shooting.

The friend, who declined to give her last name, said the shooter was known to the family, although police refused to confirm any details.

  Springer was an intelligent, articulate, professional woman who eschewed violence and had a deep, loving relationship with God, said Vilma Blenman, a fellow parishioner at Malvern Methodist Church.

"She was an amazing woman; dignified, with a deep, abiding, relevant faith," Blenman said. "This is not the kind of woman who would be involved in anything violent. I'm totally shocked."

Springer was an active member of Malvern Methodist and served on the leadership team of the church's women's ministry, said Blenman, who recalled laughing and watching movies with her friend at a women's retreat.

Jason Bogle, a friend of the family, asked reporters gathered near the roped-off murder scene yesterday to "ease off" and give them time to grieve.

"There's been a horrible tragedy that's taken place," he said.

Members of Springer's visibly shaken family gathered at a neighbour's house. They could be seen hugging and consoling each other, steps away from their two-storey house, where a wreath fashioned from Christmas lights shone from a window.

A red Dodge Caravan minivan was towed from the crime scene by police.

Neighbours said Springer had lived on the quiet street for more than 20 years and were shocked by her murder.

"It's the first time I've seen anything like this on the street," said one neighbour.

===

Wanted hoodlum arrested

TORONTO SUN    
 

A wanted gangster was arrested yesterday in a taxi with a Tec 9 machine pistol and drugs, police allege.

Aaron Wayne Joyce, 24, faces 12 new charges, plus two more counts on outstanding warrants, after being picked up around 3 a.m. near Eglinton Ave. and Kennedy Rd.

Police say they got a call about a man armed with a gun and arrested Joyce a short time later, along with a woman.

A search turned up the Tec 9, an automatic gun prohibited in Canada, police allege.

Police say Joyce is a known gang member who was serving a three-year, six-month sentence for possessing firearms when he allegedly violated his parole by choking a person in 52 Division in December.

Arrested with him was Keisha Brown, 24.

The two are charged with weapons and drug offences.

===

===

Cops Close To identifying Tokarchuk suspects

Winnipeg Sun

The main suspects in the May 2003 execution-style shooting of Kevin Tokarchuk may never see the inside of a courtroom, but Winnipeg homicide investigators are one step closer to identifying all the responsible parties.

"New source information has strengthened our belief that a former high-ranking Zig Zag Crew member ordered the hit," said Det. Thane Chartrand of the homicide unit. The Zig Zags are a street gang controlled by the Hells Angels.

Police believe the man is now a Hells Angel.

It's believed the gangster did not get approval from the Hells before ordering the hit. Tokarchuk was gunned down at the rear of his Churchill Drive home in what police believe was a revenge killing ordered by the gangster.

The hit on Tokarchuk was on the anniversary of the shooting death of Zig Zag drug dealer Trevor Savoie. Savoie was gunned down by Tokarchuk's older brother Daniel. The older Tokarchuk owed Savoie about $11,000, said sources.
 

Daniel Tokarchuk was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the shooting.

BIKE CHOPPED UP

"The homicide has not reached the cold case cabinet. We continue to work it and are getting closer to positively identifying the responsible parties, one or more of whom may be dead," said Chartrand.

Police have always believed the man who masterminded the hit let the triggerman use his motorcycle. The motorcycle disappeared within days of the murder.

Homicide cops believe the bike was chopped up and the pieces shredded or used for spare parts.

Five cops, placed on administrative leave following the shooting, hampered the homicide unit's investigation, charges retired Sgt. Jim Thiessen.

"Two of those officers had just completed an investigation into the Zig Zags and had identified a potential suspect," said Thiessen. "They had information that couldn't be replaced and we couldn't talk to them."

The officers, charged with not warning Tokarchuk of a potential hit on the anniversary of Savoie's death, were cleared of any wrongdoing by an adjudicator.

"Had we been able to continue our investigation, the likelihood was good we'd have found the evidence needed to charge a suspect," Sgt. Lyle Loehmer testified in June 2005.

One of the suspects -- a known enforcer with the Zig Zags -- died of a drug overdose in 2004, but many people believe his death wasn't accidental. Several sources told the Sun he'd been "hot shotted" -- a street term for a person unknowingly using drugs with a higher-than-normal potency.

In July 2005, another high-level Zig Zag enforcer was stabbed to death in an apparent internal dispute.

Street sources claimed the pair were feuding after the dead man missed a shift when he was supposed to be providing protection to the former high-ranking Zig Zag member who had become a Hells Angel.

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2007/01/03

Moncton Area Police beat

Suspects arrested

Codiac RCMP arrested five Moncton teenagers yesterday morning in connection with a break and enter on Salisbury Road.

Const. Damien Theriault says police received a report of an alarm sounding at a Salisbury road gas station at 4 a.m. Upon investigating, they found information that led to the suspects.

"In some video footage, one of the individuals was familiar to an officer," he says.

Police moved in on a Moncton location and arrested five teens. They also recovered stolen items, including cigarettes, and a stolen car used in the crime.
===

Investigation continues

Police are still not sure if murder or suicide is behind the recent death of a Moncton woman.

A 28-year-old woman was found dead the night of Dec. 13 inside her Spruce Street apartment. Police said at the time that circumstances led them to classify the death as suspicious.

Mrs. Amy Lynne Cosman-Gigou Wednesday, September 06, 1978  -  Wednesday, December 13, 2006

An autopsy was conducted, but police are still waiting for the results of some blood analysis before they can say if she killed herself or was murdered.

"As long as we don't have all the results, we can't say either way," says Codiac RCMP Const. Damien Theriault.
===

Teenager shot

LAKE GEORGE - A 16-year-old youth remains in hospital in stable condition after he was shot in the abdomen on New Year's Day.

Oromocto RCMP were withholding the youth's name pending further investigation into the incident at a residence here at about 4:15 p.m. Monday. They confirmed that other people were present and that no one else was hurt. The youth's injury is not believed to be life-threatening, a senior RCMP member said yesterday.

Lake George is a small rural community several kilometres west of Fredericton.
===

Pursuit of suspected robbers factor in fatal Elgin crash?

District 11 Caledonia RCMP continue to investigate the causes of a fatal collision that occurred in Elgin in the early hours of New Year's Day.

William Howard Mahoney, 64, of Spring Road in Elgin, died when the vehicle he was driving left the road and rolled over several times.

Mahoney, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from the pickup truck.

His passenger, a 59-year-old man from Dartmouth who had been wearing a seatbelt, suffered minor injuries and was released from hospital.

The collision occurred on the Green Road, around 5 km north of Elgin, at around 3 a.m. Jan. 1.

The men were rumoured to be chasing after someone suspected of a break and enter.

Cpl. Warren McBeath says they have no reports from the family of the deceased of a break and enter at their home, but says RCMP are in the process of confirming a story that they did turn around to go after a suspicious vehicle.

==

Woman's death probed

Acadian Peninsula RCMP are searching for a man whose spouse turned up dead Monday afternoon.

Sgt. Michel Boissonnault says they want to question Guilman Gauvin, 48, in connection with the death of 50-year-old Simonne Boudreau. The two were a common-law couple who lived together at 125 Acadie St. in Grand Anse.

She's now dead and he's missing.

"Shortly after 5 p.m. Monday night a member of the family called the RCMP to advise they found their mother dead in her residence," says Boissonnault.

Police haven't been able to locate Gauvin and they also can't find the woman's vehicle, a green 1991 four-door Toyota Tercel with New Brunswick licence plate BUZ-383.

"It's a suspicious death, and nothing has been ruled out as of yet," says Boissonnault.

Right now they aren't calling Gauvin a suspect. "No, he's a person of interest," says Boissonnault. "He was her common-law husband so we'd like to talk to him."

===

POLICE TAKE MAN INTO CUSTODY

   Saint John Police Force Const. Andy DeMello takes a 31-year-old man into custody on Millidge Avenue. The man was arrested after a brief foot chase with police through the North End on Tuesday. Just after 2 p.m., police were called to a home where a man was beating on a garage door.

When the unmarked police cruiser arrived, he began throwing rocks at it and a chase ensued. The man is in custody and will appear in court at a later date charged with assault on a police officer, threats and mischief.

===

===

Nova Scotia

Town sees first murder in 15 years

Suspect said to be baby's father 
 
NEW GLASGOW - Police charged a man with murder yesterday, in what is believed to be the first homicide in New Glasgow in 15 years.

Matthew Craig Anderson, 25, of New Glasgow, was charged with second-degree murder last night.

A second suspect taken into custody was released last night.

Yesterday morning, the body of 21-year-old Jamie Walsh was removed from an apartment building at 175 Temperance St.

A 911 call at 7:13 p.m. Monday led police to the scene.

Further investigation led police to a residence on Nelson Street, where they arrested a male and a female in a basement apartment there.

Police could not confirm any relationship between the victim and the arrested individuals, although the man is believed to be the father of the child.

===

Teen accused of slashing cabbie arrested 
 

A teenager accused of slashing a cab driver's face in a robbery last November is one of a group of teens involved with cabbie stabbing in September after the driver narrowly missed hitting a puppy running across the street.

The 15-year-old boy's name is protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He was arrested Friday by Halifax Regional Police, who stopped a vehicle on North Street around 5:15 p.m.

Police were looking for the teen and went to his residence earlier in the afternoon. A patrol officer spotted the youth in a car and alerted other nearby police officers.

The teen was arrested without incident and charged with aggravated assault, robbery, weapons offences and breach of recognizance. On Nov. 4, a cabbie picked up two people on Gottingen Street and took them to 113 Pinecrest Dr. in Dartmouth.

Before the two fares got out of the cab in Dartmouth, one of the people slashed the driver's face with a screwdriver.

The same youth was charged in September after a bizarre incident in Halifax involving a cab driver and a small brown dog.

The cabbie was forced to slam on his brakes to avoid running over the puppy on Creighton Street on Sept. 5.

The cabbie then spoke to three youths who were with the dog. One of the youths allegedly reached through the window and stabbed the driver.

The 40-year-old cabbie managed to drive himself to the hospital and was treated and released for a wound to his upper body.

Susan Bowers, a volunteer with a group lobbying for greater taxi safety, said the driver has since left the business over safety concerns.

"It was a very sad experience for him, leaving his job and the people he worked with," said Bowers.

Two young people were subsequently arrested and charged with aggravated assault, possession of a knife for a dangerous purpose and breach of conditions. One of the teens was also charged with being an accessory after the fact.

One of the two youths charged in that incident was also charged with a mugging on North Street earlier the same day.

The 15-year-old made a brief appearance at the Halifax youth court yesterday and was ordered remanded until a bail hearing Friday.

===

Stabbing suspect returned to jail

Shawn Patrick Newman, 26, of Dartmouth was remanded back into custody after a court appearance Tuesday on an attempted murder charge after a stabbing on New Year’s Eve in Dartmouth

   A Dartmouth man charged with attempted murder in the New Year’s Eve stabbing of a man who tried to break up a roadside dispute between a couple made a brief court appearance Tuesday.

Shawn Patrick Newman, 26, a short, slight man with reddish blond hair, had a noticeable abrasion on the right side of his forehead.

Mr. Newman, an Alfred Street resident, was remanded back into custody until Friday morning, when he returns to Dartmouth provincial court for a bail hearing.

Crown attorney Rob Fetterly said investigators are trying to determine whether to lay additional charges against Mr. Newman.

Stephen Downey, 53, of Halifax was stabbed in the abdomen and near the heart after he stopped his vehicle on Boland Road in Dartmouth at about 9:20 p.m. Sunday.

Mr. Downey and his wife Carman were driving in their van with their daughter Michelle and two other women when they came upon a man and woman who were fighting. The couple appeared to be intoxicated.

Michelle, who is pregnant, yelled to the woman to get away from the abusive man but her advice was ignored, so she got out of the van to speak with the woman. Mr. Downey stepped out to get his daughter back into the vehicle and was confronted by the man, who lunged at him with a knife.

Mr. Downey’s son, Stephen Nelson, said his father didn’t realize he’d been stabbed until he was back in the van.

The Downey family drove away from the scene, picked up Mr. Nelson and drove to Halifax, where they called police.

Mr. Downey, who underwent emergency surgery, is expected to make a full recovery, his wife said Tuesday.

Mrs. Downey saw the attack but didn’t want to discuss it again.

"I already gave a report," she said. "I’m just too upset to talk about it. I keep thinking about it."

A Halifax Regional Police spokeswoman said the woman involved in the dispute has been charged with public intoxication.

===

Violent mugging leaves man shaken

The cuts behind his ear and on his chin will heal, but what happened to Stew Metz early Saturday morning on the Halifax Commons has taught him a safety lesson he won’t soon forget.

And he hopes others will learn from his frightening experience.

The 26-year-old Saint John, N.B., native was walking through the North Common at about 1:30 a.m., on his way home after working a late-night shift at a downtown restaurant, when a bunch of teenage "thugs" jumped him.

"I was struck in the back of the head by a blunt object, which I’m pretty sure was a baseball bat," Mr. Metz, a cook at the Economy Shoe Shop, said Tuesday. "I fell down and got struck in the head a second time, which put me flat down and then . . . they surrounded me."

The young robbers, whom Mr. Metz described as up to six black boys aged 15 to 18, then kicked and punched him repeatedly until he yelled that he would give them all of his valuables.

"Once I reached in and gave them my MP3 player, they took my glasses so I couldn’t see," he said.

"They had gang mentality — they had bandanas up over to cover their faces, hoods up, tuques over their faces pulled down, so that I couldn’t see them directly."

As a nearby intersection started to fill up with cars, he said the robbers got nervous and backed away.

Bleeding and in shock, Mr. Metz bolted to Needs Convenience on Windsor Street to get help and call police.

"I walked into the Needs and just kind of stood there for a second," he said. "I still couldn’t believe it happened."

Since he started work at the Economy Shoe Shop a year ago, Mr. Metz has walked home after every shift and has never been accosted, he said. But three of his co-workers have been attacked under similar circumstances, and after Saturday’s swarming he plans to be more careful.

"In retrospect, I wish I had spent the five bucks just to take the cab . . . rather than walk through the Commons," he said. "We’ve had stuff happen right here on Argyle Street, downtown, and people being jumped right on Spring Garden. You may think that you’re in a safe part of the city, but you never know, really."

Theresa Brien, a spokeswoman for Halifax Regional Police, said the force hasn’t seen an increase in crime on the Commons but agreed people should be cautious when walking at night.

"We would recommend that people stick to well-lit areas when they are walking late at night," she said Tuesday. "If at all possible, they should walk with someone else."

As of Tuesday, investigators didn’t have any leads on Mr. Metz’s case, Ms. Brien said.

Mr. Metz sustained a mild concussion, a damaged knee and cuts and bruises, but the beating has also left him with an important message for the public.

"I would really, really like the word to get out to the citizens of Halifax that you’ve just got to be that extra safe nowadays."

===

Pedophile pleads guilty to violating order

A convicted pedophile who has admitted to abusing more than 40 young boys has pleaded guilty to one count of violating a court order to stay away from children.

Alexander William Hart, a former Pictou man who has been declared a long-term offender, was to begin his three-day trial in Halifax provincial court Tuesday for allegedly failing to comply with the terms of his supervision order dated April 10, 2006.

He was accused of breaking the order twice, specifically that he not be around children under 16 unless accompanied by an adult previously approved by his parole officer, between April 19 and July 8, 2006.

Mr. Hart’s three-year prison term for molesting two boys near the Marine Atlantic ferry terminal in North Sydney ended in August 2004.

But he was declared a long-term offender, in part due to his lengthy criminal record that dates back to the ’80s and consists of sex assaults on young boys, and will remain under community supervision by parole and corrections officials for another 10 years.

In April 2005, he returned to jail for allegedly accessing computers at an undisclosed library to view images of young boys.

Mr. Hart has been on remand since he was charged with failing to comply with the court orders and will remain in custody until Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.

===

Weapons cases result in four arrests

Halifax Regional Police laid weapons charges against three teenage boys and a man in four unrelated arrests since Friday.

Guns are allegedly involved in three of the cases and a screwdriver in the other. Two of the arrests stem from incidents that date back to November.

On Friday, officers went to a Breen Street residence in north-end Halifax looking for a 15-year-old suspect in an aggravated assault against a cab driver on Nov. 4.

The driver picked up two fares just after midnight on Gottingen Street. When he got to their Dartmouth destination, one of them slashed his face with a screwdriver. Both of the fares then fled.

The officers didn’t find the suspect at the Breen Street home Friday but spotted him in a car stopped on North Street and made the arrest without incident. After four nights in custody, the young man appeared in Halifax youth court Tuesday to face charges of aggravated assault, robbery, weapons offences and breaching recognizance. He was remanded back into custody until his next court date on Friday. Police laid charges against an 18-year-old New Glasgow man in a Nov. 17 robbery in Halifax.

The suspect was already in custody facing robbery charges in New Glasgow, so the Halifax cops transferred the charges there.

He’s accused of donning a disguise before going into an apartment on North Street, where he demanded money from three occupants with what looked like a gun.

At 5 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, officers were called by paramedics who’d been sent to assist a 27-year-old man at a Main Avenue address in Fairview.

Police spokeswoman Theresa Brien said a paramedic spotted a gun in the residence and called police for help.

Ms. Brien did not say what the man’s me