Article content

Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy is one of the most respected jurists on the bench.

Article content

The downtown Toronto judge calls them as she sees them — and after presiding over the high-profile 2024 murder trial of accountant Umar Zameer, she concluded the three undercover colleagues of slain Jeffrey Northrup colluded and lied on the witness stand about how the beloved 55-year-old father of three was struck and killed in that deserted underground garage on July 2, 2021.

Article content

Article content

And that was a fair conclusion — considering Det. Consts. Lisa Forbes, Scharnil Pais, and Antonio Correa all claimed under oath that Zameer, with his toddler and pregnant wife in the car, had intentionally run over Northrup as he stood in front of his BMW with his arms outstretched.

But their testimony completely contradicted the findings of the Crown’s own reconstruction expert.

Article content

Article content

Toronto Police Sgt. Jeff Bassingthwaite found Northrup was standing to the side of the car and would have suffered “glancing contact” as the front driver’s side bumper swung out when Zameer reversed, knocking the undercover officer down and into the path of the accelerating BMW as it moved forward. A defence expert agreed.

A jury accepted that Northrup’s death had been a tragic accident after the family man testified that he panicked and believed they were being ambushed by criminals when unidentified people came yelling and rushing up to him in the garage beneath City Hall while an unmarked van blocked his way.

Molloy offered Zameer a heartfelt apology and tellingly, the Crown didn’t appeal his acquittal.

The judge had especially harsh words for Northrup’s colleagues. While eyewitnesses are often mistaken, especially following a traumatic event, she suggested the three officers may have been cooking their evidence when they recalled the same exact wrong information about where Northrup was standing. She reached the “inexorable conclusion that they not only lied, but they colluded to lie.”

Article content

Now it turns out they could have all been telling the truth after all — if this new OPP report is to be believed.

Ordered by Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw, the “independent review” released Tuesday cleared the three of perjury and collusion and concluded Northrup had indeed been standing in front of the BMW when he was run down. It also found the officers didn’t have any opportunity to tailor their stories.

“The OPP investigative team reviewed the reports and testimony of the TPS and the defense engineers and identified significant concerns that their collision theories were not supported by the available evidence,” the 55-page report concluded.

The OPP reconstructionist — no name is mentioned — found no markings on the fender but “contact marks” on the front bumper and tests with an OPP mannequin showed the car’s warning tones would have sounded. They also found tire marks missed by the TPS reconstructionist — how exactly? — as well as fingerprints on the hood.

Article content

The OPP’s expert went further — casting doubt on Zameer’s innocence: “The OPP reconstructionist concluded that the collision was not a chance encounter by Detective Constable Northrup suddenly entering the BMW’s path of travel, as they were in each other’s presence for at least 76 seconds before the collision.”

It’s hard not to be sceptical when one police agency investigates another or when this new reconstruction report, which conveniently contradicts both the defence and Toronto Police experts, hasn’t actually been released in full or tested in court.

Article content

It couldn’t even be tested by reporters — the OPP were mysteriously absent from the Toronto Police news conference.

But it was enough for the chief.

An emotional Demkiw declared that after two years of hell, his officers had been exonerated. Angry Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell called it vindication and demanded an apology from the judge.

“Today, I clearly say to Justice Molloy: you were wrong,” he said.

There won’t be an apology forthcoming — nor should there be.

Molloy was basing her comments on the expert evidence before her, not on some contradictory report that suddenly materialized almost two years later.

So spare us the union’s indignation. If this OPP review is accurate — then their anger should be directed at the TPS expert and not the well-respected judge.

mmandel@postmedia.com

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Article content