The lawyer for Helen Grus, an Ottawa Police detective who is being charged with disorderly conduct for investigating the vaccination status of the mothers of deceased infants, requested copies of the coroner’s autopsy reports in order to clarify the charge against her.
“We are in a position here where I’m unsure of the exact elements and what it is that she has done that is unlawful. There are a number of pieces of evidence that haven’t been provided, and the evidence that has been provided, as far as the anticipated witness statements, is lacking,” defence lawyer Bath-Sheba van den Berg said during a proceeding held in Kanata, Ontario, on Friday.
‘Spotless Record’
If Grus is found guilty of the discreditable conduct charge, she could be demoted or suspended from the OPS. Van den Berg called the potential consequences “very harsh,” especially for a detective with a “spotless record.”As part of the OPS’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse unit, Grus’s mandate was to investigate all sudden and unexpected child deaths of children under the age of five. Van den Berg argued that as part of the associated questionnaire, Grus was expected to ask about the parent’s medical history, which would have included their vaccinations.
“There’s a duty to carry out an investigation diligently, especially when there’s an unexplained death. So when detective Grus is making a phone call as to her vaccination status, one would think but that is that’s within her duty,” she said.
Van den Berg said there appeared to have been an “apprehension of bias” in the OPS’s decision to pursue the charge of discreditable conduct against Grus. “It appears that some colleagues were in disagreement and didn’t like Detective Grus’ views, and this really does taint the investigation process and the decision to charge Grus with discreditable conduct,” she said.
Subpoena CBC reporter
Van den Berg requested that certain parts of Grus’s discreditable conduct charge be “severed,” as they are duplications from the previous insubordination charge that was dropped. “It would be procedurally unfair to include the same wording that is effectively—for a lack of a better way of saying this—trying Detective Grus for something she was already found not guilty of,” she said.“This is a case where we have an officer who was actually doing her job and is now faced with a discreditable conduct charge,” van den Berg said. “And we’re asking for Miss Yogaretnam to be compelled as a witness to testify, because that helps us answer the question of why we are here today in a disciplinary proceeding.”