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	No Appeals Forecast: Engelmann By Trevor Pritchard Standard Freeholder March 3, 2008 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=928161 None of the parties who challenged the testimony of 17 witnesses at the Cornwall Public Inquiry will be appealing a recent decision that went against them, according to the commission's top lawyer. Peter Engelmann said attorneys representing the Cornwall police, the Children's Aid Society (CAS), and two alleged abusers had all accepted Comm. Normand Glaude's Feb. 28 ruling that the majority of those witnesses gave testimony that fell under the inquiry's mandate. The scope of that mandate - to examine how public institutions responded to historical allegations of sexual abuse in the Cornwall area - had become uncertain after a January decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal that Glaude could not hear the testimony of a woman who claimed she was raped in 1993. The Ontario Provincial Police argued that because the woman, known only as C-12, reported the assault to police the next day, her allegations of police misconduct fell outside the inquiry's mandate. They won their case in the appeal court after losing a two-to-one decision in the Ontario Divisional Court. Yesterday, Engelmann said neither of the three parties who had launched subsequent challenges would be going that route. "I think (Glaude's) decision was thorough (and) comprehensive," said Engelmann. "I'm hopeful that we can just move on now." Glaude ruled that the testimony of 14 of the 17 witnesses fell under the inquiry's mandate, along with the Cornwall Police Service's investigation into allegations of sexual abuse made against the son of former police chief Earl Landry Sr. In 1999, Earl Landry Jr. pleaded guilty to abusing five boys between 1979 and 1990 while he worked as a park custodian and minor hockey coach. Current Cornwall deputy police chief Danny Aikman said the force decided late Sunday afternoon not to appeal Glaude's decision - for now. "I guess it depends on what transpires in the hearing room," said Aikman. "Those (situations) are tough to predict." With no appeals on the table, veteran Cornwall cop Garry Derochie returned to the stand yesterday. Derochie, who joined the city force in 1976, headed up the October 1993 internal investigation into how a confidential statement made by abuse victim David Silmser ended up in the hands of the local CAS branch. That year, Silmser had accepted $32,000 from the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese in exchange for not pursuing sexual abuse charges against Charles MacDonald, a local priest. Silmser's statement was later handed over to the CAS by former police officer Perry Dunlop. Derochie testified Monday that he "just happened to be on duty" one night in May 1995 when he received a phone call from Silmser's cousin, Brian Simser. During that call, Simser cast doubt upon his Silmser's allegations, Derochie testified. "He had said he had information that David had confided in him and another person that he had made up the stories to get money," said Derochie. Derochie said he put Simser in touch with the OPP since they had begun investigating Silmser's accusations by that time. The OPP would charge MacDonald in 1996 with more than a dozen sex-related crimes, some of which dated as far back as 1967. Those charges were stayed in 2002 when a judge decided they had taken too long to come to trial. Derochie also testified that, in 1997, he was asked to investigate a "hateful" claim that Dunlop - who had just returned from extended sick leave - had used the force's intercom system to make fun of a deceased former officer and another officer dying of cancer. He said he successfully convinced then-chief Anthony Repa that the allegation wasn't worth investigating. "I didn't think it would be worth the pain that it would cause (to the two officers' families)," said Derochie. "Rightly or wrongly, that was my recommendation to the chief." Derochie is expected to testify in the coming days about his involvement with the Landry Jr. investigation. He returns to the stand when the inquiry resumes today at 9:30 a.m.
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