Haldimand "Councillor Sloat Cleared"

Update; I would like to clarify that Councillor Sloat was "NOT" cleared of these charges, the charges were dropped.

Yesterday Councillor Sloat appeared in court to face charges that were laid stemming from an incident last August.

I wrote about this last month and there were many comments relating to this issue. The most talked about was....will he get away with it?

I had faith in the Court System and was sure that this would see it's day in Court. Well this was not the case. I am truly disappointed as I do believe if the tables had been turned, the outcome would have been totally different.

Back in December 2007 there were several people charged in relation to a demonstration in Caledonia, some of these charges were "mischief" charges. These charges are not as serious as an "assault" charge yet they are still pending. As you will read in Jeff's story one of these charges was heard in Cayuga yesterday, and this charge still stands.

We are on a slippery slope in Haldimand when before an alleged charge goes before the court, that a charge can be dropped as in this case it was deemed to be "trivial". As the representative stated to the Justice of the Peace, this was just a matter of "unwanted touching". This goes hand in hand with the Crown when they stated they wouldn't lay a charge because it wasn't "enough of an assault" to lay a charge.

Let's visit the above statement..."unwanted touching"...If Jeff had been "female" would this have been used by the Crown? If Jeff had been black, blue, or polka dot, would this have been used by the crown? If Jeff had been 70 years old would this have been used by the crown? If Jeff had been in a wheelchair, would this have been used by the crown? My point here is it seems that this was the personal opinion by the crown. Shouldn't it be left to the courts to determine whether this "unwanted touching" was actually an assault?

It is interesting as you read Jeff's story he speaks of a "gentleman's" agreement that he and Sloat made. This agreement was that if Councillor Sloat apologized to Jeff, Jeff was willing to drop the charge. Well did Councillor Sloat hold to his word?

Now I know that some of you will say that Jeff is a trouble maker, that Jeff is involved in issues in Caledonia that are controversial, and Jeff deserved what he got. I personally do not agree with some of Jeff's methods, but does that give me the right to judge him?

All I will say is Kudo's to you Jeff for pursuing what you believed was the right thing.

The following is Jeff's story;

A representative of the Attorney General’s office went before a Justice of the Peace this morning in Cayuga court and deemed the assault committed against me in August 2007 to be too "trivial" to pursue. He asked that the charge be dismissed and as the crown has absolute authority over these decisions, the Justice had no choice but to put an end to my unresolved private prosecution of Councilor Buck Sloat.

In requesting a dismissal, the Attorney General presented 3 reasons he feels the case should not proceed.

(1) It is not in the best interest of the public to proceed with this charge as it’s "simply a case of unwanted touching" and there are far more serious charges to be dealt with by the courts.

(2) Mr. Parkinson has civil remedies at his disposal to deal with this matter

(3) The incident in question was "trivial" in his opinion

You can read the rest of the story here; http://caledoniawakeupcall.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/assault-charge-against-buck-sloat-dismissed-by-attorney-general/