"I am further frustrated and angered that Charles Smith has never been held accountable for his actions and it does not matter at this point what punitive action the College takes he is virtually getting away with the destruction of numerous lives with no consequences at this late stage of his career.
I was held accountable for things that didn't even happen."
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT: WILLIAM MULLINS-JOHNSON;
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BACKGROUND: On February 1, 2011, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found that Charles Smith had committed acts of professional misconduct and that he was incompetent. Before striking him from the College Register, the College received six victim impact statements which are being published in their entirety on this Blog over a series of posts. These statements provide extraordinary insight into the harm caused to the victims by Smith, his protectors in the Chief Coroner's office, the College, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and all of the other individuals and institutions who failed to stop Smith when they had a chance.
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BACKGROUND OF THE CASE: William Mullins-Johnson was wrongfully convicted of killing his four-year-old niece because of testimony by now disgraced pathologist Charles Smith. He was awarded $4.25 million in compensation by the Government of Ontario. Mr. Mullins-Johnson spent 12 years in prison after he was convicted in 1994 on evidence from the doctor that suggested he had raped and strangled his niece, Valin.
William Mullins-Johnson was exonerated by the Ontario Court of Appeal in October, 2007, after it was determined the child died from natural causes. In overturning Mullins-Johnson's conviction, the court found there was no evidence he was guilty of any crime. (Attorney General) Chris Bentley apologized to Mullins-Johnson for a "miscarriage of justice." "On behalf of the government of Ontario, I offer my deepest and most sincere apologies to Mullins-Johnson and his family for the miscarriage of justice that occurred and the pain they had to endure. Mullins-Johnson has been working hard to rebuild his life and we wish him well as he continues that process," Bentley said in a statement.
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VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT; WILLIAM MULLINS-JOHNSON;
"I don't know where to begin," the statement begins.
"I can't submit an accurate impact statement on such a short notice. Less than 24 hours is too short a time to prepare such a statement," it continues.
"It is difficult to describe the last 18 years of living a nightmare. My reputation was tarnished so badly that I was branded a child molester and child killer. There is nothing worse than that. When I was sentenced to life imprisonment, I was forced to live under the daily threat of death.
The dynamics of my family has changed to the point that it may never be reconciled. My family turned their back on me because of the accusation. My niece was coerced by the Children's Aid Society (CAS) which helped make this a child molestation case. I am still on the CAS registry as a child molester. I am going to have to fight for years to have my name removed if it ever gets removed.I will be living under scrutiny by CAS for the rest of my life. And that is the part that makes it most invasive. I am further frustrated and angered that Charles Smith has never been held accountable for his actions and it does not matter at this point what punitive action the College takes he is virtually getting away with the destruction of numerous lives with no consequences at this late stage of his career.
I was held accountable for things that didn't even happen. On the other hand, he was allowed to practice unsupervised by the College and Sick Children's Hospital. His own professional training did not merit such a post which should have been looked into at the time of his hiring. Clearly, he did not have the credentials to perform that job.
In closing, I am still humiliated by the fact that I will never see justice done. My name and that of my family will forever be linked to Charles Smith in such a horrible situation, a situation that could have been prevented if people had been looking over his shoulder. If there had been due diligence and oversight.
Nothing that the College does now will ever rectify or smooth over what this man was allowed to do, t is way too late. There is no way to change what has happened and although Smith is at the centre of this madness, he was allowed to continue his reign of terror even after complaints had been registered.
The lack of oversight, supervision and accountability is shocking. How could he possibly have been elevated to such an important and crucial job in one of Canada's premiere and most respected hospitals without the proper qualifications? HOW?
If there were ever to be a trial I think that Smith would not be standing trial alone. He was not an island unto himself."
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-feature-cases-issues-and_15.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com
