"Marina Alfyorova said she “simply wasn’t invited” to participate at the proceedings and did not know the inquest had even started until informed by a Toronto Star reporter.
She said she received a brief letter from the coroner’s office almost a year ago that talked about a pre-inquest meeting but was never alerted to the fact that proceedings started last month.
She said she wanted to set the record straight about the assault charges that landed her son Gleb in custody for the last time. She wanted the jury to know her son did not break his older sister’s nose during a fight. She said her daughter’s face was bruised and did not require a doctor’s attention.
“He was not a violent criminal,” Alfyorova said. “He was just a troubled kid who lost reality.”
REPORTER DIANA ZLOMISLIC; THE TORONTO STAR;"
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"The jail death of a mentally ill Pickering teen — described as “lost in plain sight” — was preventable, lawyers told a coroner’s inquest," the Toronto Star story by reporter Diana Zlomislic published on July 19, 2011 under the heading, "Jail death of mentally ill teen was preventable, inquest told," begins.
"Had any one of a series of doctors, lawyers, government workers, court or jail staff done their jobs, Gleb Alfyorov would be alive, the five-person jury was told," the story continues.
"The inquest also heard from the boy’s mother who took the stand as the last witness after 21 days of testimony.
Marina Alfyorova said she “simply wasn’t invited” to participate at the proceedings and did not know the inquest had even started until informed by a Toronto Star reporter.
She said she received a brief letter from the coroner’s office almost a year ago that talked about a pre-inquest meeting but was never alerted to the fact that proceedings started last month.
She said she wanted to set the record straight about the assault charges that landed her son Gleb in custody for the last time. She wanted the jury to know her son did not break his older sister’s nose during a fight. She said her daughter’s face was bruised and did not require a doctor’s attention.
“He was not a violent criminal,” Alfyorova said. “He was just a troubled kid who lost reality.”
Gleb hanged himself on May 13, 2008 with his shoelaces in cell 12 at Syl Apps Youth Centre in Oakville while awaiting a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation. He had turned 17 just five days earlier. A court in Oshawa had intended for the boy to be sent to a hospital and cared for by doctors and nurses during a 30-day psychiatric evaluation but through a series of stunning miscommunications, he was transferred to a jail instead where he rarely left his cell and had almost no interaction with staff.
The inquest heard that Gleb would make strange noises in his cell, sometimes chanting or screaming “Rescue me!” in the middle of the night. After his death, staff discovered disjointed messages he had scribbled all over his walls in pencil that talked about hate and suffering. One said “hoping for a present.”
Alfyorova’s testimony began after more than three hours of private discussions with coroner’s counsel and other lawyers about what the Pickering woman planned to say and could not say. She was finally permitted to testify so long as she didn’t tell the jury that she only learned about the inquest through the Star. Jurors are not permitted to follow media coverage of the inquest and lawyers believed such a reference would taint the panel.
Her evidence lasted about 20 minutes.
When Alfyorova finished, the 11 lawyers representing parties with standing at the inquest — including various government agencies, the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, doctors assigned to care for Gleb, Legal Aid, a mental health advocacy group and the Criminal Lawyers Association — began their final submissions.
Suzan Fraser, representing Ontario’s youth advocate, described Gleb as a lost boy.
“Lost in a system, lost in a facility, lost to us, his friends and his family . . . lost in plain sight,” she said.
There were screw-ups in the court process, the inquest heard.
Gleb pleaded guilty to assaulting his sister at the first opportunity. He had no lawyer and insisted at first that he didn’t need one. He just wanted to be sentenced and serve his time.
“Gleb became lost in the maze of the court and mental health processes,” Fraser said.
At the Crown’s urging, the court recommended Gleb receive an in-depth assessment to determine criminal responsibility.
The assessment raised further questions about who would pay for it and where it would happen.
The inquest heard this type of psychiatric assessment is rarely used for youth and is discouraged by good defence lawyers for adults because it can lead to “indefinite detention.”
The Youth Criminal Justice Act has better options for dealing with mentally ill youth, said lawyer Anita Szigeti, representing the Criminal Lawyers Association and the Empowerment Council.
“Had Gleb had his own lawyer, I think he would be alive today,” Szigeti said.
The inquest continues on Wednesday with final submissions to the jury."
The story ca be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1027363--jail-death-of-mentally-ill-teen-was-preventable-inquest-told
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 found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
