STORY: "Ivan Henry's accuser to testify, finally," by reporter Ian Mulgrew, published by the Vancouver Sun on November 15, 2015.
SUB-HEADING: "Key witness in wrongful conviction case never showed up at his trial in 1983."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Ivan Henry was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in 1983. He is suing prosecutors for allegedly breaching his Charter rights after he was acquitted in 2010 of 10 sexual-assault convictions."
GIST: "The ridiculous police lineup photograph with Ivan Henry in a headlock is what most remember about his wrongful conviction for sexual offences. But the real catalyst behind the miscarriage of justice is scheduled to walk into B.C. Supreme Court this week — decades after she failed to testify at his 1983 trial. It will be a dramatic courtroom moment — the kind of emotional scene that occurs usually only on screen or the pages of Erle Stanley Gardner stories. Though Henry clung to a copy of the lineup photo like a talisman during his 27 years in prison, in reality, the picture was a MacGuffin — an attention grabber, but intrinsically irrelevant. The roots of what went wrong lie two months later in the last week of July 1982. The only reason Henry was charged is because an American woman described by police as “a very attractive … 22-year-old,” positively identified him. In spite of his denials, the strength of victim J.F.’s ID gave police what they needed, Det. William Harkema testified in this court case earlier this year: “Had I had the evidence, I would have charged him before that.” On June 17, a month after the bungled lineup left the original investigators stymied, Harkema had been handed sexual assault cases believed to have been committed by one man, the Rip-Off Rapist. By mid-July, he had read the files and, although he had never met him, decided the 35-year-old Henry was the prime suspect. He also decided J.F., who had been assaulted June 8, should be hypnotized by fellow detective Mike Barnard because the initial police report said: “she may be subconsciously locking out some of suspect’s description as she knows she stared at him but had difficulty describing him.” On July 26, after the hypnosis — as discredited an investigative technique as phrenology — Barnard told Harkema that J.F. could probably now identify her attacker. The next day Harkema showed her a photo array of seven men — Henry in front of a cell. He says she picked him out, but didn’t sign the photo array that day. Instead, Harkema came back on July 28 and she signed it then. Over the course of the following four hours, they also produced her five-page statement on foolscap. On July 29, Harkema created an interim report to Crown counsel recommending a charge and went on holidays. Henry was arrested the next day by the RCMP in the Cariboo......... J.F. testified at the preliminary inquiry but did not return for Henry’s trial. Shortly after his conviction, she wrote a veritably tear-stained seven-page letter to Harkema saying she hadn’t wanted to “disappoint him.” Harkema showed his wife the letter: “I’ve been married just about 50 years, so I don’t look at stuff like that too often.” He never gave it to the Crown; he put it in a fireproof, metal box before turning it over to city lawyers in 2011 in the face of this litigation."
The entire story can be found at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com; Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
