Coverup rumours 'obscene' says veteran cop
Author: Trevor Pritchard
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A veteran city cop told the Cornwall Public Inquiry he considered rumours which spread throughout the community that police were covering up a pedophile ring "disgusting" and "obscene."

Staff Sgt. Garry Derochie carried out a number of internal investigations into how the Cornwall Community Police Service handled sexual abuse allegations in the 1980s and 1990s.

He was also assigned on more than one occasion to probe the on-the-job conduct of Perry Dunlop, the former cop whose actions helped spark the Ontario Provincial Police's four-year Project Truth investigation.

"The whole idea of members of the Cornwall police service conspiring to protect pedophiles was obscene in my mind," Derochie told Dallas Lee, an attorney for The Victims Group.

Multiple lawyers scrutinized nearly a decade's worth of Dunlop's police work Wednesday, as Derochie wrapped up his ninth day on the stand.

In 1993, Dunlop discovered that an abuse victim who made allegations against a local priest had received a $32,000 payout from the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese.

That man, David Silmser, alleged that Rev. Charles MacDonald had sexually abused him on several occasions when he was an altar boy. Dunlop turned Silmser's files over to the Children's Aid Society in September 1993.

MacDonald was one of 15 men later charged with sex crimes under Project Truth. His charges were stayed in 2002 after a judge determined they'd taken too long to come to trial.

MacDonald's lawyer, Michael Neville, asked Derochie's opinion on comments Dunlop gave to a reporter, where he said there was "never a doubt" about the truth of Silmser's allegations.

"Have you ever heard of an experienced senior investigator making a comment like that to the media?" asked Neville.

"No . . . not in our system," Derochie said.

Such public statements about ongoing investigations, Derochie said, could lead to trials being held "without the presumption of innocence."

Neville also highlighted comments made under oath by another victim known only as C-8.

During the 2000 sexual assault trial of Marcel Lalonde, a local teacher, C-8 testified that Dunlop encouraged him to lie in a statement he gave to the OPP three years earlier.

Neville suggested C-8's evidence "epitomizes" why Cornwall police had given Dunlop an order to disclose any conversations he had outside the office with alleged victims.

"Certainly, this was an extreme example," Derochie replied.

But when Neville tried to suggest Dunlop's defiance towards authority had hardly changed in the 15 years since 1993, Frank Horn, a lawyer for the Coalition for Action, leaped to Dunlop's defence.

Horn called Neville's line of questioning an attempt to "bring out all kinds of allegations against (Dunlop)" without the former officer being able to defend himself.

Horn's remarks were quickly seized upon by inquiry commissioner Normand Glaude.

"That Mr. Dunlop is not here to defend himself is his choice," said Glaude. Dunlop is currently serving a six-month jail sentence for contempt after he refused last fall to testify.

Along with the Silmser investigation, Derochie also explored the force's handling of abuse allegations made against Earl Landry Jr., the son of a former police chief, and complaints by former Children's Aid Society ward Jeanette Antoine.

Derochie testified he never uncovered any evidence of a police coverup or a conspiracy.

Today is expected to be Derochie's 10th and final day at the inquiry. Only Silmser - who testified for 12 days over four months in early 2007 - has spent more time on the stand than Derochie.

After Derochie, the inquiry will hear from Staff Sgt. Luc Brunet, who was directly involved with the Silmser investigation.

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