A Belleville court hearing that was supposed to deal with the sentencing of an accused man instead turned into a blistering indictment of Ontario’s correctional system after Central East Detention Centre failed to get him to court — and then seemingly failed to explain why.
A transcript of the events obtained by Today’s Northumberland shows by the time the courtroom finally connected with the accused by telephone, it was nearly 6 p.m.
The judge had been waiting since a scheduled 2 p.m. appearance.
The Crown was waiting.
Defence counsel was waiting.
A court reporter was waiting.
And two complainants — including one who had travelled approximately six hours each way, including arranging child care — were waiting.
But the accused was not there.
And neither was anyone from Central East prepared to explain what had happened.
Justice Robert Horton was clearly furious.
“This isn’t something that is acceptable,” Horton told the courtroom. “The delays that this creates are not acceptable and the responses of our Governmental Institution is not.”
Then came the judge’s most explosive assessment:
“Using the vernacular quite frankly, we’re letting the inmates run the Institution. It’s not appropriate.”
The extraordinary proceedings unfolded July 30 in Belleville after the accused, Wayne Moyles, was supposed to appear in person for plea and sentencing.
Instead, the court was told there were problems getting him from Central East to Quinte Detention Centre, where arrangements had apparently been made for his transportation to court.
Initially, the Crown was told the problem was a broken transport van at Quinte.
Then Defence lawyer Dawn Quelch discovered something very different.
Moyles had apparently never even arrived at Quinte.
Quelch told the judge she had been advised when she arrived at court that her client had not been transported because he was medically unfit.
But when she managed to make contact with Central East, she was told the institution had no information about a medical problem and that Moyles had been on its video-court list since the beginning of the day.
The defence lawyer was scathing.
She told the judge the entire proceeding had already been attempted twice before.
On one occasion, Moyles had required emergency heart surgery.
On another, he had been living in a homeless shelter and failed to attend court.
He was eventually arrested on a warrant and returned to the jurisdiction.
This time, however, the defence argued that the failure was not on the accused, the Crown or the victims.
It was the correctional institution.
And the consequences were substantial.
Two complainants had been prepared to attend court and provide victim impact statements.
One woman, identified in court as Ashley, told the judge she had travelled to attend.
“I drive to Ottawa to drop my children off for child care and then I drive here so it’s a six-hour long trip each way,” she said.
The judge was clearly troubled by the situation.
He questioned what happens to victims who lose time, income, incur travel costs and arrange child care because they relied on a court order stating that the accused would be present.
“This is not their fault,” Horton said.
“It’s not the Defence’s fault. It’s not the Crown’s fault. It falls at the feet of the Institution.”
The judge also said the Crown had experienced similar problems.
Horton said he had repeatedly encountered difficulties involving Central East, including problems with transportation and video appearances.
He said court orders were being made directing institutions to produce accused people, only for those people not to appear.
“Those Judge’s Orders have been made and are being used regularly now and on more than one occasion, individuals that have been due here for significant reasons, have not made, as they say — as they term, ‘Didn’t make the bus.’”
“That’s not satisfactory.”
The judge said correctional officials had effectively taken decisions upon themselves about whether prisoners would attend court.
“Central East has taken it on themselves — sometimes simply Officers, other times, Superintendent perhaps — making decisions and not even conveying those decisions; just making them.”
And he wasn’t finished.
Horton said he had previously threatened to require the Superintendent to personally appear in court over similar problems.
This time, he followed through.
He ordered Central East to have a representative attend and explain what happened.
The court waited.
And waited.
At one point, the judge said the Superintendent could simply drive to the courthouse if the institution could not arrange a video or telephone appearance.
“I’ll wait,” Horton said.
Still, nobody appeared.
Central East eventually connected with the court by telephone, but the judge’s frustration only grew.
The accused himself told the court that he had been isolated because a cellmate had been sick. He said he had been cleared from isolation but remained at the institution and had not been brought to court.
A correctional officer eventually appeared by telephone.
She explained she had been directed to make the call but was not the person responsible for answering the judge’s questions.
Horton made it clear he was not blaming her.
“I’m not shooting the messenger,” he said.
He wanted management.
But management didn’t immediately appear.
The court was told the manager was dealing with another incident somewhere inside the facility.
Meanwhile, the judge and everyone else continued to wait.
At one point, Horton noted that the court had officially closed at 4:30 p.m.
It was now well into the evening.
“We’re already on overtime for about eight people in this courtroom,” he said.
The defence lawyer pointed out that Legal Aid doesn’t pay overtime.
The sentencing had already collapsed.
The victims had spent hours waiting.
The Crown had spent hours waiting.
Court staff had spent hours waiting.
And the judge had spent much of his day waiting for a correctional institution to produce someone who was supposed to be there at 2 p.m.
Horton finally made his position unmistakable.
“I’m making it very clear today that I’m addressing this matter once and for all.”
He said the issue was creating further court backlog — precisely the problem Ontario has been trying to address for years.
“And the province doesn’t seem to understand that,” he said.
“The Institutions are giving — taking license and that’s going to stop!”
The sentencing was eventually rescheduled for August 24 at 9 a.m.
A separate court appearance to address the correctional institution’s conduct was scheduled for August 7 at 9 a.m.
And Horton made another decision: future attendances involving Central East management would be in person.
The judge had heard enough about video links that failed, telephone systems that didn’t work and accused people who simply never arrived.
At one point he described Central East’s repeated conduct as a “constant issue.”
Defence counsel told him she had witnessed other judges experience the same “degree of disrespect.”
Horton responded with two words that perhaps summed up the entire extraordinary day:
“Full stop.”
For the victims, it meant another delay in a case they had already endured for years.
For the Crown and defence, it meant another wasted court appearance.
For taxpayers, it meant another day of courtroom resources being consumed without the matter being resolved.
And for Justice Horton, it meant one more warning to Ontario’s correctional system:
**The courts give the orders.
The institutions are expected to follow them.**
And on this day, the judge made it clear he had run out of patience.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
