Judge dismisses Crown application in Robin McGrath case, doesn't rule out witness collusion
The provincial court judge overseeing the trial of a school principal has dismissed an application to use the allegations against Robin McGrath to establish a pattern of behaviour.
Robin McGrath stands charged on four counts of assault and one count of uttering threats toward children in a K-7 school in Conception Bay South. During his trial, witnesses raised 13 different allegations against the man who was their boss during the 2017-2018 school year.
All 13 allegations still stand, but they will have to be proven one by one. Friday's decision means one cannot be used to back up another.
The application by Crown prosecutor Shawn Patten sought to use the testimony for all the allegations collectively to show that he was capable of committing the acts for which he is charged.
It's called similar fact evidence.
When admissible, a prosecutor can use evidence from one charge to show that a person is capable of committing all of the offences for which they are charged, effectively bolstering their case on the strength of the allegations as a whole.
In order for it to be ruled admissible in this case, prosecutor Shawn Patten needed to prove all the allegations were similar in nature.
Orr said elements of the evidence were consistent — the allegations were usually McGrath getting physical toward children with disabilities as a form of discipline — but on the whole, it wasn't similar enough to pass the legal tests to be ruled admissible and establish a modus operandi.
There was also the issue of all the witnesses speaking to each other before going to police. McGrath's lawyers said this amounted to collusion, but Crown prosecutor Shawn Patten disagreed.
In the end, the judge said Patten hadn't done enough to prove there was no collusion.
"I am not satisfied that the Crown has shown on a balance of probabilities that the evidence was not intentionally tainted by collusion," Orr said. "It was clear that all the witnesses discussed the evidence with each other and did so on more than one occasion."
The 13 allegations that came up at trial spanned the school year, and only came out that June when a student assistant went to the guidance counsellor. More staff members came forward, and several of them spoke with each other before meeting with a human resources rep from the school board, and then investigators from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.
Those allegations included dragging a child into a cold shower, grabbing the faces of several students, picking them up in their chairs and slamming them to the floor, pinching an ear, stepping on a hand, and digging his fingers into a child's "pressure point."
Lawyers will be back in court next month to handle closing submissions. Orr will then decide whether to find McGrath guilty or not.
