Oct 10
6
National Post condemns McGuinty’s war on self-defence
National Post – October 6, 2010
Ordinary citizen vs. ‘the system’
By Lorne Gunter
Crown prosecutors had better come up with some pretty remarkable evidence against David Chen, the Toronto green grocer, when he goes to trial today; because if the case is more or less as it appears to be – i.e., small business owner captures habitual thief, then is charged with assault for his efforts – the Crown’s prosecution of Mr. Chen will have done tremendous damage to the credibility of Canada’s justice system. Mr. Chen performed a citizen’s arrest in May 2009 against Anthony Bennett after Mr. Bennett had stolen a tray of flowers from Mr. Chen’s shop and then returned an hour later. The grocer recognized Mr. Bennett, a well-known petty criminal in the neighbourhood, with a conviction record going back 33 years. Along with two of his employees, Mr. Chen chased Mr. Bennett into an alley outside the store, tackled him, tied him up and held him in the back of a delivery van until police arrived. For this, police charged Mr. Chen with assault, kidnapping and forcible confinement.
In their zeal to “get” Mr. Chen, prosecutors even cut a deal with Mr. Bennett. In return for his testimony, the Crown got Mr. Bennett’s sentence reduced by two-thirds. This is the aspect of the case I find most offensive. Crown prosecutors are so intent on making an example of Mr. Chen that they see nothing inherently wrong in cutting a deal with Mr. Bennett. They are happy to cozy up to a man who has a history of convictions in an effort to throw the book at a law-abiding citizen, which is why I hope prosecutors have some stunning revelation to offer at Mr. Chen’s trial. That would be the only way they could justify their actions.
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National Post – October 6, 2010
Editorial: Letting us protect ourselves
Today, Toronto store owner David Chen should finally have his day in court. One-and-a-half years ago police charged Mr. Chen in connection with the capture and detention of shoplifter Anthony Bennett. After numerous delays, including another extension granted to the Crown this week for its inability to play a videotape and locate an accredited Mandarin interpreter, the trial is at last set to proceed.
The facts of the case are not in dispute. On May 23, 2009, Anthony Bennett stole $60 worth of plants from Mr. Chen’s Lucky Moose Food Mart in Toronto’s Chinatown. Mr. Chen did not witness the theft first-hand, but saw it on surveillance video. An hour later, for an unknown reason, Mr. Bennett returned to the Lucky Moose. Mr. Chen and two employees chased Mr. Bennett, caught him, tied him up and put him in the back of a delivery van.
Witnesses to the capture called 911, as did Mr. Chen, and police arrived. They charged Mr. Bennett with petty theft. They also charged Mr. Chen and his employees with assault, forcible confinement and carrying a concealed weapon (a box cutter Mr. Chen carried in his pocket, to open cases of produce) and kidnapping. The Crown subsequently dropped the last two charges.
At issue is the scope and interpretation of Canada’s citizen’s arrest laws. As they are currently written, anyone can arrest without warrant a person whom he finds committing an offence, or a person who, on reasonable grounds, he believes has committed a criminal offence and is escaping from and freshly pursued by the authorities. Furthermore, a property owner can arrest without warrant a person whom he finds committing an offence against that property; he must then forthwith deliver the person to a peace officer.
The crucial terms are “finds,” “freshly pursued” and “forthwith.” Technically, Mr. Chen did not “find” Mr. Bennett stealing his plants; he saw the theft on videotape. Mr. Bennett was also not being “freshly pursued” by authorities; no police chase was underway when Mr. Chen apprehended him. Finally, the thief was not delivered “forthwith” to police, but was detained in Mr. Chen’s van until police arrived.
The circumstances of the case, however, belie a black-letter interpretation of the law. Mr. Bennett was a career thief and drug addict, with a criminal record over 30 years long. He was well known to shopkeepers in Chinatown, where he stole regularly. Mr. Chen was a law-abiding small businessman, an immigrant who worked night and day to run his store and support his family. He and his fellow shopowners were tired of being victimized by the Anthony Bennetts of this world – and of the justice system failing to deter their crimes.