Ex-bartender is furious after charges are stayed
Woman says accusation in Legion theft has damaged her reputation
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, April 17, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A former bartender at the Yellowknife Royal Canadian Legion is furious after a charge of theft against her was stayed in territorial court earlier this week.
Theft charges against a former Legion bartender have been stayed. Hellen Leaman said she shouldn't have been charged in the first place. Ex-employee Mary Charles remains charged with theft over $5,000 after more than $60,000 in cash and alcohol allegedly went missing from the Legion. - NNSL file photo |
Hellen Leaman, 49, was charged with theft over $5,000, along with Mary Charles, 42, on Jan. 30 after the Legion accused the women of stealing more than $60,000 in money and alcohol over a six-month period. Charles' charge remains before the court but the stayed charge against Leaman likely means she is off the hook should Crown prosecutors decide not to revive the charge within the year.
Nonetheless, Leaman, who was not in court Tuesday as the charge was stayed, said the damage to her reputation has already been done. She said she should never have been charged in the first place.
"Obviously, they didn't investigate into it before they laid the charges is what I am assuming," said Leaman.
"They should have looked into it a little bit better. I feel good but I still think it was wrong. I've been trashed, my name has been trashed. It's going to be hard to get a job."
The stayed charge is still sinking in and she hasn't considered her next step, including whether to launch legal action for wrongful prosecution, said Leaman.
Leaman's lawyer Charles Davison said he hopes the media attention that surrounded his client when she was charged will also be given to her now that the charge has been stayed.
When a charge is stayed before the courts, prosecutors have 12 months to reintroduce the charge, although that rarely happens. According to the Criminal Code of Canada, if a year goes by without the charge being re-laid, it is treated as though the charge was never laid in the first place.
Lloyd Lush, local president of the Legion, previously said the charges were laid following an internal audit, during which the Legion's bookkeeper had noticed an irregularity in the organization's finances, Lush said.
Jeannie Scott, the Crown prosecutor on the case, said the charge was stayed because there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.
"We did not have evidence necessary to proceed with the charges," she said. "We put a lot of care and attention into reviewing the evidence and that was our determination."
The Crown has said that five days of video surveillance is part of the evidence. The charge against Charles is still in place and she remains out on bail. Charles, who had been a full-time bartender at the Legion for three or four years, is back in court on April 28.
