A corrections officer incited violence against South West Detention Centre inmate, his lawyer told a Windsor court.
Peter Ketcheson says his client Shaquwone Rose was assaulted after his CO allegedly asked multiple inmates to “take action” against him.
“I call it a hit,” Ketcheson told Justice George King on Tuesday.
“There was evidence to be heard, that (the CO) was calling inmates over to show (on a computer) Mr. Rose’s previous allegations or charges,” Ketcheson argued in court. “There was evidence that (the CO) was providing inmates or offering inmates additional meals – I believe it was two mac and cheese meals – to take action against Mr. Rose.”
Ketcheson alleges the incidents occurred at SWDC in April 2024, while Rose, now 30, was awaiting trial on 11 charges including human trafficking, sexual assault, forcible confinement and advertising sexual services.
“The submission would have been made and, in my view the evidence would have shown, that Mr. Rose was placed in a cell with another inmate who acted on (the CO’s) attempts to incite violence,” Ketcheson told the judge.
SOLGEN won’t comment
The Ministry of the Solicitor General will not confirm the allegations made by Ketcheson, telling CTV News in a statement “The ministry does not publicly discuss human resources matters.”
Spokesperson Brent Ross also wouldn’t say if any SWDC Corrections Officers are currently under investigation by the Corrections Services Oversight Investigation Unit (CSOI), a division of the Ministry.
CTV News reached out to CSOI for comment and was deferred to Ross, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General, who declined to comment.
CTV News is not reporting the name of the CO mentioned repeatedly by Ketcheson as the allegations have not been proven court.
An email to OPSEU Local 135 President Kat DiGiacinto was not returned.
Defence mounts five Charter challenges
The allegations by Ketcheson were made on the first day of what was supposed to be a lengthy hearing for two arguments that his clients’ rights were breached under Sections seven and 12 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“We were about to argue that because of the actions of a certain Correctional Officer, my client’s life was at risk, his safety was at risk,” Ketcheson explained to CTV News in an interview outside the courthouse. “Because of that, we were arguing the matter shouldn’t go to trial, and there should be a stay of proceedings.”
Ketcheson intended to argue Rose’s Section seven right “to life, liberty, and security of the person,” were breached because of the CO’s actions.
He also intended to argue those same actions amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment”, contrary to Section 12.
Ketcheson admits the allegations and his subsequent arguments are rare.
“There was a case last year from Toronto that says that when a guard mistreats an inmate, a stay of proceedings can be an appropriate remedy, but there’s not much case law on it,” Ketcheson said. “So, you’re really trying, to some degree, to tread on uncharted waters.”
On Monday, 13 witnesses were subpoenaed to appear in Superior Court for Ketcheson’s Charter hearing, including the CO at question along with seven other staff members. Five SWDC inmates were also scheduled to testify.
‘Late in the day’ plea agreement ends hearing
“As we were approaching this application, there was discussions with the Crown. We were able to arrive at a joint position that all parties could live with,” Ketcheson said.
His client decided late Monday to plead guilty to three of the lesser charges (forcible confinement, mischief and choking) in exchange for abandoning the Charter arguments.
The remaining charges against him (trafficking a person, two counts of sexual assault, procuring sexual services, receiving financial benefit from sexual services, receiving material benefit from sexual services, advertising sexual services, and assault) were dropped after Rose was sentenced late Tuesday.
“He (Rose) in no way takes the position that what we are alleging happened at South West Detention Center didn’t happen,” Ketcheson said. “It’s rather, just, we got to a point where everyone could live with the resolution.”
Ketcheson and the Assistant Crown Attorneys agreed to a sentence of two years less a day in custody and three years probation.
Rose was incarcerated for a lengthy period between his arrest and the start of the court proceedings, so his sentence was completed with “time already served”.
“(The plea agreement) has taken almost two and a half years to arrive at,” Ketcheson said describing it as “late in the day”.
The facts in the case against Rose and co-accused
The charges against Rose stem from an incident in December 2022 at a short-term rental in Tecumseh, Ont.
A female victim from the Greater Toronto Area told police she was not allowed to leave the apartment after a co-accused to Rose (Hannah Jardine) posted an advertisement offering the victim for sexual services.
The victim’s ex-boyfriend saw the advertisement, and he reached out to her. The woman explained what was happening and she asked her ex-boyfriend to call police.
When the victim tried to leave the apartment, Rose admitted in an Agreed Statement of Facts, he smashed her cellphone and choked her while she laid on the floor.
Jardine and Rose would not give police their correct identification according to court documents.
Jardine, now 24, pleaded guilty on Monday to obstructing a police officer and advertising sexual services.
Six other charges against her were withdrawn including trafficking a person, procuring sexual services, receiving financial benefit from sexual services, receiving material benefit from sexual services, advertising sexual services, sexual assault, obstructing a peace officer and possession of forged documents.
Jardine was also sentenced to two years less a day but given credit for time already served and is now on probation for three years.
Although there was no allegation by Jardine’s lawyer (Norman Panzica) that her section seven and 12 Charter rights were breached, Jardine was included in the plea agreement because she and Rose were to be tried together.
Three other Charter arguments
Panzica and Ketcheson had previously argued their client’s section eight (expectation of privacy) and ten rights (awareness of charge and right to a lawyer) were also breached.
Ketcheson argued police shouldn’t have searched under the sheets of the Tecumseh short-term rental, their clients weren’t given the right to counsel of their choice, a phone call to counsel in a timely manner, and the call after eight hours was not private.
They also argued Jardine did not know what charges she was facing after police arrested her.
“When viewed in isolation, maybe one of those breaches wouldn’t amount to a stay of proceedings, we would be making the global argument that those breaches together would result in a stay of proceedings and then obviously Mr. Rose would, to use a colloquial term, ‘walk’ on all of the charges,” Ketcheson told Justice King.
The judge was scheduled to rule on all the Charter arguments before the two-week trial proper this summer.
The plea agreements by Rose and Jardine ends the court case.
