The case of Christopher Husbands, a Guyanese who has been charged with the killing of a man and the wounding of six others at Toronto’s Eaton Centre has sparked controversy in Canada over the systems for background checks and the monitoring of house arrest.
Husbands, 23, had been placed under house arrest on a sexual assault charge, but was later able to secure a counseling job with six to 12 year-olds without a required background check which would have identified the existing charge.
The terms of his house arrest would also have prevented him from leaving his house at will
Husbands, who left Guyana for Canada 12 years ago with his family, is alleged to have shot dead Ahmed Hassan at the popular mall on June 2. Canadian media reports now say that Hassan had apparently stabbed Husbands sometime before during a robbery and that appears to have been the motive for the shooting in a food court of the mall.
Instead of being under house arrest awaiting trial on the sexual assault charge, the June 6 edition of The Globe and Mail said “he was supervising children in an after-school program run by the city, playing soccer with them, helping with homework and taking part in craft-making sessions. Although he did not submit a required criminal background check, he was able to work there for more than six months.”.
The report said that Husbands was fired on May 18, a little over two weeks before the incident at the downtown mall.
Outrage
The revelation touched off outrage at city hall on Wednesday.
The report said that councillors and the mayor condemned the lapse and the parks department instantly eliminated a policy that allows new hires to work with children for up to three months without a background check.
At Stan Wadlow Clubhouse in East York, where Husbands was employed, parents were surprised to learn an alleged sex offender had been working there.
“What is a guy doing in with six- to 12-year-old kids when he’s charged with sexual assault?” said Lorraine Scattarelli, whose eight-year-old daughter, Emily, attends Stan Wadlow. “The most upsetting part is that Emily had developed a friendship with Chris, and it’s hard to explain that the rest of the city is mad at this person”, she told the Globe and Mail.
Emily said Husbands was one of the nicest counsellors.
“He was my friend, he would always ask us how our day was,” she said. “Whatever we needed help with, he would help.”
Sureties
Husbands was charged with sexual assault in November, 2010 and released on Cdn$4,000 bail the next month on condition that he live with one of his two sureties in a Scarborough apartment. He was not to go out except for school or in the company of a surety, the Globe and Mail report added.
In November, 2011, the month he started working for the city, Husbands applied for a background check, which would show any charges or convictions, police spokesman Mark Pugash told the newspaper. The check took about two weeks and his application was “red flagged.”
Husbands was contacted and told to go in for finger printing, but never did. Privacy legislation prevented the police from sharing the information.
According to the Canadian Press, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford told reporters he was “very upset and very disturbed” at the news, saying all city employees should have a criminal-background check, though he didn’t detail what type of background should disqualify people from working for the city.
City spokeswoman Jackie DeSouza declined to say whether the city was aware of Husbands’ criminal history when he was hired last November, or why his employment ended.
House arrest
Meanwhile, debate also raged at Queen’s Park over Ontario’s house arrest and bail system, as Attorney General John Gerretsen brushed off attacks from the Progressive Conservatives over the fact the Eaton Centre suspect was under house arrest at the time.
The Canadian Press said that Husbands’ bail conditions required him to be at his residence at all times, seven days a week, except to go directly to and from school or while in the company of one of his sureties.
Hassan, the man who died in the attack, apparently stabbed the suspect three months ago, CBC News has reported.
Hassan and another man, a 23-year-old who can’t be identified due to a publication ban, were the suspected targets of the shooting, police said.
Despite gang affiliations, police don’t believe the shooting was gang-motivated; rather, “personal aspects” were at play, according to Det. Sgt. Brian Borg.
CBC Sources say that the shooting may have been an act of retribution, as it appears Hassan stabbed the alleged shooter in March while robbing him.
Hassan himself had survived two previous attempts on his life, CBC News has learned. Hassan faced drug charges in Fort McMurray, Alta. — he was charged with cocaine trafficking in January 2010 along with five other people.
He was also charged with obstructing a police officer and possession of stolen goods.
One of Hassan’s co-accused, a 19-year-old man from the Toronto area, was killed three months later in a Fort McMurray apartment.
Hassan fled Alberta last year for Toronto. He also failed to appear in court on the cocaine trafficking charges, and at the time of the Eaton Centre shooting, there were two outstanding warrants for his arrest, CBC reported.
According to the Toronto Star, Norman Boxall, president of the Criminal Lawyers Association, said he wouldn’t comment on the Husbands case, but that people shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the bail system over isolated incidents.
“Bad facts make bad law,” Boxall said. “Presuming someone who is out on bail and is later shown to have committed an offence, it may create a reaction that there’s a problem with the bail system. However, isolated cases are not very helpful.
“One would hope they would not try and look at an isolated case and say, ‘This means there’s a problem with the bail system.’ There are problems with the bail system. It’s not that too many people are released, it’s that too few are released.”
Husbands is expected to appear in court on Aug. 15 for the Eaton Centre shooting.
