Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Cop: Victim 'not in jeopardy'
By SARAH GREEN, TORONTO SUNA Durham Region police officer defended his decision to release Ralph Hadley after he was charged with assaulting his wife, saying he posed no threat to her safety.
Det.-Const. Bruce Kelly told a coroner's inquest yesterday that Hadley, 34, was released with a number of conditions hours after he was arrested and charged on Jan. 8, 2000 with assaulting Gillian Hadley.
The arrest came one day after Hadley slapped his wife across the face, grabbed her hair and banged her head against a wall after bursting in on her in another man's bed.
Among the conditions of Hadley's release was an order to not communicate with Gillian and to stay away from their Pickering home.
"I felt her safety and the safety of her children were not in jeopardy at all," said Kelly, a 27-year veteran. "Had they been, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind I would have sent him to bail court the next day."
The inquest has heard that Hadley was charged again in February after stalking and repeatedly phoning his wife.
Hadley later killed his wife in a murder-suicide last June.
During cross-examination, Geri Sanson, lawyer for the Ontario Association of Interval and Transitional Housing, said Kelly did not ask a number of key questions before deciding to release Hadley, instead of sending him to bail court.
She also said Kelly outlined for Gillian only the restrictions that could be put on her husband's release.
Kelly said Hadley "in all likelihood" would have been released on bail even if he had gone to court.
Copyright © 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership.