Norfolk OPP cop convicted of assault

These are violations by the Ontario Provincial Police officers dealing with the Criminal Code of Canada, Controlled Substance and Abuse Act, Customs and Excise Act, etc.

Norfolk OPP cop convicted of assault

Postby Thomas » Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:35 pm

SIMCOE - A 10-year veteran of the Norfolk OPP has been banned from possessing weapons for 18 months and fined $300 after being convicted of three counts of assault.

Const. Thomas Dell must also enter a DNA sample into a national data base and complete a Partner Assault Response program.

Dell was charged in August 2015 and has been on desk duty since.

The charges arose in connection with three incidents in Port Dover in 2013 and 2015 involving Dell and his estranged wife Kelly Dell.

The Huron County OPP handled the investigation and ultimately pressed charges.

The trial was held over two days in Simcoe last November and December and a third day in April in Welland. Justice Ann Watson registered the conviction in St. Catharines on June 9.

Court heard the two met at the Norfolk detachment of the OPP and started dating. Kelly Dell at the time was a crisis intervention worker with the Norfolk OPP. She later left the OPP for a position at Haldimand-Norfolk Women's Services and was employed at the women's shelter in Simcoe.

"Although this is a 'he said, she said' trial, after an assessment of the totality of the evidence, I find the complainant (Kelly Dell) to be a credible witness and the evidence of the defendant is rejected," Watson says in her judgement. "I do not have a reasonable doubt about his guilt on all three counts and, on the evidence I do accept, I find that the Crown has proved the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt."

The court heard that Thomas Dell would frequently phone and text his wife at the shelter when they were in the midst of one of their numerous disputes.

On one occasion, shelter staff told the police officer his behaviour was inappropriate, that he was an abuser, and that he had to get off the property. Shelter staff followed up with a complaint to the Norfolk OPP.

He was wearing his police uniform when he showed up at her sister's house looking for her and started banging on doors, Kelly Dell testified.

She told the court she stayed in the marriage as long as she did because she was embarrassed to admit she had entered into an abusive relationship.

The OPP's Professional Standards Bureau opened a file on Thomas Dell once the charges were pressed.

On Friday, Staff Sgt. Peter Leon, senior spokesperson for the OPP, said the bureau's investigation will proceed once all avenues of appeal are exhausted. Part of the bureau's mandate is to determine an officer's suitability for duty.

"A thorough and detailed review of the criminal process that has just concluded must occur in order to determine the course of action the OPP will pursue next," Leon said in an email. "Once this determination is complete (within six weeks) the OPP will be in a better position to speak to this matter."

Dell has 30 days to decide whether he wishes to appeal.

http://www.simcoereformer.ca/2017/06/27 ... of-assault
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