He is scheduled to appear in court again on March 18. Author of the article: Aedan Helmer Publishing date: Feb 25, 2022 • 5 hours ago • 4 minute read
A second key figure in the so-called “Freedom Convoy” has lost his bid for freedom as Pat King was denied bail Friday, while fellow accused convoy leader Tamara Lich will mount a court challenge next week for her release.
Lich, 49, was denied bail in a decision on Tuesday by Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois, who expressed concern there was a substantial likelihood Lich would reoffend if released.
On Friday, Justice of the Peace Andrew Seymour cited the same concern regarding King, 44, and said the proposed surety — an Alberta woman named Kerry Komix who met King four weeks ago while also travelling to Ottawa to participate in the “occupation” — did not meet the criteria to provide adequate supervision of King.
Seymour said the woman had no “meaningful links” to King and lacked the “ability or authority” to monitor his online interactions with other accused convoy leaders or with his vast social media following.
“The court would be taking an unacceptable risk entrusting the supervision of Mr. King to Ms. Komix,” Seymour said, and he ordered King detained on those grounds.
The justice at one point said he had been made aware of several livestreams of Friday’s highly-anticipated bail hearing and issued a stern warning to those violating the longstanding court order prohibiting the broadcast of court proceedings.
“You are breaking the law,” he said.
The hearing featured an unexpected twist when the Crown requested an early start Friday to present evidence that King allegedly breached court conditions in 2016 by purchasing a restricted handgun two days after an Alberta court ordered him to turn in his firearms.
Assistant Crown Attorney Moiz Karimjee cited what he called “significantly relevant” new evidence and asked the justice to reopen the bail hearing, a move Seymour noted would be rare at this stage of proceedings.
King was charged with uttering threats on Sept. 4, 2016, and Karimjee said he was released on a condition to surrender any firearms he owned to police in Alberta.
He complied with the order by turning his rifle over to RCMP, but Karimjee said King bought a restricted handgun two days later.
The gun was never surrendered and has not been reported lost or stolen.
Karimjee cited the “disturbing” videos court was shown on Tuesday of the three-week demonstration that flooded downtown Ottawa streets, in particular a widely-circulated clip where King said the protest would “end with bullets.”
When court resumed Friday afternoon, Seymour denied the Crown in its application to reopen its case and to call further evidence on the firearm allegation, noting King was not charged with any violent crimes.
“Mr. King repeatedly states in the videos that he does not want the demonstration to be violent, and frequently implores participants to refrain from engaging with the police and to remain peaceful,” Seymour said. “The allegations here relate to mischief and the counselling of others to commit mischief, obstruct police and disobey court orders.”
The justice sided with the Crown in its bid to keep King in custody, however, and said there was “overwhelming” evidence to support the Crown’s case.
“There is evidence of videos Mr. King himself posted. They are his words coming directly from his mouth. There is substantial evidence supporting his participation and leadership of the Freedom Convoy,” the justice said.
King’s defence lawyer, Cal Rosemond, had argued King would comply with all court-imposed conditions if released and said Komix would ensure his compliance.
The Crown’s evidence “suggests otherwise,” Seymour said.
“That evidence paints a portrait of an individual who has clear intention to continue his protest and is indifferent to the consequences. Some of his remarks reference firearms, and ominous allusions to the future…
“Given the nature of Mr. King’s recorded comments, coupled with a history of criminality and no evidence to the contrary as to any change in his intentions,” Seymour said, there is a “substantial likelihood” King would continue committing similar offences.
Seymour rejected the bail plan proposed by King’s lawyer, which included a $50,000 bond from Komix and a plan to drive King back to Alberta to live in a spare room in her home, where he would have no unsupervised access to the internet and no communication with fellow convoy leaders.
That proposal also included a GPS monitoring ankle bracelet, which Seymour noted would have “little value” in limiting King’s access to the internet.
He questioned the commitment Komix had to the administration of justice after evidence surfaced that she was named as an organizer of an online cryptocurrency fundraiser for the convoy, along with King and others.
She denied having much knowledge of the fundraiser, and Seymour said he could draw only two inferences from that, neither casting Komix as a reliable surety.
“The first (inference) is that Ms. Komix is firmly entrenched among the leaders of the Freedom Convoy,” Seymour said. “The second is that she is easily manipulated by those who are.”
Seymour said he accepted the Crown’s assertion that King “could be liable for a lengthy term of imprisonment” if convicted for his role in the convoy.
“The allegations are extremely serious,” Seymour said. “It involved a takeover of the downtown core of Ottawa. It was premeditated, it was prolonged, it involved a sophisticated and high degree of planning, and it continued despite warnings to cease… The offences were an attack on the rule of law.”
King is due to appear in court next on March 18.
ahelmer@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/helmera
