An Ontario judge has stayed charges against an accused child predator facing a "strong" case, saying police misconduct and officers' treatment of the defendant meant stopping the proceedings was necessary to protect the integrity of the justice system.
The Toronto Police Service arrested Simitkumar Patel at 9:35 a.m. on March 9, 2023.
Patel allegedly believed he had been speaking online with a 13-year-old girl named Amelie, but after he arrived at Toronto's York Mills Centre expecting to meet her, he was confronted by police and arrested.
In the days following the sting operation, Ontario Justice David Porter said police and jail staff lied to Patel, improperly interrogated him, failed to give him proper access to a lawyer, let him go hungry by denying him vegetarian food and failed to ensure he appeared in court promptly.
The officer in charge of the investigation, Det. Guy Kama, also gave "untruthful or misleading" testimony in court, Porter found.
"The police truly screwed this one up," Jeff Hershberg, a criminal defence lawyer not involved in the case, told CBC News.
"When you have a confluence of errors and lying on the stand — trying to mislead a judge — the only result that should come is dismissal of the charges," Hershberg said.
Patel faced four criminal charges, including luring a child, making child pornography and possessing child pornography. His lawyer, Stephanie DiGiuseppe, declined to comment on the record. Kama did not respond to inquiries from CBC News.