|
 January
25, 2005: The
Federal government released the first
national examination of the reasons for so many wrongful convictions
in Canada. This
should be required reading for every prosecutor, cop and criminal
defence lawyer in the country. News reports
2005:
Revelation of $30M in
claims paid out over last six years | His winning judgment at the
Ontario Court of Appeal
6 1/2 years
later Kulaveeringsam "Kulam" Karthiresu 's a free man:
'YOU WERE WRONGLY CONVICTED' OF MURDER: JUDGE
By SAM PAZZANO,
TORONTO SUN, Tuesday, March 28, 2000
A Tamil refugee
who spent 6 1/2 years in jail for a murder he swore he never
committed walked out of a Toronto court a free man yesterday.
Superior Court
Justice David Watt apologized to Kulaveeringsam "Kulam"
Karthiresu after Crown attorney Phil Kotanen withdrew a second-degree
murder charge against him.
"You were
wrongly convicted. I cannot return to you the time you spent
in custody," Watt told Karthiresu.
"What
I can do is apologize to you on behalf of the administration
of justice. You, sir, are free to go," Watt said as Karthiresu
wept beside his lawyer James Lockyer.
Karthiresu,
37, was convicted in November 1995 for the May 2, 1993, shooting
death of Sivapiragasam Namasivayam outside a Scarborough house
party.
An appeal court
quashed the conviction and ordered a new trial last month.
The Crown's
office decided to drop the charges instead of proceeding with
a second trial.
"It was
hell. I didn't do this crime. I'm going home now. I'm a free
man," the soft-spoken Karthiresu said outside court.
"I had
never had a problem with the law in my life."
"They
laughed at me when I told them I was innocent and they kept me
in maximum security because of that," he said.
"I want
to go get a job and sponsor my parents to come from India. I
am relieved. People in my community have come up to me in restaurants
and said they knew I didn't do it."
Karthiresu,
who came to Canada in 1991 as a convention refugee, maintained
he was innocent and testified at the trial that another man did
the shooting.
Kotanen said
it was possible Karthiresu could have been acquitted or convicted
of either manslaughter or murder after a second trial but he
would have already served his full sentence for a manslaughter
conviction.
"The evidence
and the witnesses' memories have faded," said Kotanen.
Court decision on Karthiresu Feb. 2000
Eelam
Nation Daily
News to the world on Tamil affairs, Tuesday, March 28/2000
Tamil person
comes out of court in Canada as an innocent
TORONTO: An
innocent Tamil person, Mr. Kulaveerasingham Karthikesu, 37, has
been come out of court yesterday as a free man after arrested
by the local police in November 1995 for the murder case of Sivapiragasam
Namasivayam outside a Scarborough house party in May 1993.
"I cannot
return to you the time you have spent in custody and what we
can do is apologize on behalf of the administration of justice
for your detention. You, sir, are free to go." Mr. Justice
David Watt said.
"Everybody
asked me why I was there in prison, and I explained that I was
an innocent. They laughed at me," Mr. Karthikesu said in
outside of courthouse after freed as an innocent.
He said that
he wants to find a job and sponsor his parents to bring Canada
from India.
Karthiresu,
who came to Canada in 1991 as a convention refugee, maintained
he was innocent and testified at the trial that another man did
the shooting.
The trial was
taken up in court in 1995, the Crown alleged that Mr. Karthiresu
flew into an alcohol fuelled rage when he was kicked in the head
by Mr. Namasivaya during a scuffle.
Throughout
the trial, Mr. Karthikesu and his lawyers maintained his innocence,
claiming that the Crown's star witness, Jeyaseelan Thurasingham,
was in fact the one responsible for the murder.
Ten Crown witnesses
who testified against Mr. Karthikesu later recanted.
Defense Lawyers
of Karthikesu appealed and last month Ontario Chief Justice Roy
McMurtry threw out the murder conviction.
Mr. Karthiresu
was freed with help from the Aid for the Wrongly Convicted
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