RCMP need more domestic violence training: report on N.B. professor's murder
Last Updated: Thursday, April 2, 2009 | 3:51 PM AT
CBC News
Prof. John McKendy was found dead in his home just outside Fredericton on Oct. 31, 2008.
(CBC)RCMP officers need more training in how to assess the risks involved in cases of domestic violence, according to a report on the murder of a New Brunswick university professor.
The body of St. Thomas University Prof. John McKendy, 59, was found in his home just outside Fredericton on Oct. 31, 2008.
His son-in-law, Nicholas Wade Baker, 27, was charged with first-degree murder and was later found dead in the parking lot of a Moncton motel. Police ruled out foul play in Baker's death.
RCMP had been investigating Baker for credit-card theft, car theft and fraud but did not investigate a series of threatening emails they were told about by members of McKendy's family, who worried Baker might become violent.
Nicholas Wade Baker was found dead in the parking lot of a Moncton motel after the killing of McKendy. (RCMP)The review found that the police investigation was too focused on the theft and fraud cases and Baker's mental health, and not enough attention was paid to factors that might lead to domestic violence.
The review also noted a communications breakdown between the Canadian Border Services Agency and the RCMP that resulted in the RCMP not knowing Baker had returned to New Brunswick from the U.S. prior to McKendy's murder.
The report said the RCMP had issued a request for border guards to watch for Baker, who had fled to the U.S. while he was being investigated on the criminal offences, but they only became aware he had returned to Canada after McKendy's murder.
Assistant Commissioner Darrell LaFosse, the RCMP's commander in New Brunswick, ordered the review to examine how the force dealt with the investigation of Baker prior to the murder.
Last November, LaFosse admitted the force erred in their discussion of the email threats with the media.
LaFosse told reporters that an earlier statement by the police saying they did not know about threatening emails from Baker was not true.
LaFosse said the RCMP had, in fact, been informed of the threats. A member of the McKendy family had spoken to a Mountie on Oct. 27 about the emails, La Fosse said.
Thursday's report noted there was no significant contravention of policy or procedure in the police's handling of the case.
In a joint statement issued Thursday, McKendy’s daughter, Colleen Wakeham McKendy and Carol Wakeham, the mother of his two daughters, said they "applauded and endorsed" the reviews and recommendations.
"John McKendy was a peace activist, committed to nonviolence in all forms. It is our hope that his tragic death will serve as a catalyst for change in the way police respond to threats of domestic violence," their statement said.
