Charles Smith confessed on Wednesday in Toronto to confidently professing in court that he had expertise in areas where his experience was in fact limited, which in at least one case led to false charges against a mother.

The public inquiry examining the disgraced pathologist's work heard details of inappropriate actions in several of his cases, from visiting a mother suspected of killing her child to expressing opinions about the traits of killer mothers to police and reporters.

Charles Smith, shown framed by his lawyers at the public inquiry into his work, admitted to visiting the mother of one of the children he examined.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Smith was asked questions about the case of Sharon, a seven-year-old who he concluded died of 80 scissor stab wounds.

Second-degree murder charges against the child's mother, Louise Reynolds of Kingston, Ont., were dropped after other experts later concluded the child was mauled by a dog.

Smith said he became involved in the case despite his lack of knowledge about lacerations at the insistence of Ontario's chief coroner's office.

"I certainly recognized that I had limited experience. I now recognize how limited it truly was in terms of this type of injury," Smith told the inquiry.

'There have been many times'

He said his confidence that the marks were stab wounds came in part from several colleagues who supported his findings and pressure from the Crown lawyer to eliminate the possibility they were dog wounds.

Asked by lead commission counsel Linda Rothstein why he didn't admit his ignorance in court, he responded: "I think I was defensive and overly confident. Defensive that I might have missed such a diagnosis and overly confident that such a possibility was so remote as to be non-existent."

"This isn't the only time that this has happened?" asked Rothstein.

"No, there have been many times," Smith responded.

In fact, Rothstein said, Smith told the court that he didn't see any lacerations or tears indicative of teeth marks. He went on to say he'd studied dog, wolf and polar bear wounds.

"As absurd as it is to think that a polar bear attacked Sharon, so it is equally absurd that it's a dog wound," Rothstein cited Smith as saying during the trial.

Rothstein then went on to quote Smith from an interview with a reporter as saying, "I've seen [dog bites] … but I know enough to know that I don't know enough in the area."

Smith admitted to handling very few cases that dealt with lacerations during his time as a pediatric forensic expert at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

The inquiry, headed by Judge Stephen Goudge, was called after a team of forensic experts reviewed Smith's work and found his conclusions of foul play to be questionable in 20 cases, 13 of which resulted in criminal convictions.

The review focused on 45 child autopsies Smith conducted from 1991 to 2002, and was made public in April 2007.

Visited mother suspected in child's death

Smith also acknowledged Wednesday that he made an inappropriate visit to the home of a mother who was suspected in her child's death and was under police surveillance.

'I believe that it is better interpreted as an indicator that when I was asked to do something by the office of the chief coroner, I responded.'

— Charles Smith

The information came from an affidavit from police that detailed how investigators contacted Smith about the case of the Barrie, Ont., child known at the inquiry only as X.

The affidavit, which Smith did not contest, stated that the police contacted the pathologist to inform him that the woman's house had been wiretapped before Smith met with her in September 1996.

Smith acknowledged it wasn't appropriate for a pathologist conducting an autopsy to meet with a suspect in the case, but said the incident was "unique."

"Does it tell us anything about the closeness of your relationship with the police in general?" Rothstein asked.

"No, no," Smith replied.

"I believe that it is better interpreted as an indicator that when I was asked to do something by the office of the chief coroner, I responded."

Smith said the chief coroner's office asked him to make the visit.

"It was somewhat of an unusual request made of me … because I was aware of a potential homicide investigation," Smith said.

"I don't think it was appropriate for a person who has one responsibility in a death investigation to be asked to communicate that information in this kind of environment."

'Misguided' remarks

Smith said the doctor from the coroner's office who asked him to make the visit was also aware of the wiretap.

The conversation with the mother centred around the autopsy report, said Smith, adding that the police gave him "no directions about content, process, where we should sit, no instructions whatsoever."

The affidavit indicates Smith met with police after the interview and told officers that discussing the case with the mother "was like talking to her about a load of gravel."

The inquiry also examined earlier testimony from another police officer about Smith sharing his views about traits common to women who kill their children while he discussed another case of suspicious child death.

Among the commonalities he cited were relationship problems, women looking to get back at their mothers and those engaged in custody battles, the officer said.

Asked whether it was appropriate for him to comment on social risk factors to police, Smith said, "I recognize that that's misguided. Please understand that."

Smith denies comments to publication

Rothstein later produced a 1999 article on Shaken Baby Syndrome in which Smith is quoted as saying, "In all my 18 years of working in the field, I don't know of a single case of death resulting from Shaken Baby Syndrome within a normal traditional family."

'My approach to the autopsy was rather uniform. I would suggest to you that those risk factors did not ultimately colour or affect my diagnosis.'— Charles Smith

"We need to make it harder to walk away from marital commitment and stop the degradation of the family," the quotes attributed to Smith read.

Smith attacked the article as inaccurate and said he didn't remember being interviewed by the publication.

Several of the Smith cases under review involve women raised in broken homes, with children by more than one father.

When Rothstein pressed him on whether his opinions on social circumstances affected his decision in another case, Smith denied they were a factor.

"My approach to the autopsy was rather uniform. I would suggest to you that those risk factors did not ultimately colour or affect my diagnosis."

Earlier in the week, Smith told the inquiry that he was "profoundly ignorant" about the criminal justice system and being an expert witness. He said it took years for him to realize his role as an expert was to be impartial rather than support the prosecution.

With files from the Canadian Press