 |
 Suspended Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Kevin Gregson arrives to his court appearance in the back of a police cruiser in Ottawa December 30, 2009. REUTERS/Blair Gable |
A suspended RCMP officer accused of killing an Ottawa cop was put on suicide watch and ordered not to contact five potential witnesses — including his former and current wife and two children — in court yesterday.
Kevin Gregson, 43, stood impassive in a rumpled blue shirt in the prisoner’s box, his gaze fixed on the floor and his hands clasped in front of him.
He didn’t look at his elderly parents during his first, brief appearance on charges of first-degree murder, robbery and using an imitation handgun.
His parents huddled together, appearing bewildered, in a courtroom crowded with reporters, sketch artists and grim-faced police officers who sought a first glimpse of the man accused of killing their colleague, 51-year-old Const. Eric Czapnik.
A half-dozen burly tactical team officers were by Gregson’s side and in and around the court room.
“There is an issue with respect to suicidal thoughts,” assistant Crown attorney Brian Holowka told Justice of the Peace Richard Sculthorpe. “I’m obliged to put that on the record ... so care can be taken.”
|
Holowka noted it would be an “imposition” for Gregson not to communicate with the five individuals, who have been or will be interviewed by police.
Gregson’s lawyer, Israel Gencher, asked that his client be put in protective custody because he’s a member of the RCMP.
Gencher said outside of court that it’s a request he’d make for any current or former police officer.
“Police officers have been known to be in danger in custodial institutions,” he said.
Gregson is suspended from the RCMP and still embroiled in an employment dispute with the force that is before the courts, Gencher said.
Asked about the suicide watch, Gencher said “it’s a precaution the police are seeking.
“Something in the course of their interviews has caused them to have concerns.”
Gencher said he has yet to see a DVD or transcript of the police interview — which was far lengthier than any contact he’s had with his client — or hear the basis of the allegations.
He’s considering asking for a psychiatric assessment, but that it would be a common request given the charges and background. Discussing Gregson’s psychiatric state would be “speculative,” he said.
The charges have been a blow to Gregson’s parents. It’s “rocked their world,” Gencher said.
Gregson’s father, who’d held his head in his hands at one point before the hearing, wept in the courtroom after his son was taken away, flanked by armed officers.
Gregson will await his next court appearance Jan. 7 in the local jail.
Gencher said he believes Gregson, who is from Ottawa, has been back in the city for some period of time and has a current wife here and a former wife in Saskatchewan.
He had been an RCMP officer in Saskatchewan before pleading guilty in Regina to threatening a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints bishop with a knife in May 2006. His temple privileges had been revoked.
“You don’t know how many ways I’ve been taught to kill,” Gregson said.
He was on paid leave from the RCMP when he pleaded guilty in 2007 received a conditional discharge and 18 months probation.
He was ordered to resign or face dismissal in 2008.
Czapnik was stabbed to death at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday outside the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital as he sat alone in his cruiser writing notes. The father of four was at the hospital on an unrelated call.
megan.gillis@sunmedia.ca