UWO Student’s Charges Stayed…

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Posted By: Ryan Venables January 27, 2010

In an interesting twist, the Crown has decided to stay all charges against fourth year UWO student Irnes Zeljkovic.

Zeljkovic’s incident involving UWO Campus and London Police made national headlines late last year when he was arrested in what some described as nothing more than police brutality.  I qualified the arrest both here and on CFRB 1010’s Jim Richard’s Show by saying that I thought all aspects minus the baton strikes were acceptable.

Although no details were released about what transpired in court, Zeljkovic’s lawyer, Phillip Millar of Cohen Highley plans on talking with UWO officials first about his client’s reinstatement and then one can only assume about a potential settlement regarding the arrest.

Also last year, UWO officials hired former OPP Commissioner Gwen Boniface to investigate the incident.  To date, no information has been release with respect to her independent investigation.

About the Author

Ryan Venables
Ryan Venables is a third year law student at the University of Western Ontario. He holds B.A. (2001) from the University of Western Ontario in Political Science and Sociology. Ryan was also enrolled in a M.A.- Journalism at the University of Western Ontario before withdrawing to attend law school. Before pursuing a formal education in law, Ryan served with the York Regional Police as a police officer for five years specializing in organized crime. He also served in the Special Investigations Section with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for two years. His legal interests include employment/labour, criminal, family, and human rights law. When Ryan is done law school he will be articling with Ross & McBride LLP in Hamilton, Ontario.

3 Comments on "UWO Student’s Charges Stayed…"

  1. Lawrence Gridin | January 28, 2010 at 2:31 am |

    The accused got mental health diversion, and that is the reason for the stay. It likely had nothing at all to do with any concerns about police (mis)conduct.

    London has an excellent “therapeutic court”, aka mental health court. I believe Justices Livingstone, McGowan, and now Skowronski have done a fabulous job of making the therapeutic court an example for many other jurisdictions to follow. The court is about treatment, rather than punishment.

  2. Omar Ha-Redeye | January 28, 2010 at 7:47 pm |

    Here’s to hoping that “Justices Livingstone, McGowan, and now Skowronski” read Lawrence’s commendation.

  3. Ryan Venables | January 29, 2010 at 1:42 am |

    Although I cannot comment on diversion programs, I do agree they are useful at certain times. However, in this situation I would think had this actually gone to trial, the result would have been the same regardless of the availability of a diversion program.

    In the end, so long as the result best suits those utilizing the services then it was a “win” for all involved.

Comments are closed.