The daughter of a wrongfully convicted Nova Scotia man says burying her father subsequent month will renew her intense grief — particularly if a felony investigation into his case stays stalled.
Amanda Huckle says when her father Glen Assoun died about two years in the past, she felt the amassed injustice of the virtually 17 years he spent in a federal jail for a criminal offense he was discovered not responsible of committing.
“As his life left his body, it’s like all his pain just sat in the palm of our hands and we’re left to carry this,” she stated in a phone interview Wednesday.
In March 2019, a Nova Scotia courtroom acquitted Assoun within the 1995 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Lee Means. In the course of the years in jail and the 5 years dwelling beneath strict bail circumstances, Assoun developed debilitating coronary heart diseases and suffered from psychological diseases. He solely acquired a compensation settlement from the federal and provincial governments about two years earlier than he died on the age of 67.
Huckle stated the household is pissed off {that a} police oversight physique hasn’t began a proper probe into whether or not RCMP officers broke the legislation after they destroyed proof related to Assoun’s case.
She stated it could assist if the investigation is launched earlier than the Christian interment ceremony takes place in June. “Not having this investigation occurring intensifies the grief because we feel this injustice … we’re feeling it for him,” she stated.
The daughter stated she appreciates current feedback from Erin Nauss, the director of Nova Scotia’s police oversight physique — the Critical Incident Response Workforce — that the case is “a priority” and that the company hopes to make an announcement within the “near future.”
Nevertheless, she stated she’s heard related feedback repeatedly over the previous 5 years, since a former Liberal cupboard minister first requested within the fall of 2020 that the police oversight company perform a probe of potential felony wrongdoing involving the RCMP and Halifax police.
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“I’ll believe it when I see it. It feels like false hopes and nothing ever happens,” she stated.
In March 2021, the Nova Scotia police watchdog introduced that to make sure transparency, its counterpart in British Columbia had agreed to take the case. However on Nov. 30, 2023, Nova Scotia’s company introduced the B.C. watchdog had dropped the case resulting from a heavy workload. Since then, Nauss has reached out to a number of police oversight our bodies and has struggled to search out one that may take the case.
Not too long ago, Nauss indicated that she is in talks with one other provincial oversight physique to take over the investigation. “This is an important matter and one I am taking seriously,” she wrote in an e-mail Thursday. “I empathize with the concerns mentioned and understand the time that has passed is frustrating.”
Premier Tim Houston, requested Tuesday if he would contain his workplace in serving to organize the probe, stated he’ll await the choice of one other province contemplating taking it on. “I will respect the decision of the (other provincial) government on that situation. I know they’re focused on that and so I’ll respect that decision,” he stated.
Glen Assoun, who died in June 2023 at age 67, was acquitted in March 2019 of the 1995 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Lee Anne Means, after spending nearly 17 years in jail. Assoun stands exterior Supreme Court docket in Halifax on July 12, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan.
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Huckle, who’s now a police officer skilled in investigations, stated she’s involved concerning the passage of time, as it could actually cut back the prospect to gather proof, and reminiscences of potential witnesses can fade. “The older people get we always have the risk that they won’t still be alive to provide evidence or even be held accountable,” she stated.
The continued delays in having an investigation begin additionally has the impact of regularly reopening previous wounds, she stated.
Whereas the broader public could also be beginning to overlook about Assoun’s wrongful conviction, the matter stays contemporary for Huckle. “I think about this every single day …. We don’t have answers. We want answers. Why did this happen to my Dad? Why?” she stated.
Sean MacDonald, Assoun’s former lawyer, has stated if a felony probe into police actions in Assoun’s case went ahead it could be a watershed second, as it could increase the bar for police conduct and create a stage of accountability that hasn’t existed in prior wrongful convictions.
The difficulty of police accountability in wrongful convictions stays entrance and centre, together with within the case of Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie. The 2 males had been cleared 2023 in a 1983 homicide in Saint John, N.B., after serving prolonged jail phrases. In March, the Saint John Police Drive launched a abstract of an impartial assessment which discovered that tunnel imaginative and prescient occurred within the case, however the police chief stated the officers concerned wouldn’t face penalties as there was no malicious intent.
Huckle stated if the announcement doesn’t come earlier than her father’s burial ceremony, she received’t hand over. The subsequent milestone will likely be this September, 5 years after the province requested the Critical Incident Response Workforce to tackle the case.
“I would hope that… someone has taken on this investigation by then. Do I have faith that will happen? No, I don’t,” she stated.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Could 26, 2025.
