Judge allows statements from other officers at Dziekanski perjury trial

VANCOUVER – The judge hearing the perjury trial for one of the four Mounties involved in Robert Dziekanski’s death has decided to admit the police statements from the other officers into evidence.

The Crown had asked to bring in the notes and statements from the other Mounties it alleges Const. Bill Bentley colluded with over his initial accounts of what happened when Dziekanski was stunned with a police Taser at Vancouver’s airport.

The Crown alleges Bentley then lied at the public inquiry to cover up the fact that he had misled homicide investigators.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan says the statements are admissible for the limited purpose of comparing them to Bentley’s statements, but he says he still has concerns about potential prejudice against the other officers.

All four officers were charged with perjury, and the other three trials scheduled in November and February.

The Crown has indicated it will make the same allegations at those trials, currently scheduled to be heard by juries, though none of the allegations have been tested in court.