A Canadian Atrocity
Author: Mary M. AlwardPublished on: Feb 1, 2005
Guy Paul Morin lived next door to nine-year-old Christine Jessop’s family in Queensville, Ontario. The year was 1984. Guy Paul, who worked for a furniture manufacturer, lived with his parents in this quiet town in southern Ontario. He was twenty-three. He played clarinet and saxophone. He was generally happy and looked forward to a bright future. Little did he know what the future held in store.
Christine Jessop’s school bus dropped her off at her home on October 3, 1984. Her parents weren’t home. (Why a nine-year-old was left by herself is beyond me.) When they arrived at approximately 4:30pm, they found her backpack on the kitchen counter. The mail and flyers had been brought into the house. Though they knew she had arrived home safely, there was no sign of her. They searched the neighbourhood to no avail. Christine had vanished.
Christine’s mother, Janet, telephoned police between 7 and 8 pm. York Regional Police responded immediately. Emergency vehicles and seventeen police officers, including a police dog and its handlers were dispatched to the Jessop home over the next seven hours.
During that time, Constable McGowan went next door to ask the Morin’s if they had seen Christine after she’d arrived home from school. He talked to Mrs. Morin and noted that while Guy Paul was present he sat silently and “stared straight ahead.” McGowan felt this was suspicious behavior. He noted it in his report.
A team of police dogs arrived at the Morin property about the time that McGowan was at the house. Constable Robertson, handler of canine officer, Ryder, reported that the dog sniffed around Morin’s beige Honda. Ryder put his front paws on the passenger side window and acted, “in a pronounced way.”
York Regional Police continued to investigate the case as a missing person until December 31, 1984, when a body was found along Ravenshoe Road in Durham Region, 56 kilometers (33.2 miles) from the Jessop home. On January 1, 1985, dental records identified the body as that of Christine.
The case instantly changed to a homicide. An autopsy was conducted. The coroner at that time concluded that Christine had been dead for three to four months. It was not known if she’d been sexually assaulted.
An entry in the notebook of Inspector John Shephard, dated February 20, 1985, mentioned “suspect Morin.” It later came to light that Morin hadn’t been questioned about Christine’s death until February 22, 1985. How then, could Shephard have known that Morin was a “suspect?”
Morin was arrested on April 22, 1985 and the beige Honda was seized and sent to the Ontario Centre of Forensic Science in Toronto. At 8pm that evening, a search warrant was executed at the Morin home. Eighty-one items were confiscated as evidence. Guy Paul maintained his innocence throughout a six-hour interrogation. When it was over, he was charged in Christine’s death.
Guy Pauls’ trial, after a change of venue, began in London, Ontario, on January 7, 1986. On February 7, he was acquitted after the jury deliberated for thirteen hours. After spending ten months in jail, Guy Paul was set free.
The Crown appealed, which is their right in Canada. (There is no prohibition against double jeopardy in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.) The Court of Appeal reversed the jury’s decision on June 7, 1987. Guy Paul was arrested again and charged with first-degree murder. Again, he declared his innocence. He filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada. A new trial date was set.
Over a period of months, the trial was postponed and new dates were set. Finally on November 13, 1991, six years after his original acquittal, Guy Paul was facing a jury. On July 23, 1992, after a week of deliberations, the jury read the verdict: Guilty!
Guy Paul immediately appealed. While his appeal was pending before the Ontario Court of Appeal, DNA evidence became available. Christine’s body was exhumed. It was sent to the Ontario Centre of Forensic Science. Many discrepancies turned up. It was found that the coroner who originally examined Christine’s body had been very lax in his examination and report. DNA completely eliminated Guy Paul as Christine’s killer. He was freed on January 23, 1995.
This was not the end of the Jessop/Morin case. An investigation turned up forensic fraud by police officers and jail house snitches, who had been granted deals for their perjured testimonies. Guy Paul had been framed.
In a tv interview, Guy Paul stated that he was horrified and infuriated when the jury found him guilty. He couldn’t believe what was happening. He couldn’t believe that the same police officers who had committed fraud in his case were still on the police force.
Guy Paul spent eleven years in a hell that was the making of corrupt officials. Why? Who knows. Maybe they thought that they needed a guilty verdict to stop public outcry. Maybe they just wanted the case solved so they didn’t have to be bothered with it. Or maybe they were paid to find a scapegoat for the crime while the real killer went free. I guess we’ll never know.
How is the Canadian government to repay Guy Paul for the years he lost? They never can. Dollars and apologies can never give those years back to a young man who lost the best years of his life. A Canadian atrocity at its best.
Author's Note:
One juror who was interviewed on television said she found Guy Paul guilty because he didn't look her in the eye when he was on the witness stand. This woman should never be allowed to serve on a jury again.
Resources:
The Story of Guy Paul Morin - Biography Channel May, 2004.
Archives Globe and Mail (1984 - 1995)
Archives Brantford Expositor (1984 - 1995)
Archives Toronto Sun (1984 - 1995)
Archives London Free Press (1984 - 1995)
Archives Hamilton Spectator (1984 - 1995)