Burnside’s prison is hoping to shed its infamous and violent reputation with the help of an expensive makeover. The Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility gave a media tour of its $6.8-million renovations Tuesday morning. The upgrades are part of a new way of facilitating inmates’ living quarters, designed to prevent violent altercations and quickly suppress […]
Justice
Posted inNews + Opinion
Breach teen is free!
The teenager who helped expose Nova Scotia’s embarrassing cybersecurity fail is a free man. Halifax Regional Police have concluded an investigation into the data breach of the province’s Freedom of Information web portal and have determined there are no grounds to lay charges. “This was a high-profile case that potentially impacted many Nova Scotians,” CID superintendent […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
When the men we love hate women
We were presented with 32 witnesses and an overwhelming amount of evidence that painted a gruesome picture. The Crown described how Nicholas Butcher read Kristin Johnston’s private messages, stalked her, sat outside in his car watching her through a window (with a kitchen knife in the console of his car, next to the driver’s seat), […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
No closure in Randy Riley murder trial
As Randy Riley got up to exit the courtroom for the last time in his first-degree murder trial, he blew a kiss to his aunt, who blew a kiss back. Moments before, he had been convicted of second-degree murder. Riley, 27, was charged in 2013 with the shooting death of Chad Smith, who was killed […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Witness credibility on trial during murder case
Closing arguments have finished and the jury now deliberates in a first-degree murder trial where witness credibility has become a central issue. The Crown began its closing argument against Randy Riley on Thursday by telling jury members that one key witness, Paul Smith, told them “everything you need to know.” Riley, 27, is charged with […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Crown witness confesses to murder during testimony

A bizarre twist in a first-degree murder trial saw a Crown witness take the stand, only to confess to the murder in question, saying the man accused had nothing to do with the crime. Randy Desmond Riley, 27, is charged with killing Donald Chad Smith in 2010 with a sawed-off shotgun after Smith was called […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Complaints against judge Lenehan dismissed
Formal complaints against the provincial judge now known for the phrase “Clearly a drunk can consent” have been dismissed. The independent review found no evidence of “judicial misconduct” in Justice Gregory Lenehan’s conduct during his acquittal of Halifax taxi driver Bassam al-Rawi on charges of sexual assault. That 2017 case drew widespread national coverage, public […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Peter Stoffer apologizes for behaviour, denies any wrongdoing
Peter Stoffer is the latest name in a growing list of current and former Canadian politicians denying accusations of sexual harassment, while simultaneously apologizing for any wrongdoing. In an awkward press conference Friday morning in the frigid cold outside Pier 21, Stoffer spoke for about six minutes about his history with the party, his volunteerism and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
End prison segregation now
“We won!” exclaimed the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, regarding the BC Supreme Court ruling January 17 against sections of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act that allow for indefinite solitary confinement. In the frustrating, protracted, and so-often disappointing battle for prison justice in this country, it is, of course, a win, and to be […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
New trial ordered for cab driver Bassam al-Rawi
The Halifax taxi driver acquitted on all charges of sexually assaulting an intoxicated passenger in the back of his cab will face a new trial. A decision released Wednesday by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found that Judge Gregory Lenehan “misdirected himself as to the legal meaning of consent” in his ruling last March. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Cornwallis panel nominee’s sexual assault conviction
One of the names put forward to judge the actions of Edward Cornwallis has a violent history of his own. Chief Wilbert Marshall, who has been selected by the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs to help lead Halifax’s examination of the city’s controversial founder, was himself convicted of sexual assault 10 years ago. Marshall […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Trudeau offers platitudes but no promises on Abdoul Abdi’s case
“Abdoul Abdi needs to be free!” came the chants of a small crowd of protesters outside Sackville High School on Tuesday night. The protesters aimed their cries at the sprawling line waiting to attend prime minister Justin Trudeau’s town hall event in hopes of raising awareness about the deportation case of Somalian refugee Abdoul Abdi. […]
