by arthur Weinreb,
July 28, 2004
Min Chen was arrested and charged last week with the first degree murder of Cecilia Zhang. The 9-year-old went missing in the middle of the night from her north Toronto home last October and her decomposed body was found in a wooded area in Mississauga a few months later.
On July 22, as police are wont to do, Peel Region Police Chief Noel Catney held a press conference. a visibly emotional Catney held a blown up picture of Chen to the cameras and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, he is not just a murderer. This is the most despicable of criminals. This is a child murderer."
With those three short sentences, the police chief announced that the Min had not only been arrested but was guilty of a heinous murder and criticism of Catney’s statements came swiftly. He was roundly condemned for having personally tried and convicted the 21-year-old visa student from China.
It is understandable that someone in Catney’s position could get caught up in what was the climax to a highly emotional and lengthy police investigation. Unlike many other cases of child abductions the circumstances surrounding the little girl’s abduction led many to believe that there was a realistic chance that she would be found alive, making the discovery of her death even more shocking. and contrary to popular belief, police officers are human too.
This type of crime is not as prevalent as it is in neighbouring Toronto and Catney’s statement that a crime like this only happens "every five, ten or fifteen years" indicates that he simply was not prepared for commenting on such a high profile investigation. His statements and demeanour contrast with those of Toronto police chief, Julian Fantino, who managed to talk about the how terrible the crime was without making inappropriate references to the accused. It wasn’t too long before Chen’s arrest that the judicial proceedings concerning the horrific murder of 10-year-old Holly Jones of Toronto were wrapped up. Catney’s inexperience in these types of matters showed.
What are more worrisome are the statements that Catney made following the criticism of his press conference utterances. Catney refused to apologize and showed that he lacks even the basic insight into the consequences of what he said. Prominent defense counsel alan Gold perhaps put it best when he said that even though Min Chen may ultimately receive a fair trial, Catney’s remarks will cost the taxpayers extra thousands of dollars to pay for the adjudication of the issues that will arise from Catnehy’s comments. While no one begrudges the cost of the investigation and trial resulting from the murder of an innocent little girl, the extra cost of Catney’s remarks provides as much benefit to taxpayers as cheques written to Quebec advertising agencies.
Even more troubling was Catney’s ridiculous statement that he was "articulating the majority of sentiment of the community" and of Cecilia’s parents. It was absolutely shameful that he would bring Raymond Zhang and Sherry Xu into it. Since their daughter disappeared they have had no difficulty in saying what they want to say, either personally or through a spokesman. To dare to say that he was merely saying what he said for Cecilia’s parents totally reflects the fact that he hasn’t a clue about the potential problems he’s caused or if he did, he doesn’t care. Noel Catney is not a member of the general public. He is the chief of police of one of the two jurisdictions involved in the investigation. He’s not her father. He’s not Cecilia’s father. Ordinary people don’t have to presume Min Chen not guilty, only the state has to. The fact that Catney is part of the "state" that is prosecuting Chen seems to elude him. To make the comments that he did is bad enough — but to try and justify them indicates that he has no business going after speeders on Highway 10, let alone being police chief.
The Toronto Police Services Board has refused to renew the contract of Toronto chief, Julian Fantino, who handled the kidnapping and murder of Cecilia Zhang in a competent and professional manner. Perhaps the dsyfunctional Board will offer Catney the job.
It sounds like something that they would do.