Tough Crimes by Christopher D. Evans

Author:Christopher D. Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Durvile Publications
Published: 2018-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

Joel Pink

The Antigonish Beech Hill Murders

About the Author

Joel E. Pink QC has been a criminal lawyer for forty-four years in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a Faculty Member of the National Criminal Law Program for thirty-one years, President of the Nova Scotia Barristers Society, and taught at Dalhousie School of Law. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and The International Society of Barristers and co-editor of From Crime to Punishment, now in its eighth edition.

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Was justice done in the case of Her Majesty The Queen in the Right of Canada v. John Alexander MacKenzie? As it was related to them by an experienced trial judge, a jury of his peers used common sense to decide on a verdict, applying the basic principles of law — presumption of innocence, burden of proof, and proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It is not for me, or anyone else, to question whether that jury was right or wrong.

The accused, Johnny MacKenzie, had some troublesome years in Ontario where he’d accumulated a few minor criminal convictions like assault, theft under $200, and discharging a firearm. After serving some jail time, he decided to turn his life around, returning to his native Nova Scotia to embark on a new beginning. His dream was to be a homeowner in the area where his parents and grandparents had once lived, in Antigonish County. In August 1986, he bought two acres that had once been used as a garbage dump by some local residents. There was a clear patch of land, on which he placed a mobile home trailer. It was only later that he realized his dream had turned into a nightmare.

Living within a few kilometres were Johnny’s neighbours; John Boucher and brothers Joey and Edmund Deon. Because he had impeded on their territory by setting up a trailer where they used to go four-wheeling, these neighbours relentlessly harassed him and violated his peace. They dumped garbage on his property; tore up his front lawn and garden; bulldozed his driveway; threatened to kill him; broke into his trailer and chained the back door so he couldn’t get in; placed stolen goods on his property and then reported him to the RCMP; dragged his dog behind an ATV until dead; and killed his cat, leaving its remains on his back steps. The police did not react and I was lead to believe that they did not like going to the Beech Hill Road because of the unexpected and that when they were faced with a complaint, the other side would deny it.

Johnny, a meek and mild man, pleaded with all three men to stay off his property and leave him to live in peace. They ignored and laughed at him, making his life so miserable that it could have driven most people to move away and give up their dream. Johnny, however, never gave in to their cruel acts and refused to be forced out by these three men. The harassment became so intolerable

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