The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

12- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, December 8, 1998 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Dangerous Offender hearing for MoArthur Shaken officer tells of being shot by McArthur By John B. McClelland Port Perry Star A veteran cop struggled to keep his composure last week as he told a court the impact Mitchiel "Micky" McArthur has had on his life. Brian McNeil, 55, now retired after 32 years with the Toronto Police, was testifying Friday at the hearing to have McArthur declared a dangerous offender. On Nov. 11, 1977, McNeil was shot in the left knee cap as he attempted to arrest McArthur on a fraud charge at Chapman Jewellers in downtown Toronto. Asked by Crown Attorney Michael Hill what has been the toughest part for him about the shooting, McNeil paused and his face showed considerable emo- tion. "I had to phone two friends to have them notify my wife and my Mom and Dad (about the shooting); I didn't want them to read about it in the papers," he said, his voice breaking. After another long pause, he turned to Justice Harry LaForme who is presiding over the hearing and said "Jeez, I didn't think this would happen -- I'm not usu- ally a cry-baby." A couple of times during his testimony, the judge asked if McNeil would like a short court recess; the.witness replied no. After he had regained his com- posure he gestured towards McArthur, seated a dozen feet away in the glass enclosed pris- oner docket, and said "this fella over here has put my family and me through a lot." McNeil told the hearing that after the .38 pistol slug went through his knee cap that day in 1977, he needed four hours of surgery to repair the damage and remove the bullet. Then fol- lowed eight months of physio- therapy, but his leg "never did recover fully." And because he has favoured his left leg all these years, he is now having trouble with his right knee. He went back'to police work at 52 Division, taking "light duty" at first: "I decided I would have to get back on regular duty as a policeman. I felt | had to overcome my fears or resign." He said those fears centred around not being able to deal with situations like the one in which he was shot. Until his retirement in 1993, he never faced a gunman again, and never had to fire his service revolver, he told the court. But the memory is still vivid for the tall, distinguished looking former cop who was accompanied in court by his wife Denise. "Every Nov. 11 when the pop- pies are out I think of all the men who sacrificed their lives in war," he testified. "I could have been Mitchiel McArthur, seen here in file photo, is being tried as a dangerous offender in a Whitby court. another victim, but I was fortu- nate." Outside the court, McNeil told reporters he didn't look at McArthur when he was in the witness box: "He's got a face I'll never forget." He said it crosses his mind "if he (McArthur) will ever go away. He's a bad boy." McNeil said he still has the .38 slug doctors dug out of his knee.McNeil's wife said that when they learned of the Port Perry bank robbery and shootings involving McArthur, her husband became physically ill because he was so upset. McArthur was to be tried for attempted murder in the McNeil shooting. The charge was dropped to wounding with intent and went before a judge and jury. The jury came back with a finding of guilt for assault causing bodily harm. McArthur's defense at that trial was that he did not mean to shoot the officer; he claimed the gun went off by mistake, and the slug hit the floor before it hit McNeil. McArthur, 46, was convicted on April 4, 1997 of robbing the Bank of Montreal in Port Perry and of the shooting of five people, including three Durham Police officers responding to the robbery alarm. The Crown has applied to have him declared a dangerous offend- er. If the application succeeds, McArthur could spend the rest of his days behind bars. The court also heard last week from a teller who worked at a bank in Hepworth, Ont. when it was robbed on Aug. 8, 1983. That heist was carried out by McArthur and Stephen Faust, who has already testified at this hearing. The teller, 22 at the time of the robbery, said the two men came into the Hepworth bank and immediately there was a lot of yelling, "loud and agitated." Both men were armed, said the teller. McArthur herded the tellers into the vault area and forced them to open the combina- tion locks. Although no shots were fired in the bank, the teller said the experience was very frightening. She said she had to force herself to return to work and "cried every day for two weeks." Eventually a supervisor told her that if she did not pull herself together, she should look for another job. The teller said that for a long time after the robbery she could not be alone at home. She could not go out socially because invari- ably the conversation in the small town got around to the robbery. She said she suffered depression. And she was angry -- angry enough in 1989, six years later -- to call a radio station where McArthur was being interviewed about a book he had written: "He was being portrayed (on the radio show) as not too bad a guy," said the teller in court. "He said his crimes had never been violent. "I phoned to tell (McArthur) that his crimes were violent. It was the most violent thing I had ever been through in my life. And 16 years later I am still struggling with it," she said. Warm up and le[clife yale] gi o]e]! down your car by remote delplife]] (WeTd [7 V]pl[eld your power locks and pop trunk by remote (elalige]l Ng qvelV] grerly from up to 500 ft. away Save time and 4 aleNelgleliale life by having your car all ready to go Built in cold temperature and low battery Vell le [cNaslolalI (ela automatically 1g VelV] grersigy(e; [pls elpl eer batteries and frozen cars Complete alarm system helps aldol ala qyViolv] greta] from theft \Vel alld [ches alale]s be driven without your key Control Vehicle Starter | ont oA {els O10 Ne FZ |S 0% interest 1a ON HEH CHRISTMAS - GIFT! REMOTE CONTROL \V/ So | [@ WY roti pas For automatic in vehicles only Taly el] [Te] Locally owned and operated ti f Taunton Rd VAN & TRUCK WORLD #1 PICKUP TRUCK T 1670 Simcoe St., fmoccsor osHAWA 919-0808 Lawyer grills witnesses In bid to defend McArthur Two Crown witnesses came under intense grilling by the lawyer representing Mitchiel "Micky" McArthur at a dangerous offender hearing in a Whitby courtroom last week. Lawyer Greg Lafontaine forced Stephen Faust to admit that he had not told the truth in earlier testimony at the hearing. Lafontaine zeroed in on a statement Faust made in earlier testimony that he was not drunk when picked up by CN Police at Toronto's Union Station in 1983 with some $57,000 on him. The money was part of the take from a bank robbery that summer in Hepworth, Ont. in which Faust and McArthur got away with nearly $100,000. Referring to a report by the CN Police, Lafontaine said Faust "was in fact so drunk, you were completely passed out." Faust admitted his earlier testimony had not been the truth. He had said he "had a few drinks"-and "was half cut." When Lafontaine quoted from the report, Faust replied, "I was being defensive to maintain that I don't have a drinking prob- lem." He admitted he had lied about his state of intoxication to "paint himself in a more favourable light." Faust got seven years for the Hepworth robbery, and McArthur got 10 years. During cross examination on Thursday last week, Faust denied that when he was picked up by CN Police in Toronto he tried to cut a deal for leniency by spilling the beans on McArthur, his long-time close buddy and partner in numerous crimes. Faust had known McArthur since 1967 when both were young teens serving time in the Bowmanville Training School. Faust later married McArthur's sister Janet. He and McArthur were very close friends at one time. Faust said he co-operated with police when picked up drunk at Union Station because "I had a guilty conscience. *] had committed a bank robbery. I had to tell (police) what I did (the Hepworth bank robbery) and in doing that I had to tell of McArthur's involvement," Faust said under relentless questioning by Lafontaine. Lafontaine also spent considerable time in a rigourous cross examination of witness Louis Gallina, a guard at the Quinte Detention Centre (QDC) near Belleville. McArthur was being held in a "close con- finement cell" at QDC last March when Gallina said he was threatened with death. The burly Gallina, with a closely-shaved head and fu-manchu style moustache, was wearing his guard's uniform when he testi- fied at the hearing last Friday. He said that in the morning of March 8 this year, McArthur was on the floor of the cell, kicking the door with both feet. Gallina said that when he went to investigate the ruckus, McArthur swore at him, called him insulting names. Then, Gallina said, McArthur bent from the waist and made a shooting gesture at the floor with his hand. He then stood up, made the same gesture of shooting with his fingers pointed at the guard's head, the man testified. Gallina testified McArthur said, "I'll do you like I did that cop." McArthur then spat at the glass window in the cell door that separated him from the guard. Gallina notified a superior and then asked that the OPP be brought in to press a charge of uttering a death threat. That charge never went to court, said Gallina, because he was later asked by the QDC superintendent to withdraw it, which he did. During his long and intense cross exam- ination of Gallina, McArthur's lawyer accused him of deliberately ignoring McArthur's request for a pencil and his questions about using a phone the morning of the alleged death threats. - John B. McClelland