The father of convicted murderer Christopher Garnier has applied for a peace bond against a member of victim Catherine Campbell’s family.
Vince Garnier filed the application against Calvin Garneau, Campbell’s brother-in-law, in Halifax provincial court Friday.
Vince Garnier’s wife Angela, ex-wife Kim Edmunds, son Christopher, and his son’s common-law partner Brittany Francis are also named as complainants in the paperwork.
In the application for the peace bond, Vince Garnier swears that Garneau swerved his vehicle “within mere feet” of the group in the parking garage at the Halifax Law Courts during the murder trial last November and December.
Garnier also alleges Garneau spat at his son and Edmunds as they walked with legal counsel, family and friends on the third floor of the Law Courts during the trial.
He says he believes Garneau’s actions were “intended to cause physical or psychological injury and/or intimidation.”
Garnier also claims Garneau uttered the words “pieces of shit” at him, his wife, his ex-wife and Francis while “staring directly” at them from about two metres away as they were exiting the courtroom during his son’s parole ineligibility hearing in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on May 28.
News to Garneau
In seeking the peace bond, Garnier says he and the other complainants fear Garneau will cause personal injury to them or damage their property. He then lists two properties in Bedford, one in Millville, Cape Breton County, and one in Trenton.
Garnier wants the court to order Garneau to enter into a one-year peace bond with conditions.
The application will be in Halifax night court June 19. A hearing will be scheduled to determine if there are grounds for a peace bond.
Garneau is married to Campbell’s older sister, Amy. Contacted Tuesday at home in Stellarton, he said the peace-bond application was news to him.
“What?” Garneau said when informed of Garnier’s allegations against him.
“It’s just plain and simple – I didn’t do none of it. Whatever their intention is, I don’t know and I don’t really care.”
Garneau said he was not even in Halifax for the trial. “I was home with our kids,” he said.
“The last court date, May 28, was the only time I was there.”
Christine Driscoll, one of the prosecutors in the murder case, told The Chronicle Herald: “This is the first I’ve heard of the peace-bond application. It is an application by a citizen. The Public Prosecution Service is not involved, so I don’t have any comment.”
Now in custody
Campbell, an off-duty Truro police officer who lived in Dartmouth, was killed in Halifax on Sept. 11, 2015. Christopher Garnier, 30, stood trial last fall on charges of second-degree murder and interfering with human remains. The jury deliberated for less than five hours before finding Garnier guilty Dec. 21 on both counts. Justice Josh Arnold then sentenced Garnier to life in prison, the automatic penalty for second-degree murder, and ordered that he be taken into custody.
A hearing to determine how many years Garnier must serve before he’s eligible to apply for parole got underway May 28 but was adjourned after legal issues arose. The hearing will continue Aug. 13 and 14.
Garnier is appealing his convictions. A notice filed with the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in January identified several grounds for the appeal, including a claim that Arnold’s final instructions to the jury were too complex.
With the Canadian Press