Constable Amit Goyal’s hearing has been delayed for the fifth time as a result of new evidence.
The lawyer for a Mountie in his fourth year of paid suspension told a disciplinary hearing recently that proceeding with the matter could prove to be “an embarrassment for the RCMP.”
John Benkendorf, representing Cst. Amit Goyal of the Osoyoos detachment, said that after reviewing new evidence in the case, “it got to the point where I felt this hearing would be an embarrassment for the RCMP were it to proceed.”
The material, which Benkendorf described as “incontrovertible evidence of (Goyal’s) innocence,” led him to do something he had never done in five years of representing officers in misconduct allegations. Ahead of the scheduled hearing, he presented his defence case to his opposing counsel, the lawyer representing the RCMP.
After the opposing lawyer reviewed Benkendorf’s evidence, he agreed the four-year-old matter should not go ahead at this time and instead he requested it be adjourned for a fifth time.
Goyal faces five allegations of misconduct stemming from a 2012 incident where two cars were reported stolen from the officer’s Okanagan home and later found burnt. Officers from an outside RCMP detachment investigated and recommended criminal charges against Goyal, but criminal charges were not laid. Goyal has been suspended with pay since at least June 2013.
John Reid, the lawyer representing the RCMP, said that Benkendorf shared “new evidence” with him. Reid asked the panel to adjourn so Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens, the commanding officer of the RCMP in B.C., could analyze the new information and decide how to proceed with the case.
“I am satisfied that evidence needs to be examined by the commanding officer and it will certainly have an impact on any direction this hearing may eventually take,” Reid said.
Reid said it was “most unusual and most rare” for the prosecution to request such an adjournment “at the 11th hour,” but added: “matters have arisen out of our control.”
The panel, made up of three RCMP inspectors, adjourned the matter and set a new date in November.
After the adjournment, Goyal said he was unable to discuss the case. However, Benkendorf said his client “has been waiting for four years to try and clear his name, and I think he would very much like the opportunity to go back and be a police officer again.”
By Dan Fumano, The Province
