Ex faces cross-examination as OPP officer's trial continues

During two days of intensive cross examination, the former girlfriend of an Elliot Lake Ontario Provincial Police officer insisted numerous times that she was afraid to report his abusive and assaultive behaviour to the cops.

Glenn McLean repeatedly told her no one would believe her because he was an OPP officer and she was on methadone, Karen

Querat said Friday on the fourth day of his trial on more than two dozen charges at the Sault Ste. Marie courthouse.

"I just knew how powerful Glenn was with other police officers," she told his lawyer Bruce Willson.

Willson was pushing her on why she hadn't used an opportunity at a rock concert that the couple was attending in Toronto in November 2013 to approach a police officer there for help.

"He would convince them I was a liar, no good because I'm on methadone," she said.

Querat said McLean had often warned her that police would just send her home with him and she feared he would then get upset and possibly kill her.

Willson challenged her, suggesting she didn't really believe Toronto police would do that.

"Yes, I do," she insisted.

The 39-year-old woman said McLean "also was still protecting me." 

"Making sure you didn't get caught with the stealing?" Willson asked.

"Correct," she said.

Querat has been on the stand since Tuesday and is the Crown's first witness to testify at the suspended officer's trial.

McLean has pleaded not guilty to 26 charges ranging from stealing a breathalyzer machine and gas from the OPP, frauds and thefts from the Anishnabie Naadmaagi Gamig Substance Abuse Treatment Centre, and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence to assault causing bodily harm, threatening, pointing a firearm and numerous counts of assault, all involving the woman.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between December 2011 and November 2013.

Querat was the bookkeeper at the Blind River treatment centre.

Earlier this week, she told Timmins assistant Crown attorney Wayne O'Hanley, who is prosecuting the case, about how the couple used tens of thousands of dollars stolen from the centre to pay for vacations to Las Vegas and Jamaica, shopping trips to Toronto and the United States and to purchase a car, an off-road vehicle, firearms, kayaks and sporting equipment.

Querat had stolen $20,000 from her employer by writing herself extra pay cheques for six months prior to meeting McLean on Jan. 29, 2013.

She pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000 in Elliot Lake in August 2014 and received a conditional sentence of two years less a day.

Querat acknowledged taking $130,000 (which included the $20,000 she stole before meeting Mclean) and was ordered to pay $117,000 restitution.

When Willson cross-examined her Wednesday, she said she started paying herself extra in October 2012 because she was newly separated and was having a hard time making ends meet.

She also agreed that she had done other transactions, including paying bills online with treatment centre funds and purchasing personal items with her corporate credit card.

"It's all about greed. That's what the thievery is about. Right, your own personal greed," Willson suggested.

"Okay," she replied, later indicating she felt bad about stealing.

Querat conceded her actions weren't about gambling or an addiction. 

"Just about pure greed," Willson said.

"Yes," she responded. "I felt stuck in my situation. If there had been anybody at the workplace overlooking me I wouldn't have done it."

Willson retorted: "If the sheriff had been in town you would not have robbed the bank?"

"Yes," was her answer.

On Friday, when questioning the woman about the alleged assaults she had described to Superior Court Justice Michael Varpio, Willson zeroed in on an incident that she said occurred when they were travelling to Toronto for a Novevember 2, 2013 Bon Jovi concert.

Querat said they were arguing in the car about her cell phone and his alleged infidelity when he pulled over to the side of Highway 17 near Massey.

McLean, she said, grabbed her cell phone and deleted evidence she had been gathering about him.

When she started struggling with him, he threw her into the back seat of the small, two-door vehicle, and "I was pulled back with so much force my foot came in contact with his nose," she said. "That's what I thought, that's what he told me.

"I braced myself up and opened the door" got out and ran down the road and then passed out.

Querat said when she came to, McLean was standing over her and made her get back in the car.

Her head was hurting, her eyes were blurry and when she touched her head, she realized it was bleeding, she said.

McLean refused to take her to the hospital, telling her it "was only an open flesh wound, that they bleed a lot and they're not dangerous," Querat said.

Willson disputed her version of what had occurred, saying that McLean had remained in the car, had never come after her, and feeling guilty about kicking him in the head as she had gotten back into the car.

He suggested to the woman that the pair had argued, she accused him of having an affair and when McLean pulled over the car she was the violent one.

"You kicked him in the head. He then pushed you out of the car and your head may have banged on the door or the road," he charged.

"It's exactly as I said it happened and I have no reason lie," Querat responded.

Willson then told her that's why she had gone to the concert with McLean the following night, because she was the aggressor and he had done nothing wrong, that she was glad that he hadn't left because of her violence and abuse, that she loved him and wanted to be with him.

Calling that not true, she said "Glenn and I were in a toxic relationship" and she was telling the truth.

Continuing to attack the woman's credibility, Willson also maintained she wasn't being truthful when she testified that the couple had driven directly back to Elliot Lake the day after the concert. 

He mentioned a Sudbury hotel and the woman said they went there for a few hours and had sex.

"Here's a man who is terrorizing you and you have sex?" he said.

She replied that McLean had been asking for a threesome for a whille, that he was adamant about it, and she had made the arrangements with a woman for the encounter before the trip.

"I always said yes to what he wanted," Querat said. "At this point I was saying yes to everything he wanted... I was afraid I'd get beaten."

Willson retorted that he could understand forgetting about stopping for gas in Parry Sound or having lunch in Sudbury, but how do you forget a threesome in a hotel.

"When you mentioned it I remembered everything about it," she said, adding the assaults and threats to kill her were "more terrifying than an encounter Mr. McLean and I had."

The trial continues Monday.

Previous SooToday coverage of this story:

Cop, girlfriend lived it up on treatment centre money court hears