Bookkeeper insists cop smoked pot

Following a five-month break since she first began her testimony at the trial of an Elliot Lake police officer, the Crown's key witness was back on the stand Monday, again facing a vigorous cross-examination by the defence.

Bruce Willson relentlessly attacked Karen Querat's credibility, repeatedly accusing her of lying, as he continued the intense questioning he began in October when the trial got underway at the Sault Ste. Marie courthouse.

The woman is the former girlfriend of Glenn McLean, an Ontario Provincial Police officer, who has pleaded not guilty to more than two dozen charges, including assault and the theft of tens of thousands of dollars.

Querat, the first witness called by Timmins assistant Crown attorney Wayne O'Hanley, who is prosecuting the case, had already spent six and half days — four and half days under cross examination — testifying at the trial, which resumed for two weeks Monday and is slated to continue for a further two weeks in May.

McLean is charged with 26 counts, ranging from stealing a breathalyzer machine and gas from the OPP, thefts from a Blind River substance abuse centre and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, to assault causing bodily harm, threatening, pointing a firearm, and numerous charges of assault, involving Querat.

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

Querat, the former bookkeeper at Anishnabie Naadmaagi Gamig Substance Abuse Treatment Centre, told Superior Court Justice Michael Varpio in October that the couple had spent tens of thousands stolen from the centre.

She said they used the money to pay for vacations to Jamaica and Las Vegas, shopping trips to Toronto and the United States and to purchase a car, an offroad vehicle, firearms, kayaks and sports equipment.

The woman admitted she had stolen $20,000 from her employer by giving herself extra paycheques for six months prior to meeting McLean in January 2013.

In 2014, she pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000 and received a conditional sentence of two years less a day, which she is serving in the community.

Querat acknowledged stealing $130,000 (including the money she took before becoming involved with McLean). She was ordered to make $117,000 restitution. 

On Monday, the first question Willson asked Querat, who now resides in Sudbury, was if she knew there is a warrant for her arrest in Timmins, where she had lived after leaving Elliot Lake.

She replied that she had learned last week from O'Hanley that she had been charged with fraud, theft and forgery, stemming from a relationship she had with another man in Timmins.

Querat said she was told she would receive a summons to appear in court in May, when Willson wondered if she was going to be arrested.

The witness indicated she is still serving her conditional sentence, and doesn't know if she will be charged with breaching it.

Willson then wanted to know how she had travelled from Sudbury to the Sault for this court appearance and she replied she had driven here with O'Hanley, who had offered to give her a ride, because he was travelling to the same location.

They had travelled together to Elliot Lake on Sunday, where she spent the night with her mother, and he stayed with his mother, "which is less expensive than a hotel," and then they continued on to the Sault on Monday morning, she said.

Querat denied that they had spoken about the trial during the trip.

The court heard they are staying at the same hotel in the Sault, along with the lead police investigator.

Willson spent a good part of the day questioning the woman about the abuse she earlier had described suffering during her relationship with McLean.

The assaults began in the summer of 2013 when he pulled her downstairs by her hair when she attempted to leave his home, where she was living, during an argument, she said.

She admitted the couple drank a lot and smoked marijuana during their time together, but didn't agree with Willson that she was the one who sought out and purchased the weed.

"Glenn was angry about you smoking marijuana," he suggested to the woman, who responded that McLean was the one who had a drug dealer.

Willson countered the dealer was "a fictitous person who doesn't exist."

"Yes, he does. I can get you his name," she replied.

Willson then questioned her about an argument that ensued after McLean had received a text message from a woman seeking a ride home from an Elliot Lake bar when the couple was in Toronto, before flying to Jamaica.

"You flew into a rage," he said, a suggestion she denied.

"It was a raging fight between you," Willson said, and "both of you flew into a rage."

Querat replied they were "just having a discussion the way we did. We were drinking and women were becoming an issue between us," she said.

She agreed that following their arrival in Jamaica, after fighting all night, they had purchased marijuana and smoked it morning, noon and night.
McLean didn't smoke it, Willson said.

"Yes, he did," she insisted.

Willson then turned to another time when the couple fought, during a street dance in Elliot Lake, about McLean having sex with other women.

The lawyer suggested Querat was so enraged she poked McLean in the face, an allegation that she denied.

When Willson told her she was highly intoxicated at the time, her answer was that "we all were."

The trial was to continue today, but was postponed due to illness.