" ... I killed a man. He couldn't have been more than 50 metres away from me, lifts his rifle and tried to take a shot at me and I just happened to be quicker than him and he paid for it. I feel like I am a murderer. I killed a man. He was a brother, a son; he was somebody's husband. He didn't deserve that."
PTE. MATTHEW KEDDY
An Afghan veteran's rage
Since returning, Pte. Matthew Keddy, shown in Afghanistan a month before killing an enemy combatant at close range, has been convicted of assault. Print
Combat vets continue battle Home is new Afghan war front Between:Home is new Afghan war front
More than 26,000 Canadians have served in Afghanistan. In the first of a three-part series, we tell the story of one soldier's troubled return. "
When Canadian military training backfires ... on us
An exclusive Star series investigates how the war in Afghanistan is creating a dangerous new class of offender in Canada – and finds growing evidence in jails, courtrooms and homes across the country
Jun 13, 2009 04:30 AM
David Bruser
STAFF REPORTER
Pte. Matthew Charles Keddy sits in the prisoner's box, his second court appearance in as many weeks.
Already charged with beating up his girlfriend, he's in court this time following his arrest on the Reversing Falls Bridge in Saint John, N.B., for violating a restraining order.
In recent days, Keddy has seen the inside of a jail and a psychiatric ward. And in the weeks to come he will be brought before two other judges, plead guilty to assault, listen to his girlfriend's tear-soaked impact statement, and spend five more days in the psychiatric ward.
This is a lonely moment for the 26-year-old infantryman and veteran of the Afghanistan War. On this day, no one from the military shows up on Keddy's behalf, which riles Judge William McCarroll as he tries to set the terms of Keddy's pre-trial house arrest.
From the courts. Each of these eight men served their country in Afghanistan, and had trouble with the law upon their return to Canada. Some have been convicted, some are awaiting trial. Most of those convicted received house arrest or probation, not jail time.
Douglas Kurtis Brown:
The former Edmonton police officer awaits sentencing after being found guilty in April of four counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He was off-duty and driving his BMW when he ran a red light and collided with a pick-up truck. The truck was thrown onto its side, and an occupant was pulled from the flaming wreckage moments before it exploded. One victim needed bones set, another skin grafts to treat burns, another stitches and a psychologist.
A military official confirmed for the Star that Brown had served in Afghanistan for six to nine months and returned a troubled man, underwent counselling and saw his marriage fail.
Jeffrey Robbie Barwise:
Earlier this year in Brandon, Man., Jeffrey Robbie Barwise pleaded guilty to several charges, including possession of narcotics and careless storage of a Glock 22 and Remington Express 870 pump-action shotgun. His court appearance followed a bizarre incident in which Barwise, who had no prior criminal record, was found at his home by CFB Shilo Military Police shot through his right hand. His friend was found shot just above the right knee. The MPs theorized the two were drinking and maybe doing drugs and tried to practise a manoeuvre in which they disarm each other with live ammunition.
The court heard Barwise, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, served in Afghanistan in 2006 and saw his friend shot in the neck and paralyzed. Barwise avoided jail time. He was sentenced to two years' probation, required attendance at all substance abuse and mental health counselling appointments, 100 hours of community service or a $1,000 charity donation, and a five-year firearms ban.
Yuri Miljevic-LaRoche:
In the early morning of Sept. 12, 2006, Miljevic-LaRoche's car struck Claire Paquette as she rode her bike to work. The impact broke Paquette's collarbone. She had to have surgery on her back, spent four days in a hospital, had no memory of the accident and missed nine months of work. In a Breathalyzer test, Miljevic-LaRoche blew more than twice the legal limit.
He admitted drinking but denied being inebriated, claiming the rising sun momentarily blinded him. The court also heard that the 29-year-old had never been arrested before, and that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after Afghanistan.
A Quebec jury did not believe Miljevic-LaRoche’s version and found him guilty of drunk driving and drunk driving causing bodily harm. Though the prosecutor asked for at least nine months in prison, Judge Claude Champagne sentenced the soldier to a year of house arrest followed by 12 months probation, a ban on alcohol consumption and an 18-month ban on driving a motor vehicle.
Ronald Anderson:
Last summer in Oromocto, N.B., the sergeant and veteran of two Afghanistan tours was arrested after his wife reported to police that in a profanity-laden tirade he threatened to kill her, blow up her mother and shoot her father in the head, and that he would get away with it because of his mental illness.
Anderson pleaded guilty to unsafe storage of firearms (14 hunting guns), and a judge found him guilty of uttering a threat.
Judge Patricia Cumming said Anderson’s offence was “serious,” yet she discharged him conditionally, meaning he would serve 12 months’ probation and keep a clean record.
Travis Schouten:
He says that in April 2007, after leaving a bar in Pembroke, he rolled his car in a ditch, injuring one of the passengers. Schouten awaits trial. Court documents from White Water Township show he faces two charges - drunk driving and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Matthew Keddy:
The private from CFB Gagetown pleaded guilty to assault.
The assault plea stemmed from an incident in which he pushed his common-law girlfriend, cracking her tailbone.
He avoided jail time, and was sentenced to three months of house arrest and 12 months’ probation.
Richard Donald Malley:
On a Saturday night in March 2007, just a few days after Malley had returned from Afghanistan, he was on the back patio of Dooly’s Bar in Miramichi, N.B., drunk and feeling slighted by comments made by another patron. The 21-year-old soldier repeatedly hit the man in the face, causing potentially permanent damage to the man’s eye.
Malley’s father told the court his son’s behaviour had changed “significantly” since he came home, that he often found his son “sitting quietly by himself frequently in tears.” Malley had witnessed two friends die on a rocket grenade launcher attack, and a military superior suspected the young man might have post-traumatic stress disorder. Malley admitted he drinks too much since coming home. He has an infant son to care for.
Malley, who had no prior criminal record, was sentenced to six months’ house arrest, followed by a year of probation, continued attendance at counselling to treat his PTSD, and a five-year firearms ban.
Winnipeg man (to protect the identity of his child victims his name cannot be published):
The 24-year-old soldier pleaded guilty to assaults that caused a total of 19 broken bones in his triplet sons. The man told investigators that he squeezed the premature infants to stop their crying and that he sometimes picked them up with one hand. His lawyer offered evidence that a recent tour in Afghanistan was a "stressor." The man spent nine months in pre-trial custody. He is serving the remainder of a three-year jail sentence in Headingley Correctional Centre.
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