Not long ago we posted two of a planned series of three articles concerning former Heritage Front member and eventually leader Marc Lemire (
here and
here). We will be getting to that third article soon enough, but life has a tendency to get in the way of one's plans.
However, we learned today about another former Heritage Front member and his, well, rather significant legal issues of late:
Defendant erupts into tirade at prosecuto
Crown attorney calls police after dangerous offender hearing outburst
By STEVE BRUCE Court Reporter Wed. Oct 21 - 4:46 AM
A Halifax Crown attorney filed a complaint with police after a man she is trying to have declared a dangerous offender lost his cool and shouted at her in a courtroom Tuesday morning.
"I hate your (expletive) guts," Christopher Edward Newhook yelled at prosecutor Catherine Cogswell during a profanity-filled outburst in Halifax provincial court.
"I wish I could cut your (expletive) head off with a rusty hacksaw blade."
The Chronicle Herald was the only media outlet to have a reporter in the courtroom at the time.
Mr. Newhook, who is being sentenced for stabbing a man in the head two years ago in Halifax, also called Ms. Cogswell a maggot, parasite and goof and said her mother was a goof for having her.
Judge Bill Digby called for a recess and the two sheriff’s deputies assigned to the courtroom took Mr. Newhook downstairs to the courthouse holding cells.
When the dangerous offender hearing resumed 35 minutes later, a police officer had been posted in the spectators gallery and a third sheriff’s deputy stood guard over Mr. Newhook.
The defendant, who sat about three metres away from Ms. Cogs-well, maintained his composure for the rest of the day.
Outside court, Ms. Cogswell told reporters that she felt threatened by Mr. Newhook’s behaviour and would be giving a statement to police.
"Mr. Newhook has had violent, aggressive and very profane outbursts during the course of the proceedings, but today it became more extreme," Ms. Cogswell said.
"He was looking right at me as he was hollering the threats. As a result, I left the courtroom and made a phone call to the police department and indicated that I refused to go back into the courtroom until I had a police escort with me.
"Halifax Regional Police, no questions asked, sent down a police officer right away. And Judge Digby asked for and received an extra sheriff, and they’ll be in attendance for the rest of the hearing."
Police later charged Mr. Newhook with uttering threats and intimidation of a justice system participant.
Mr. Newhook, 40, has served four federal prison terms for violent offences in Ontario and has spent almost half his life behind bars. He has associated with skinheads and white supremacists and has committed many of his crimes against visible minorities.
An attack on a Vietnamese shopkeeper in Toronto in April 1989 left the man blind in one eye. Mr. Newhook also assaulted two black women on a bus in Toronto in September 1995 and an aboriginal man in Hamilton, Ont. in May 2000.
The evidence shows Mr. Newhook is a racist and a psychopath with alcohol-abuse issues whose risk of reoffending is so high that he must be locked up indefinitely to protect the public, the Crown argued during the hearing.
"Mr. Newhook is a threat to cause violence to anybody, anytime, anywhere and for any reason," Ms. Cogswell told the court.
On April 3, 2007, Mr. Newhook stabbed a man just above his right eye during a dispute in a North Street rooming house where he was living. Mr. Newhook thought the man had ratted him out to the landlord for making too much noise. He pleaded guilty that June to aggravated assault and possession of a knife and the Crown launched a dangerous offender application. The hearing sat for five days last May and two days this week.
Ms. Cogswell pointed out Tuesday that the stabbing in Halifax took place less than six months after Mr. Newhook was released from prison after serving an entire two-year sentence for a September 2004 assault with a weapon in Kingston, Ont. In that case, a rent disagreement led him to attack a man with a piece of wood and throw him through a plate glass window.
The defence wants Mr. New-hook declared a long-term offender, meaning he would receive a determinate prison sentence followed by up to 10 years of strict supervision in the community.
Lawyer Jean Morris said her client would be willing to complete programming and treatment in prison that would help him cope in the community while under supervision.Judge Digby reserved his decision on the dangerous offender application until March 1.
Ms. Cogswell said she didn’t let Mr. Newhook’s outburst distract her from the job at hand.
"I felt scared and intimidated but at the same time I wasn’t going to back down from my legal position, which I needed to put forward," she said.
Crown attorneys have been pressing the province to install secure prisoner docks in courtrooms. Mr. Newhook was sitting on an open bench, with a sheriff on either side of him, when he went on his tirade.
"This is a circumstance that rears its head every day," Ms. Cogswell said. "I’m not very far removed from him in terms of where I sit. . . It’s a very dangerous situation that we work in.
"This is something that Crown attorneys across Canada have been saying for years, that we’re not safe enough in the buildings and in the courtrooms. This is a prime example.
This is an old building and it’s not very safe, not very secure."
Justice Department spokeswoman Jennifer Gavin said precautionary measures were taken by adding the third sheriff to the courtroom.
She said the department would not be able to comment further on courtroom security Tuesday.
With Davene Jeffrey, staff reporter
We haven't heard much about, "the Tongue" in a few years, and we didn't even have a recent photo of him to post until the
CBC article was published (the one on the left is from the early 1990s) but he does have quite a history and for a while was one of the more visible of the early Heritage Front membership. In addition to his most recent antics, Mr. Newhook is also infamous for his involvement in the following:
- Heritage Front member in 1990s who engaged in assaults with Wolfgang Droege and Pete Mitrevski on anti-racists.
- Subsequently convicted of assaulting police and possession of a dangerous weapon (a baseball bat with "SS" carved into it) and was sentenced to twelve months.
- "Heritage Front tough guy, Chris "the Tongue" Newhook, is back in jail for violating his probation. Convicted after the June 1993 brawl with anti- racists, and was paroled at the end of 1994. Despite his brief freedom and a grim birthday party hosted by Ernst Zundel, "the Tongue" was picked up by the cops on Yonge Street for possession of weapons and narcotics."
- Sentenced to three years for various assaults in May 1997.
However, he was a bit of a hero, at least to some in the White Nationalist movement. Bob Smith (a member of Don Andrew's Nationalist Party) even
wrote a poem (which is God awful, by the way) in which Newhook is mentioned among the luminaries of the Canadian racist movement:
