Rob Ford kicked his ass
Andray Domise is a social justice journalist who wrote for Maclean’s magazine and co-hosted a show on Canadaland with the infamous Desmond Cole. He also fancies himself as a politician after running against former Mayor Rob Ford. Some in the media thought he might be the right man for the job, but he was trounced- and one has to wonder if his main purpose for running wasn’t even to win.
Today his life was much different. My Facebook followers heard about this couple days earlier, but the news came out in the mainstream media on Monday that he’s been charged with domestic assault and mischief. The charges are in relation to three alleged incidents with his former girlfriend occurring between 2015-2016.
Domise had a court date so I got up early and traveled across to cover it this morning. Today’s brief hearing raised more questions than it answered. But it also might give some insight to what his strategy is for getting out of this mess- a mystery set of records that are “of a sensitive nature”. And it gave me another great peak into the ineptitude of the mainstream media.
Jesse Brown is already weaseling out…
Andray’s case was scheduled on the 10 am docket. The court seemed to function a lot more efficiently than criminal and civil cases I’ve reported on downtown, they breezed through several cases and got to his case at around 11:45. About half the defendants walked in on their own will, the other half who were being held in remand stood inside a long glass box. Domise didn’t appear at all, he avoided the media and left the job to his lawyer.
Domise was represented by William Luke. He got his law degree in the UK in 2009, worked as an Articling Student for the Worsoff Law Firm from 2013-2015, and was promoted to the position of Associate Criminal Defense Lawyer about 18 months ago.
The Crown argued for dates to be set for a trial and Judicial Pretrial. She appeared to believe that this would be okay with the defense. Luke explained that the “heart of the matter” of the delay was because Domise is “trying to secure records from a 3rd party.” He said that Domise expects to get the records next week and that they’re “of a very sensitive nature.”
As Luke appeared to push the delay further back the judge seemed to realize he was pushing and insisted on scheduling a pre-trial. “It’s three hours total, what’s the harm,” she said. Luke’s response left the impression he has a lot riding on the mystery records. “This matter will be able to be resolved when we get these new documents,” he explained.
But the judge wasn’t having any more delays and sent Luke out to the Trial Coordinators office to get dates for a trial and pretrial. Three journalists from the mainstream media hoped out and chased him, camping out in front of the Coordinator’s office. I saw something they completely missed, so stated in court a few minutes longer before I headed out to join them.
We were there for a while, and one of the mainstream journalists slipped out after making a deal. He promised to call the clerk’s office and figure out when the date was set, and they’d stay and see if they could get the news on the ground. It was a sucker’s game, he got to jet out, and as long as the other two made sure they were in the courtroom at the right time he wouldn’t have to deal with the pain of calling the clerk’s office.
Luke quietly slipped out of the Coordinators office behind the back of the two remaining mainstream journalists. They were very chummy with each other but somewhat cold with me, so it didn’t occur for me to tell them they were missing out on the story. So I slipped into the courtroom and left them outside kvetching about how they wasted their day.
Inside the court, I learned that the Judicial Pretrial is set for December 6th, and his full trial is scheduled for January 11th. I saw the two tired mainstream journalists still sitting in front of the Trial Coordinator’s office on my way out of the court. I felt bad for them having to only rely on the accuracy & honesty of another mainstream media journalist (not always a good idea). So I pulled out my notebook and, shared the dates, and the two went scurrying to try and find Domise’s lawyer.
Terrance Luscombe of the 2010 G20 Main Conspiracy Group
But that wasn’t all the three journalistic maestros missed in the courtroom. Sitting right beside William Luke was a young law student named Terrance Luscombe. Torontonians might recognize him as a member of the 2010 G20 Main Conspiracy Group who got arrested for their parts in organizing the riot in 2010. I asked them if they realized who Luscombe was and all three were clueless.
The last time I saw him he was riding on the main float at Toronto’s 2015 May Day march. He was accompanied by three other G20 conspirators, including Alex Hundert and City Councillor Shelley Carroll’s assistant Leah Henderson– both who spent time in prison as part of a plea bargain that helped keep Luscombe out of prison.
Curiously, both Henderson and Luscombe are vehement anti-state (smash the state) anarchists who don’t believe in the validity of the government no less the legal system. Henderson is a paralegal, the fact they’ve both worked as part of the justice system sends shivers down my spine.
[Note: Do you like my work and want to help me cover the costs (and beers afterward) of covering these court cases? You can find my PayPal account here and my Patreon account here. Any donation, however small, is helpful. $6 will cover my bus fare there and back, $141 will buy a bus pass for the whole month! $25 will pay this website’s monthly hosting cost or buy me a nice bottle of wine to fuel my writing…]
