Nipawin Provincial Court (File photo/northeastNOW Staff).

By Aaron Schulze

Year in Review

Year in Review: Prime Minister threat trial

Dec 28, 2019 | 10:00 AM

northeastNOW is taking a look back at the biggest and most interesting stories of 2019, as selected by our newsroom:

A phone call with a Canadian government agency employee led to a court ordeal that nearly lasted the entire year.

David Petersen, a 52-year-old man from Nipawin, was arrested in late February after RCMP said in a release that he allegedly threatened to shoot Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and blow up the Parliament buildings earlier in the month. Cpl. Rob King said Petersen was released from custody after it was determined he had no intent to carry out the alleged threats.

Petersen first appeared in Nipawin Provincial Court in March and opted to defend himself in the case. He intended to plead guilty because – in his words – he no longer waste the time of provincial court. He also said his personal life has been affected since the charges were laid.

However, Petersen told Judge Inez Cardinal he doesn’t believe he’s guilty of the charges, so she told Petersen he should have his trial if he believes he’s not guilty.

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The trial began in Nipawin Court in September. The Canadian government agency employee mentioned, Paul Sveinson, was a collection content officer for the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) at the time of the call. He was the Crown’s first witness and appeared via video from Winnipeg.

Sveinson said in court he and Petersen talked approximately 10 times between October 2018 and the Feb. 12 call. He said Petersen sounded depressed and distraught during the last call between them and he brought up Trudeau’s name after no previous mentions of politics.

Sveinson recalled Petersen’s exact words being “between you and me, I’d like to take a shot at Trudeau” and “I don’t want to be the guy that goes and blows up Parliament.” He added the sad, quick demeanour of Petersen’s voice caused him concern for Petersen’s well-being, which resulted in him contacting a manager of his department.

During his cross examination, Petersen asked Sveinson if the comment regarding the Parliament building was negative considering he didn’t say he was going to blow it up, to which Sveinson responded ‘yes” due to the context of the quote and how he brought it up. Sveinson also testified that the call on Feb. 12 had initially been about his life insurance and that caused him to think it was a suicide call.

Judge Hugh Harradence said in Nipawin Provincial Court he had reasonable doubt that Petersen uttered the threats with intention. Harradence said he found Sveinson was sincere in trying to recollect his conversation with Petersen, but there is no evidence of the conversation being recorded or that he took notes of it immediately after it concluded.

“Importantly to me, Sveinson does not remember the exact words used during the entire context of this conversation,” Harradence said in court. “Context is critical.”

Petersen was emotional following Harradence’s non-guilty verdict.

“I was scared as hell and I didn’t know what to expect,” Petersen said outside of court. “I wasn’t trying to guess ahead of anything, but I’m not surprised.”

Petersen said it would have been easier to serve 12 months of probation than to go through the trial, but his wife Shanon said she, their kids, and their family wouldn’t allow him to do that.

“We said he didn’t do that, and he needs to stand innocent; speak for himself,” Shanon Petersen said outside of court. “I think [the trial] has been stressful for David and equally stressful for me, but I knew what was true and really felt that the truth would come out in the end, and the judge would know.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow