Court File and Parties

Court File No.: CR-24-179
Date of Judgment: May 21, 2025
Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Between:
His Majesty the King
Counsel for the Crown: Keeley Holmes and Tina Kim

- and -

Linval Ritchie
Counsel for the Defence: Selwyn Pieters

Other Appearances:
Catherine McDonald, for Global News
Brendan Kennedy, for The Toronto Star
Rob Sidhu, for Solicitor General

Heard: May 16, 2025

Judge: J.M. Woollcombe

Endorsement Respecting Media Request for the Release of Exhibits from the Sentencing Hearing

Overview

[1] During the sentencing hearing in this case, members of the media from Global News and the Toronto Star requested release of the exhibits.

[2] Prior to releasing the exhibits, I notified counsel of the request. While in principle, it was agreed that all of the exhibits should be released, counsel raised concerns about the release of some of them, and were of the view that counsel for the Solicitor General should be afforded an opportunity to make submissions before exhibits were released.

[3] As a result, on May 16, 2025, I convened a brief hearing at which were present counsel for the Solicitor General, Mr. Sidhu, as well as representatives of Global News and The Star. The parties seemed to have largely resolved the issues prior to their appearance before me. In the end, I understood that this order would be made with the consent of all involved.

[4] I am writing this endorsement to ensure that the result of that discussion is captured in a clear manner for everyone.

Order Regarding Release of Exhibits

[5] The media requesting the exhibits are to be provided with copies of all exhibits, which may be published or broadcast, subject to the following:

[6] In keeping with the order made by Good J. in [R. v. Simon, 2025 CarswellOnt 6119 (OCJ) at para. 30], there must be protection of the privacy interests of inmates captured on the Maplehurst Detention Centre videos. Accordingly, the portions of the videos that were played in court and made exhibits are to be released. However, any broadcasting and/or publication of these videos, or still photographs taken from the videos, shall protect the identities of all inmates at the Maplehurst Detention Centre by blurring or blocking out their faces, tattoos, scars and unique haircuts that would allow these persons to be identified by members of the public. This blurring or blocking shall also be required for all inmates whose sexual organs can be observed in any of these videos.

[7] The two Correctional Services Oversight and Investigations (“CSOI”) Reports, the first dated October 31, 2024 and the second dated April 23, 2025, are to be released. However, none of the names of any inmates referred to may be broadcast or published. The photographs of inmates contained in the images in these documents cannot be blurred or blocked so as to protect their identities. As a result, it is agreed that none of the inmates’ photographs should be published or broadcast. The same applies to the Video Timelines from the CSOI Reports. No names or images of inmates from these documents may be published or broadcast.

[8] The media takes no issue with my concern that the name of the child of the victim, who I will refer to as E.V., should not be published, so as to respect his privacy. The media will not be permitted to publish his victim impact statement, as contained in the Crown’s sentencing book, including his letter and drawing. Nor will they be permitted to publish or broadcast the image of him taken at his mother’s gravesite or the card or poem he made for his mother.

[9] While the victim’s family members provided Victim Impact Statements, I understand that the media does not intend to publish or broadcast their full names, so as to protect their privacy, unless they have provided consent to their names being published or broadcast, which I understand that at least one of them has done.

[10] Finally, Mr. Pieters expressed concern with the exhibits that contain Mr. Ritchie’s medical and psychiatric information being released to the media. Both Global and The Star advised that they did not seek access to Mr. Ritchie’s medical reports. As a result, none of Mr. Ritchie’s medical reports are to be released. This includes Dr. Jones’ Psychiatric Report dated September 16, 2024, which is at tab 2 of the Crown’s Sentencing Book (in Exhibit 1), and Mr. Ritchie’s institutional medical records (Exhibit 5).

J.M. Woollcombe

Released: May 21, 2025