By Canadian Press

‘No reason to believe’ Don Dunphy violent, police officer tells inquiry

Jan 22, 2017 | 11:15 PM

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The beige, battered recliner in which Don Dunphy’s body was found was front-and-centre at the inquiry into his death Monday, as the lawyer for his daughter grilled the officer who opened fire.

It was a sometimes combative exchange as Bob Simmonds cross-examined Const. Joe Smyth of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

In particular, he questioned why Smyth felt he had grounds to visit Dunphy at his home in Mitchell’s Brook on St. Mary’s Bay for a meeting that turned deadly.

“You had no basis at all — zero — to believe Mr. Dunphy would be violent, act out or be anything but appropriate with you,” he said.

Smyth, 38, has told the inquiry he shot Don Dunphy three times in self-defence on Easter Sunday 2015 after he suddenly raised a rifle at him from the right side of his chair. 

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Simmonds used the recliner to show that if the gun, almost one metre in length, had been jammed into one of the side pockets it would have been clearly visible from where Smyth stood in the small living room.

Smyth suggested Monday the gun may have been leaning against the wall behind the chair. Simmonds is to continue his cross-examination Tuesday.

Smyth told Simmonds there was “nothing concrete” to suggest Dunphy posed any threat prior to the fatal confrontation.

“I had no reason to believe that Mr. Dunphy would act out violently.”

Still, Smyth said he found some “disconcerting” comments after reviewing about a year of Dunphy’s frequent Twitter posts.

Smyth had gone alone and unannounced to Dunphy’s house after staff in then-premier Paul Davis’s office flagged a single post on Twitter. He has told the inquiry he made the visit on Easter Sunday because he could not halt his work for “religious sensibilities.”

Smyth says Dunphy, 59, invited him in. The effort at “rapport building” suddenly went off the rails, however, after Smyth refused to sit on Dunphy’s couch and commented on the “filthy” state of his home.

Simmonds had Smyth confirm that his job as a former member of Davis’s security detail was primarily to protect the premier and other elected members from physical harm.

He repeatedly grilled Smyth on why he gave several people the impression — including an RCMP officer — that he was visiting Dunphy to assess a “threat” against Davis. He also questioned Smyth’s comments at the time to a workers’ compensation executive suggesting disgruntled citizens who vent on social media “don’t realize there are consequences” for such statements.

“What are the consequences?” Simmonds asked. He noted that Dunphy, an injured worker who’d battled for years with the workers’ compensation system, was engaged in lawful free speech and never threatened violence.

Smyth agreed, but maintained he found some of Dunphy’s Twitter posts troubling. They had, after all, been flagged by the former premier’s staff as a concern, he said.

It was the first chance other lawyers have had to cross-examine Smyth since commission co-counsel Sandra Chaytor finished more than three days of questioning.

She wrapped up Monday by asking Smyth if there’s anything he could have done differently.

“I could have not went there,” Smyth said. 

Earlier in the day, Smyth said he saw no conflict in sending an email explaining his actions to the lead RCMP investigator and about 400 other RNC and RCMP officers.

He said the email, which was leaked to media on the day of Dunphy’s funeral, was to urge co-workers to reach out to troubled individuals.

He stressed that although he sent the email — signed “Joey” — to so many people he never meant for it to be more widely shared.

“I was almost sick to my stomach,” Smyth said of the realization it had been leaked to media on the day of Dunphy’s funeral, April 10, 2015, five days after he was killed.

“This is such bad timing,” he recalled thinking, and said he thought of the family.

He admitted, though, that an email he later sent directly to lead RCMP investigator Cpl. Steve Burke was “probably” inappropriate.

Smyth sent it past 3 a.m. on July 29, 2015 asking Burke for an update.

Smyth told the inquiry he was at that point increasingly frustrated being in “professional limbo.” He’d been put on a desk job as the investigation played out.

“I’m lying wide awake” thinking about what happened as he had many nights before and since, Smyth said when Chaytor asked about the hour he sent the email.

Burke responded that it would be inappropriate to discuss the investigation.

Smyth took several months of stress and parental leave starting that fall. He now works in traffic operations.

Commission hearings will continue into March. Inquiry Commissioner Leo Barry will not make findings of civil or criminal responsibility, but any new evidence could be investigated by police.

His report is due by July 1.

Sue Bailey, The Canadian Press