Delaney accused of racial slurs
"go back into the woods where you belong, you half-bred nigger."
The highly anticipated trial of a man accused by Shelburne mayor Alan Delaney of causing a disturbance at Town Hall was canceled at the last moment Wednesday as the crown prosecutor admitted that there was little chance of a conviction.
The trial is part of what Keith Jacklin says is years of persecution by the Town and two years of out-and-out bullying by Delaney. The most egregious episode, says Jacklin, a black loyalist descendant, is when he visited mayor Delaney at his home and the mayor told him to "go back into the woods where you belong, you half-bred nigger."
The trial was based upon an incident ten months ago in which Jacklyn was agitated at the Town offices about unfair treatment he felt he was given by Delaney and senior Town officials. Delaney apparently called the RCMP and swore out a statement saying he was fearful of his life around Jacklin, as were the staff at Town Hall.
The crown apparently offered earlier in the morning to drop the charges if Jacklin would agree to a peace bond, but he adamantly refused. "I wanted the court to hear the evidence of how I've been bullied and badgered and harassed by the mayor and his council."
In the courtroom prior to the decision, Delaney sat alone and Jacklin was surrounded by almost a dozen friends. There were no fewer than three witnesses in the courtroom who would have given testimony contradicting Delaney's version of events, including at least one witness who would have testified to a pattern of racist comments. Delaney's wife Carole had been scheduled to testify about how polite he had been to Jacklin, but she did not show up in the courtroom.
In a previous hearing about the conditions being placed on Jacklin while awaiting trial, former Town CAO Rhonda Henneberry admitted that neither she, the staff or Delaney had any cause to fear Jacklin. Henneberry subsequently left the job suddenly when a claim of unjust termination evolved into counter claims by the fired employee of sexual harassment by Henneberry. That case has yet to see the insides of a courtroom.
Delaney had apparently also told the RCMP that Jacklin harassed and threatened him at Sobeys, but a witness was on hand to refute that. "That claim is absolutely false," said Jacklyn. "How people can think they can simply get away with lying to the police is incredible. I think the court would have been very disturbed to hera that what the security chief at Sobey's saw on the surveillance tapes looked more like mayor Delaney intimidating me."
The incident at Town Hall, says Jacklin, is just part of a twenty-year battle regarding his ancestral homestead on the outskirts of Shelburne. "They have lied about my family's history there," said the veteran scap collector, "and blocked the road with huge boulders and spent thousands of dollars on lawyers trying to keep me from asserting my claims." If the Town believes all of this will result in him dropping his claims, Jacklin says, "I guess they don't know me very well."
Jacklin's lawyer Wayne Rideout told SCT that most people in his client's position would be very pleased to see charges dropped, but he understands that his client wanted a full airing of the facts of the case. "I understand that Keith has a complaint regarding some of these matters before the Human Rights Commission and I image that some of the evidence gathered here will suit him very well in that venue."
Jacklin told SCT that he has filed a complaint with the Commission regarding some of Delaney's actions and that the case is progressing, as far as he knows. "I will simply not lie down and take out-and-out racist remarks or prejudiced beaviour without fighting for my rights," he added.
Sources tell SCT that Delaney has been actively soliciting support and donations for another run for mayor in October and a sourtce familiar with the case said that, when he saw what evidence was going to be presented, Delaney pulled the plug on the prosecution. A source familiar with the political landscape in Shelburne told SCT that the revelations from the court case could well torpedoe Delaney's chances at a second term. "People here will tolerate a lot of foolishness, the source said, but the kind of bigotry and bullying being described here are hard for anyone to swallow in a public offiical."
"After putting me through ten months of pure hell, costing everyone thousands of dollars and dragging my name through the mud," said Jacklin, "I can't say that I'm pleased that the mayor gets to slink back into his wood-paneled office without the court and citizens of Shelburne knowing what kind of man he is."
A request was made to Town staff for a comment about the case from the mayor.
SCT PHOTO: KEITH JACKLIN AT TOWN HALL
