Judge orders pub ban on ID of Operation J-Tornado police agent be permanent

A temporary publication ban on the name of aformer Saint John businessmanwhohelped police gather evidence against suspects in a majorinter provincialdrug investigation has been made permanent.

In a ruling on Wednesday, Court of Queen's Bench Justice William Grantsaid he was convinced the man faces a "real and substantial risk" to his safety if he is named and ordered that his identity not be revealed, even though his identity was revealed by the Crown in an earlier case.

The man in questionwas hired in 2014 as a "police agent" as part of the operation, calledJ-Tornado and will be the key witness in a trial currently underway in Saint John.

The man agreed to assist in what turned out to be the arrest and charging of 28 people with various drug offences. In exchange, the agentwas offered a series of payments that could eventually total $600,000.

Several of those arrested have been convicted and sentenced already, but several more are still working their way through the court system.

Two of those, Shane Williams and Joshua Kindred, are currently on trial in Saint John on drug possession, trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Trialsiderailedfor week

The police agent is scheduled to testify in their trial and defence lawyers Brian Munro and Reid Chedore have made the police agent's credibility a central issue in their clients' defence.

Whether the police agent can be publicly identified has consumed the trial for the past week.

On Monday,Justice Grant held a hearing on the issue with lawyers for the accused, CBC Newsand Brunswick News Inc., arguing against a publication ban, and lawyers for the Crown and the police agent arguing in favour.

Grant found that although the police agent's identity is already known to those he helped police arrest, there would be a risk to his safety from an ongoing disclosure of his identity during the current trial.

The judge said his finding the police agent may be in danger was based in part on his "own common sense," but should not be taken as a comment on the guilt or innocence of the two men on trial before him.

Williamsand Kindred, he said, are still presumed innocent and could receive a fair trial without the police agent's identity being reported to the public.