Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh accuser goes public

One of Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh's accusers is going public.

Wednesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court Weldon MacIntosh-Reynolds had a ban on his name lifted. MacIntosh-Reynolds says he was molested by Fenwick MacIntosh in the 1970's.

The case against MacIntosh was thrown out of court earlier this month.

Weldon MacIntosh-Reynolds, a hair-salon owner in Sydney, walked out of court Wednesday morning and for the first time in the Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh saga the media could show his face. MacIntosh-Reynolds said that going public gave him a more powerful voice.

"My belief is when media is interviewing you, people - all they see is your hands. I really don't think they listen to what is going on so I think going this way people will listen," he said.

MacIntosh-Reynolds says Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh started abusing him when he was 16 and living in Port Hawkesbury.

MacIntosh was convicted in 2010 on 17 charges of gross indecency and indecent assault involving six boys. But earlier this month the convictions were overturned.

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled it took too long to bring him to court, saying the 14-year delay between the allegations and trial affected MacIntosh's ability to defend himself.

MacIntosh-Reynolds said the decision prompted him to go public.

"When all of the charges were dropped, I felt like I was a victim again. The justice system let us down again," he said.

"That's when I decided enough is enough here."

MacIntosh-Reynolds wants the federal government to launch a public inquiry into the justice system's handling of the MacIntosh case.

The allegations against the former Cape Breton businessman surfaced in 1995 and dated back to the 1970s. By 1995, he was living near New Delhi, in India, where he was working as a telecommunications specialist.

An extradition request was not made until 2006. MacIntosh was arrested in April 2007 in India, and extradited to Canada two months later.

There were further delays before the trials against him finally began in 2010.

Justice Duncan Beveridge overturned all of the convictions, finding in his 62-page decision that MacIntosh's "right to be tried within a reasonable time was infringed."

MacIntosh-Reynolds is organizing a national campaign to make the names and locations of convicted pedophiles public, as is done in the United States.

"I'm going to be holding rallies," he said.

"I'm having a rally next month at the Membertou Convention Centre and across the four Atlantic provinces and I'm going to take it coast to coast to have the justice system changed."

The Crown will announce early in 2012 whether or not it intends to appeal the decision to quash the convictions against Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh.