Victim had several incidents with city police officer before assault, arbitrator hears

While reporting a domestic dispute with Fredericton police officer Colin Holmes in September 2023, the victim told police it wasn't the first incident she had with him, an arbitration hearing has been told.

Holmes was criminally charged after a Serious Incident Response Team investigation and pleaded guilty in February to assault and unlawful presence in his ex-partner's home, an arbitration hearing has been told.

However, Holmes received a conditional discharge rather than a conviction, which will allow him to have no criminal record if he follows certain orders for 15 months.

A separate arbitration process through the New Brunswick Police Commission, following a complaint lodged by former Fredericton police chief Martin Gaudet, will determine if Holmes can keep his job. 

George Filliter, the arbitrator, is expected to issue his decision in February 2025.

Counsel for the commission and Holmes will both make final submissions in writing ahead of that decision.

The SIRT investigation was conducted by RCMP Sgt. Major Ian Gresman, who testified Thursday.

That investigation was into an incident on Sept. 24, 2023, when Holmes was off duty and showed up at the home of his former partner. 

CBC News is not naming the victim to protect her privacy. 

The victim did not answer when he knocked at the front door, Gresman said, because her two children were home.

When she heard him knocking at a side door in the garage, she opened the window and told him he wasn't welcome, Gresman said. 

But then Holmes punched through the screen, unlocked the door and entered. 

Holmes and the victim then had a physical altercation, where he took her phone and she tried to get it back, before they both went inside the house.

There, Gresman said, Holmes asked her not to report the incident to police and put his hands on her throat.  

The victim recalled Holmes saying that if she reported it, his life would be over, and that "if my life is over I might as well kill you," Gresman testifed. 

He said the victim was "terrified" hearing this. She agreed not to call police and Holmes left, but she later decided to make a report. 

Earlier incidents

RCMP Const. Tara Tremblay, who attended the call for service, also appeared as a witness at the arbitration hearing.

She recalled the victim telling her about being concerned for Holmes's mental health and about several incidents prior to the assault.

Gresman testified on the same series of incidents that the victim spoke about in a sworn, videotaped statement she provided as part of the SIRT investigation.

The victim and Holmes were living together, when she noticed him getting angry more easily at her children, Gresman  said. The woman recalled a time that he became "very angry" at her daughter for closing a door too hard.

After the couple separated, Gresman said, the victim recalled another incident where Holmes showed up at her home unannounced. She opened the door and he "pushed past her into the residence," heading to her bedroom to search the closet and under the bed.

Holmes, according to the victim, pounded his fists on the bed and began yelling. 

On another occasion, Gresman said, the victim recalled seeing Holmes travelling the opposite way down Hanwell Road, but then making a U-turn to follow her onto the highway. He then pulled in front of her and slowed down to 50 kilometres an hour. 

The next month, the victim recounted Holmes arriving at her house — she didn't answer his knocking at the front door as her children were home. 

Holmes then gained entry into the house through her back patio door. The victim said he would have had to jump the fence around the perimeter of the yard. He asked to check her phone before leaving.

Victim hesitant to report

Holmes declined to comment when asked by CBC News after the hearing. 

Gresman, when asked by Holmes's lawyer  T.J. Burke, said the earlier incidents raised at the hearing did not meet the bar for him to lay additional charges.

The hearing also heard from Elizabeth Montgomery, an expert witness in investigating and policing intimate partner violence offences. 

She noted not all incidents of intimate partner violence would be considered illegal — but all have the common theme of "coercive control," or attempts to take the victim's power away. 

Montgomery said sometimes that control can be used to try and keep victims from coming forward. 

While Tremblay and Gresman both recalled the victim raising these incidents, they also said the victim was concerned about making any report about Holmes. 

She worried about his mental health, which she characterized as deteriorating, and the report potentially affecting his career. Gresman noted victims of intimate partner violence are often hesitant to make a report and to engage with the justice system.