Shaamini Yogaretnam

CBC Ottawa reporter

Shaamini Yogaretnam is a justice, crime and police reporter. She has spent more than a decade covering crime in the nation's capital. You may reach her in confidence at shaamini.yogaretnam@cbc.ca

Latest from Shaamini Yogaretnam

Ottawa arson victim dies in hospital

A woman seriously burned when her rented bungalow was firebombed in October has died from her injuries at a Toronto burn unit, CBC News has learned.

Ottawa police bust nets cousins of officers suing force

Ottawa police have charged the “gang-affiliated” cousins of two of their own officers who are suing the force for wiretapping them and their families, alleging the accused were at the top of one of three organized crime and drug trafficking networks.

Ottawa arson connected to Alkhalil crime family: police sources

Ottawa police are investigating an arson at a Nepean bungalow for connections to a notorious international crime family, CBC News has learned.

Ottawa police secretly wiretapped 5 Black officers, lawsuit alleges

Ottawa police secretly wiretapped five of its Somali officers and their family members for months, never laid charges, and refuses to tell them why, alleges a $2.5-million lawsuit filed by the officers.

Groom gunned down 10 months after Ottawa wedding shooting

A 28-year-old man who was fatally gunned down outside Hampton Park Plaza early Friday evening was the groom whose wedding was destroyed by gunfire at Ottawa's Infinity Convention Centre last summer, CBC News has learned.

Police car redesign falls short of 'visibility' goals, critic says

The Ottawa Police Service's (OPS) return to a cruiser with an old-school look aims to make them more visible to the public, but at least one critic thinks the rebranding falls short of that goal.

3 men charged in fatal attack on physiotherapist

Ottawa police have charged three men with fatally beating a local physiotherapist.

Police officer could be demoted after shoplifting $87 in groceries

Ottawa Police Services Const. Sarah Bell was caught shoplifting half her groceries at a Gatineau, Que., supermarket in 2021. She's now pleaded guilty under the Police Services Act to discreditable conduct.

City quietly resumed investigation into alleged hate crime, firefighters deny wrongdoing

The City of Ottawa is continuing a workplace harassment investigation into an alleged attack on the fire department’s first openly non-binary firefighter, even while there are active criminal charges laid in the case.

Officer pleads guilty to trying to look up 95-year-old father's information

An Ottawa police officer who tried to breach the national police database to get information about his ailing 95-year-old father — in what was an attempt to see if the system was working — has pleaded guilty to misconduct.