The City of Saint John wants to appeal a judge’s decision to allow a class action lawsuit regarding convicted sex offender and former police officer Kenneth Estabrooks to go forward.
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Estabrooks was sentenced in 1999 to six years in prison on four sex-related charges against children. He died in 2005. A city commissioned investigation of Estabrooks found there could be hundreds of victims.
A judge ruled there was enough merit to warrant a class action lawsuit against the city.
The decision to apply for leave to appeal came at a special meeting of Common Council. The city says it does not comment publicly on ongoing legal matters
Robert Hayes, a victim who brought forward the lawsuit, said the city’s decision is frustrating especially after the emotion of telling an alleged victim the class action lawsuit had been approved.
“I shook his hand and told him,” Hayes said. “He sat down on the stairs and cried just like a little kid”
Hayes’ lawyer John McKiggan believes a class action will be successful and said certain facts can’t be debated including an Estabrooks confession in 1975.
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“So what did the city do?,” asked McKiggan. “Did they charge him? No. Did they discipline him? No. Did they fire him? No. They simply moved him to the city works department so that he’d be able to collect his pension. So from 1975 until he retired in 1983 he continued to work for the city and continued to abuse children.”
Hayes said he and other alleged victims are prepared to continue the fight and are actually gaining strength.
“It’s not as hard as it was now that the cats out of the bag and a lot of them are saying if they want to hear some stuff, I’ll talk about what he’s done,” Hayes said. “If they want to fight, roll up your sleeves and lets go.”
The application for leave to appeal is expected to be heard in May.
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