OTTAWA – The RCMP has been cleared in its handling of the high-profile case of a Nova Scotia woman trying to hire an undercover officer to kill her husband.
The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP said on Wednesday, Mounties “acted reasonably” in responding to domestic abuse complaints from Nicole Ryan, now known as Nicole Doucet, prior to her 2008 arrest.
Doucet was acquitted of counselling to commit murder in 2010, and an Nova Scotia appeal court later upheld the ruling.
The Crown appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled in favour of the appeal on Jan. 18 of this year.
Read more: High court stays case against abused wife
In an 8-1 decision, Canada’s highest court granted the appeal, but ordered at stay in proceedings. The Supreme Court justices said it would not be fair to subject the former school teacher to further trial.
The Supreme Court said she endured a “reign of terror” while being married to her former husband, Michael Ryan and called the Mounties’ handling of the case “disquieting.”
“It seems that the authorities were much quicker to intervene to protect Mr. Ryan than they had been to respond to her request for help in dealing with his reign of terror over her,” justices Louis LeBel and Thomas Cromwell wrote in the ruling.
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Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry called for a review of the RCMP investigation into Doucet’s abuse claims, in the weeks following the decision.
The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP examined the 25 occurrences in which Doucet and Ryan had some interaction with the RCMP, and also interviewed members of the RCMP and the former husband and wife.
“It is my conclusion that the RCMP did not refuse to assist Ms. Doucet; on the contrary, RCMP members were responsive to the family’s conflicts,” the commission’s interim chair Ian McPhail said in a statement on Wednesday. “I conclude that the RCMP acted reasonably in each of its dealings with Ms. Doucet and her family, and did not fail to protect her.”
Among the 23 findings, the commission found the RCMP acted within its policies pertaining to cases of domestic violence during the one time domestic violence was reported to authorities.
It also said RCMP members received no information that would lead them to believe Doucet’s abuse claims.
Read more: RCMP addresses criticisms about handling of Nicole Ryan case
Her ex-husband has been adamant that he did not abuse the woman. He took to YouTube in the week following the Supreme Court ruling to defend his reputation and demand a reason why he was never given the opportunity to testify in the case.
Ryan now lives in Ontario with his new wife, their young child and his teenage daughter from his relationship with Doucet.
Doucet said she hoped to move on with her life, following the Supreme Court ruling, and hope to restore contact with her daughter.
*With files from The Canadian Press
FINAL REPORT – Public Investigation of RCMP Conduct Involving Nicole Ryan Doucet
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