Couple who called 911 testify in London, Ont., child abduction trial

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains disturbing and graphic content. 

The Superior Court of Justice heard from four more witnesses on Wednesday, including another officer with London police, in day three of the trial surrounding an alleged child abduction and sexual assault in northeast London three years ago.

Information provided by police after the alleged incident said a man had picked up a four-year-old girl near the corner of Melsandra Avenue and Barker Street and brought her into his Chevrolet Impala on the morning of May 13, 2018.

As the Impala drove away, witnesses reported observing the man allegedly inappropriately touching the young girl inside, according to police.

Police said the car later stopped in the same area where the girl was taken from. She then exited the car and ran back home.

Lawrence Allen Thompson, a 68-year-old man who was 65 at the time, was arrested the following day and charged with offences related to kidnapping, sexual assault on a person under the age of 16, sexual interference with a person under the age of 16 and abduction of a person under the age of 14.

On the Monday, the first day of the trial surrounding the alleged abduction, Thompson pleaded not guilty to all four charges.

Assistant Crown attorney Kristina Mildred presented four witnesses during Wednesday’s proceedings.

While a publication ban ordered by the court barred media from identifying any witnesses or complainants in the trial, Justice Alissa Mitchell noted on Wednesday that “media may report the names of the police witnesses.”

First to the stand was the husband of a couple who had called 911 following an incident near Melsandra Avenue and Barker Street on May 13, 2018 that had raised suspicion.

The husband said the suspicion surrounded a Chevrolet Impala he observed while he and his wife were driving to Sunday service at Valleyview Mennonite Church, a church they attended regularly.

On their way to church, the husband stopped behind the Impala as it parked at an intersection on Barker Street, south of Melsandra Avenue.

The Impala’s driver-side door was “wide open”, which seemed “unusual” to the husband.

“I stopped further away from the car than I normally would because the driver-side door suggested to me that something was amiss,” the husband said recalling the events under cross-examination from defence lawyer Lakin Afolabi.

The husband saw an adult man place a child into the vehicle, which he described as a “struggle.”

“It didn’t look like it was an easy transfer of the child. It required effort on the adult’s part to effect the transfer of the child into the car,” the husband said as he explained why he defined the action as a struggle.

After the man got back into the vehicle and closed the driver-side door, the husband said he observed “erratic driving” as the Impala drove three blocks to the church after making a turn onto Melsandra Avenue.

“That’s when I had two thoughts… That there was activity in the car that required the driver’s attention or that there’s an issue of intoxication,” the husband told the court.

Both the husband’s vehicle and the Impala ended up in the parking lot of Valleyview Mennonite Church. The husband noted that he was not following the Impala, but rather following his regular route to church which happened to be the same direction the Impala was headed.

The Impala pulled into the parking lot first and began heading toward another exit as the husband’s vehicle entered from the same entrance.

The husband said he stopped his car briefly and watched the Impala as it drove off in the same direction it came from.

“I was surprised that he turned into the parking lot and … The fact that he left as soon as I came in made an impression on me. That’s when I first thought my presence was unwelcome,” the husband told the court.

He added “the fact that he navigated the exit without difficulty” alleviated concerns that the “erratic driving” he saw earlier was tied to impaired driving.

The husband said soon after, he parked the car as his wife called 911 before they both headed into the church for service.

“We had decided that if this is indeed something more sinister that the call needs to be made promptly,” the husband said.

“At this point in time, both (my wife) and I are thinking that this is a child safety issue.”

The wife’s testimony reiterated much of what was said by her husband.

She described the young girl observed as being about four-years-old and said the man had glasses and appeared to be “around 60-ish” in age.

“The man was carrying the child, walked around the back of the car to the driver’s side, went to the driver-side door, where it was open, put the child inside and then got in himself, closed the car door and began away,” said the wife, describing what she saw when her husband’s vehicle stopped behind the Impala on Barker Street, south of Melsandra Avenue.

“My first thought was not to jump to any conclusions.”

After noting the same observations that were reported by her husband in court, the wife said the Impala’s movement “confirmed our concerns and our suspicions,” adding that it “seemed like there wasn’t a particular direction that this vehicle was going in.”

“The vehicle wasn’t coming to church, wasn’t driving and parking. (It) drove in and then drove out again. It just didn’t seem reasonable,” she told the court.

The wife then called 911 to explain her and her husband’s concerns.

“At this point, child abduction would be the fear.”

While under cross-examination from the defence, the wife noted that the man appeared to be cradling the child as he carried the girl into his vehicle.

This differed from the description provided by the seven-year-old girl who testified earlier in the trial. The young girl had told court previously that a man had carried her over his shoulder before placing her inside his vehicle.

Court also heard from a woman who had footage from the dash cam of her vehicle that depicted part of what was described by the couple who called 911.

The footage was shared in court and depicted what appeared to be a Chevrolet Impala parked at an intersection with another vehicle stopped behind.

Based on her description of where she was driving in the footage shown, the Impala would’ve been parked on Barker Street, south of Melsandra Avenue.

Recalling what she remembered from the day, the witness referred to the Impala as a “gold vehicle that was stopped at a really awkward angle.”

She had assumed the car may have broken down, but figured the other vehicle parked behind it would’ve been able to provide help if needed.

The witness noted that she provided the dash cam footage shown in court to officers after a seeing a social media post from the London Police Service requesting information on a vehicle similar to what was shown in the footage.

Last on the stand for Wednesday’s proceedings was Sgt. Eric Potasse, an officer who has served London police for nearly three decades. Potasse was the second officer to testify in the trial after court heard from Staff Sgt. Trevor Pool on Tuesday.

Potasse told court he was a detective in the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section of the Criminal Investigation Unit at the time of the incident and first became aware of the case on May 14, 2018.

That day, Potasse had interviewed the couple who testified in court on Wednesday and was later tasked with attending the address of “Larry Thompson.”

“We had received information that his wife was a registered owner of a 2005 Chevrolet Impala, brown,” Potasse said.

“Purpose of going to that address was to rule out that that particular car was or was not the vehicle we were interested in.”

Potasse said there were a number of “physical descriptors” of the suspect vehicle sought by police that investigators had gathered from surveillance footage taken at the time of the alleged abduction.

Shortly after 6 p.m., Thompson, the accused in the trial, arrived home. Potasse approached Thompson and told him the Chevrolet Impala parked at his residence matched the description of the suspect vehicle. Potasse then asked if he and his partner could examine the vehicle.

Thompson responded, “Sure, you can have a look at it,” Potasse told the court. The officer said he presented Thompson with a consent-to-search form and offered to go over the document prior to examining the Impala.

“He didn’t want me to read it and said it was more than fine that we have a look at his car. He was very cooperative and very polite,” Potasse told the court.

Potasse said when he saw the Impala, he observed that the “front of the vehicle was up on blocks and both front wheels had been removed. The rear wheels were still on the vehicle and I believe the front wheels that were on the vehicle were now leaning against (an) east side fence.”

“The hub caps on the rear wheels were similar in appearance to the images of the vehicle we were interested in from the surveillance footage we had, however there were no hub caps on the wheels that were leaning against the fence,” Potasse added.

Potasse said it took no more than 10 seconds to determine the Impala at Thompson’s home was the same vehicle being sought by police, at which point he arrested Thompson for abduction.

“I told him to place his hands behind his back and stated, ‘You’re mistaken, you’ve got the wrong guy’.”

A little more than two hours later, Potasse said he rearrested Thompson on several additional criminal offences.

“That would be kidnapping, sexual assault (and) sexual interference.”

Toward the end of Wednesday’s proceedings, Mildred, the assistant Crown attorney in the trial, noted that she has one more witness planned for Thursday.

The court is expected to hear from a now-retired officer of the London Police Service who served as Potasse’s partner during the child abduction investigation from 2018.

Thursday’s proceedings are expected to begin at 10 a.m.

1:31 Edmonton elementary school increases security after abduction scares