The woman on the other end of the line sounds scared and tells the 911 dispatcher through sobs and deep breaths that a drunk man just broke her wrist.
“He’s a very famous judge,” the woman says, to which the dispatcher immediately replies:
“Well, that doesn't mean he's allowed to do that, right?”
The April 5, 2023 911 call came out this week at the disciplinary hearing of Ontario Court Judge Paul Currie.
The 70-year-old judge, who once ran for head of the Ontario Court of Justice, faces allegations of judicial misconduct assaulting and sexually assaulting a woman, driving while intoxicated, failing to immediately surrender to police despite knowing there was a warrant for his arrest, and attempting to dissuade a woman from participating in a misconduct investigation by the Judicial Council of Ontario.
The ban, imposed by a four-member disciplinary panel, prevents the publication of any information that could identify the woman, known as “AA”, who gave evidence over three days this week.
She told the commission that Curry pushed her in April 2023 after an argument, causing her to trip over either a chair or a briefcase, land on her left hand and break her wrist. The injury required an overnight hospital stay, a cast, physical therapy and pain medication. My arm still hurts. Before the push, the woman said Curry had been drinking alcohol; she revealed that his consumption had become a problem and his mood was generally deteriorating.
“I would say, 'Curry, you're confusing me.' So, I felt this darkness,” she said the night of the attack under questioning by Gerald Chan, the outside lawyer hired to represent the case against Curry.
“He seemed anxious and angry.”
She said she was “dazed and shaking” when she called for help that night, repeatedly telling the 911 dispatcher it was “embarrassing.” She began crying on the stand while listening to her 911 call and asked for a break.
“It was awkward to speak in public, it was awkward to talk on the phone so weak and scared,” she testified. “It was just awkward.”
Currie was appointed to the position of judge by the Ontario government in 2004. Allegations against him first surfaced in 2023 while he was serving as a senior regional judge in the west-central region, which includes oversight of the Brampton and Milton courthouses. As the Star first reported, he was also on Attorney General Doug Downey's list of five judges that year to become the next chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice.
He has been suspended from pay since the allegations were made and is representing himself in disciplinary proceedings following the dismissal of his lawyer Brennan Smart last month. Instead of looking down from the bench, as he was accustomed to doing in the courtroom, Curry found himself sitting at a table reserved for lawyers and could often be seen taking notes.
Curry was arrested and charged with a criminal offense in April 2023, but two months later the assault and assault causing bodily harm charges were dropped by an out-of-province Crown prosecutor, citing no reasonable prospect of conviction after a meeting with the AA.
Ontario Court Judge Paul Currie, pictured in 2015, faces charges of judicial misconduct in the assault and sexual assault of a woman.
twist photo file
She told the disciplinary panel this week that she never wanted Curry to be charged, but rather wanted to get the help she felt he so clearly needed; she was “adamant” on this issue in a meeting with the prosecutor.
“I knew there was something serious and frightening about his brain,” A.A. testified. “But (the police) said, 'Ma'am, it's out of your control.' I have heard this message loud and clear several times.”
The disciplinary hearing is being held in a courtroom in downtown Toronto before a panel consisting of Court of Appeal Judge Paul Rouleau, Ontario Court Judge Christine Pirraglia, lawyer Ena Chadha and community member Peter Woolstencroft.
Allegations of sexual assault and drinking while driving
According to AA, the jolt was not Curry's first horrifying incident. According to her testimony, on January 15, 2023, Curry entered the room where she was sleeping, pulled her legs to the edge of the bed, pinned her hands and raped her as she begged him to stop.
“I said, 'What are you doing? Please stop.” Many times,” A.A. testified, feeling visibly uncomfortable and muttering “Oh my God” under her breath as she was forced to recount the details of that night.
Curry then threw her to the hardwood floor, climbed on top of her and firmly grabbed the lower half of her face with his hand, repeatedly telling her, “You got this,” before forcing her out of the room, she said.
“I just remember being in shock and feeling a twinge of pain, primarily in my jaw,” she said.
A.A. said she ended up with a deviated septum and a jaw injury that left her with constant pain and misaligned teeth as the panel reviewed records of several visits to specialists, as well as photographs of large bruises on the woman's knees and thighs, which she said were caused by being thrown to the floor.
Despite Curry representing himself, the hearing panel appointed criminal defense attorney Erin Dunn to cross-examine A.A. Dunn suggested to her that what actually happened was that Curry made a derogatory comment to AA, which prompted her to punch Curry, and the two then got into “sort of a wrestling match on the bed,” which ultimately led to AA. pushed to the floor. Dunn suggested that the bruises on A.A.'s body. actually left over from the previous fall.
“Wrong,” A.A. said repeatedly. Dunn in response to her suggestions.
A.A. revealed that Curry apologized to her the next day. He told her through tears that he was sorry and that he should be arrested, jailed and lose his job. AA told him he needed help.
“He said he would do it,” A.A. testified. “And then he went to work.”
Dunn suggested that AA was “lying the truth”, that Curry never said he should go to jail, and that AA made up the story about January 15, 2023 because she was “embarrassed” by what actually happened.
“You knew that Paul Curry's version of what happened on January 15th would not show you in a very good light,” Dunn told AA. “You wanted to present a version in which you were the victim.”
According to AA, she and Curry had argued the night before the alleged sexual assault. Curry showed up with an open can of alcoholic drink; A.A. told the group that she had previously expressed her concerns to Curry about drinking and driving.
“I would say, 'That sounds like a dangerous thing for you to do, you're a judge,' and he said, 'No, don't worry about it, it's a provincial offense,'” she testified. A provincial offense is not a criminal offense and may result in a fine.
“So presumably it wasn’t a big deal,” A.A. testified. “It was normal practice for him.”
AA didn't report her January allegations until April 2023, when she reported the push, although she didn't fully tell authorities about the previous incident, leaving out details of the alleged sexual assault because she feared Curry would end up in jail.
She testified that immediately after landing on the floor from the push, she told Curry that her wrist hurt, to which Curry responded, “Oh great, it used to be your jaw, now it's your wrist.”
Dunne suggested to her that what actually happened in April 2023 was that AA kept wanting to argue with Curry and that she came at him “quite forcefully”, lunged at him and he put his hand out to block her, causing AA to “fly into the air” and land on the floor. Dunn further suggested that Curry then made a “sarcastic comment” about A.A. going to pretend he was hurt.
Dunn told AA she did not want criminal charges filed because she knew her allegations were untrue.
“Wrong,” she said.
After the push A.A. spent the night in hospital where a blue bandage was placed on her wrist, as shown in photographs presented at the disciplinary hearing. OPP Const. Erin Calhoun testified that she urged AA at the hospital to provide a recorded statement, but she refused, she said, because he was a judge and she didn't want to get him in trouble.
Calhoun testified that Curry left the scene before she and her partner showed up and they were unable to reach him by phone.
An arrest warrant was issued for Curry. In his opening statement, Chen said the commission would hear evidence that despite knowing about the warrant, Curry did not surrender to police until five days later.
A.A. said she received a call the next morning at the hospital from Curry, who was “very upset” about calling 911.
“He said something like, 'Do you know what they'll do to me? I am a judge,” said A.A.
Did Curry express any concern for your well-being during this call, Chen asked AA.
Kangaroo Court: Judicial Council investigates Curry case
The Ontario Judicial Council, which investigates and disciplines provincially appointed judges, launched an investigation into Curry's misconduct after it was notified of the criminal case by then-Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve, who was required to do so by law. After the criminal charges were dropped, A.A. asked Curry if he would be allowed to return to work, but he said he could not leave the investigation to the judicial council.
“He said his boss had filed a complaint or something and he was really angry about it,” she testified.
Chan asked the witness if she could recall the exact language Curry used to describe the judicial advice, prompting the self-represented judge to rise from his seat to object to the relevance of the issue. But Rouleau settled the matter by overruling the man who had undoubtedly overruled many people during his nearly 20 years on the bench.
A.A. revealed that Curry called the judicial council a “kangaroo court.”
She initially refused to participate in the board's investigation, saying she didn't want Curry to be “punished” and she just “wanted to move on and heal.” But she changed her mind and decided to get involved after making some important realizations during her therapy sessions.
“I realized I was completely focused on saving him,” she testified, saying both her therapist and lawyer told her she needed to focus on taking care of herself.
“My lawyer said there's no such thing as a half-truth, it's either true or not true, and what really hit me hard was when my therapist said, 'What would you do if this happened to your daughters?' Or if this happened to someone else? ”- testified A.A.
“And that was the point where I just said, 'Okay, I'm giving up, I'm not going to save him. I'll just tell the truth, that's all.” That's what I decided to do.”
If Curry is found guilty of judicial misconduct, he faces penalties including a reprimand, suspension with or without pay, or a recommendation to the attorney general to fire him.
“We will ask this hearing panel to find this conduct incompatible with the judicial office of Judge Curry,” Chan said in his opening remarks.
“If proven, such conduct undermines the public's confidence in Judge Curry's ability to perform his duties as a judge and in the administration of justice more broadly.”
