News

TORONTO, December 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The parade of witnesses from Toronto’s “Women’s Care Clinic” abortion site on Lawrence Avenue West continued when the trial of Mary Wagner resumed in the Ontario Court of Justice on Wednesday.

Last Friday, “medical director” and head abortionist Saira Markovic testified, to be followed by abortion centre receptionist Jane Yoon, who was questioned by Crown attorney Tracey Vogel. On Wednesday, the day began with Wagner’s defence counsel, Dr. Charles Lugosi, cross-examining Yoon regarding Friday’s testimony.

Wagner is on trial on charges of mischief and three counts of failing to comply with probation orders for allegedly entering the abortion centre on August 12, 2012 with pamphlets and roses and attempting to counsel women to keep their babies. She has remained in prison since that time, refusing to accept bail conditions for reasons of conscience. The trial is being held before Justice Fergus O’Donnell.

Yoon left the employ of the centre in May of this year and is now a nursing student at the University of Toronto, but had been a receptionist there for 1 ½ years at the time of the Wagner incident. She told Lugosi under questioning that she had been given no training or instructions regarding how to handle protesters and did not know of a counsellor at the centre who could speak to embryology and related issues.

Upon being summoned by a co-worker, Yoon said she found Wagner in the waiting area, kneeling, holding out a rose to a patient and asking her to reconsider her abortion decision. The patient did not respond and Yoon said she asked Wagner to leave several times.

Yoon said head nurse and office manager Khatija Akoojee then came out and took charge of the situation. She told Wagner the site was private property and to leave. Yoon said they then “went to her physically … the two of us combined pulled and dragged her” into the hallway and closed the door. She said she had no further interaction with Wagner.

Lugosi asked why Yoon made notes of the incident months and well over a year after it happened. Yoon replied there was no reason to do so at the time. Lugosi then asked whether there was video footage of the day in question and Yoon answered that there was, but it was erased two weeks later as is all footage taken at the centre after that time.

Yoon recalled Wagner was calm and did not raise her voice throughout the incident. Lugosi asked for more details on how Wagner was physically removed from the premises and whether Yoon could remember Wagner protesting that the action was an assault. Yoon said she could not remember.

Lugosi also asked whether Akoojee threatened Wagner with physical harm and again, Yoon could not remember. She added she did not hear what transpired later in the hallway, when an older woman is said to have called Wagner a “psycho” and told her to “go f— yourself.”

Constable Richard Mau of the Toronto Police Service was next on the witness stand. He said he first received a report, based on calls from the centre, that there were three violent protesters at the abortion centre. This was later updated to encompass one violent protester and finally, no violent protesters.

When he arrived, he saw Wagner in the hallway with roses and pamphlets in hand, as well as roses on the floor. He said he asked Wagner to leave, to which she replied, “Due to my beliefs and convictions, I choose to stay.” He said he and his police partner physically moved her toward the elevator.

Under cross-examination by Lugosi, Mau said he took no steps to preserve video footage of the incident. He also acknowledged he did not read Wagner her rights until after she had been placed under arrest, rather than when she was first detained. He acknowledged that she was co-operative.

After a lunch break, Akoojee took the stand, swearing an oath on the Muslim Koran. Now an emergency nurse with Trillium Health Care, she was head nurse/office manager at the abortion centre for two years. She said she first saw Wagner follow a couple into the centre and place pamphlets and roses in the waiting area. She said she told Wagner the site was private property, she was not allowed to be on the premises and could not distribute pamphlets.

Akoojee denied abortion centre personnel were aggressive with Wagner and were simply trying to “back her toward the exit door” while ordering her to leave. She later said she took Wagner “by the shoulder” while telling her, “You don’t know about real life. You’re living in a bubble … You’re not here to judge … It’s a choice, (you’re) not there to make someone’s decision … She doesn’t know the reason women make real decisions.”

She did not compose notes to refresh her memory about the incident until December 2013, almost a year and a half after the incident and with the guidance of Vogel and Detective Constable Tammy Shewchenko of the Toronto Police Service.

Under cross-examination by Lugosi, Akoojee said the centre normally has a patient load of 15 in the morning and 15 in the afternoon for what she described as “the removal of tissue.” Challenged by Lugosi on that terminology, Akoojee shot back, “I’m a medical professional. It’s tissue that’s being removed.”

Akoojee, who said the abortion centre “is a business,” charged Wagner was there to provide “misinformed information” and “enforce her religious beliefs.” In contrast, she said her abortion centre fosters “informed consent” through guidelines endorsed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. “It’s not a biology class … (patients) are well-informed on their own … Embryology … is not the purpose of our counselling sessions … We never, ever give a lesson on embryology … We’re not there to teach anyone anything … An abortion clinic doesn’t go through the stages of life.”

Akoojee said she could countenance Wagner’s pro-life views “if she wasn’t so religious,” while acknowledging she herself is a Muslim. “Wagner’s words are condemning and religious,” she charged.

Asked by Lugosi about just how she physically removed Wagner, she said she “grabbed her shoulder and escorted her out.” She denied being told by Wagner, “That’s assault.” She also denied anyone from her centre called Wagner a “psycho,” told her to “go f— yourself” or that she threatened Wagner with physical harm. She suggested the words might have been uttered by someone in an office “across the hall.”

Akoojee backtracked on an earlier statement that Wagner said she would “burn in hell” and said she told Wagner abortion is “God’s decision.”

The final Crown witness was April Cabaluna, another receptionist at the abortion centre. She has been employed there since April 2012 and continues to work at the centre. She said she first saw Wagner kneeling in front of a patient in the waiting area, asking her to reconsider her decision and offering her pamphlets and a rose. Wagner did not respond to subsequent requests to leave, so she called police.

She claimed Wagner was trying doors on locked rooms, knocking on windows and becoming agitated when she couldn’t get in. She said head abortionist Saira Markovic did poke her head out into the hallway later to see what was going on and asked Wagner to “please protest outside.” She denied hearing Markovic swear or call Wagner names, denied that Akoojee threatened Wagner and said she was scared at what Wagner might do.

On cross-examination by Lugosi, Cabaluna recanted on her police phone call, in which she reported Wagner was “throwing fists.” She agreed with Lugosi’s suggestions that Wagner was gentle, nice, laid hands on patients in prayer and asked them not to abort.

The trial continues Thursday morning in Room 310 of the Ontario Court of Justice at 1000 Finch Avenue West (at Dufferin). It is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., but will likely start closer to 11 a.m. on account of Lugosi’s having to come in from out of town.

Once again, pro-life advocates are being encouraged  by Wagner supporters to attend the hearing.