Thread by @aballinga

Bail hearing for Patrick King, another convoy organizer who livestreamed his arrest last week, is starting now. He's in the prisoner's box now, wearing a grey sweatsuit.

King is facing 4 charges:
-Mischief
-Counselling to Commit-Mischief
-Counselling to Disobey Court Order
-Counselling to Obstruct Police

Crown wants the court to deny bail, on grounds that King would re-offend/pose a public risk and to maintain confidence in justice system

King's lawyer, W. Calvin Rosemond, says he won't call King to testify on his own behalf; will just call up his surety (the person who will promise to take responsibility for him if he's granted bail)

Crown Moiz Karimjee is laying out Crown evidence now. Includes "violent and racist rant" on social media, another "rant" on YouTube, as well as statements he made during the "Freedom Convoy" occupation.

Karimjee also references how King called on supporters to lie to get into the red zone last week, after police set up checkpoints downtown. And how he threatened tow truck drivers helping the police.

As Karimjee is speaking, a voice is heard: "he's twisting everything." Was it King?
King's lawyer states King knows "now is not the time to talk."

Evidence from Crown includes an alleged statement from King saying "real bullets are coming"

Also includes link to Fox News interview in which King says "we will not back down"

King is sipping water in the prisoner's box, leaning on his elbow, with his mask pulled down around his chin.

King's proposed surety is named Kerry Komix. She affirms she will tell the truth.

King's lawyer confirms with Komix that she lives in Alberta, does not have criminal record, and understands charges against King.
She says she takes those charges seriously, "100 per cent."

Rosemond asks if Kerry understands King has a criminal record, with most recent entry from 1999.
Kerry is pledging to put up $50,000 for King's bail. She says it's equity in her home, which is worth $105,000

"You appreciate that if anything were to happen on the bail.... all of that money... could be taken from you?"
"I do understand that, yes," Kerry Komix says.

Komix says she understands she's to ensure King attends his court dates and would look over him 24 hours a day.

Any terms of bail you could not enforce?
Komix: I don't believe so. "He'll be in 24-hour supervision of myself at all times."

"He'll be with me 24-7, so we'll be going from Ottawa, back to Alberta," she says. She'll make sure he doesn't have Internet access, and won't let him communicate with anyone without her supervision. She says King will sleep next to her room, and a dog would bark if he moves.

"I don't see any way he can breach it without my knowledge," she says. She is also willing to ensure an ankle monitor King might wear is working.

What efforts would she take to make sure all bail conditions make sense to her?
Komix says she will ask questions to make sure she understands and can enforce them.

Komix says she's never been a surety before.

She says she would not hesitate to call 911 if King breached his bail.
"If you're a parent, and you're able to kick your son out at the age of 17 for not following the rules of the house, I'm pretty sure I can not hesitate to call the authorities."

She also says losing the $50k would be significant. "It's my home, yes."

Asked why she would be willing to limit King's internet access, Komix says she would be "basically protecting the community from... having any concerns." She says she'd see her home as "kind of the jail for him," and "everything will be looked after."

Komix says she will follow bail conditions to the letter of the law.

Plan to get King to Alberta would be to drive in Komix's vehicle.

Is she prepared to categorically exclude King from using the Internet?
Komix: absolutely.

Komix also says she understands and is prepared to pull out as King's surety if she decides to do so at any point.

Komix said she worked with special needs students, drove a bus, before she retired. She says she's "very up on being able to recognize and de-escalate situations" and "re-focus people" or children that "are having issues."

"I know that there's a mutual respect there. He would listen to me, and if he didn't, that would be the end of it I guess."

She agrees with King's lawyer that her work experience would help her "control" King.

Would she be tougher on King than special needs children?
Komix says yes, he's an adult. "I can be very stern," she says. "This is my house we're talking about." (reference to using almost half her home equity to post King's bail)

Asked if she's willing to be a surety for a "very long time," (like two years), Komix says yes.

Can she make sure King attends Ontario court while on bail in Alberta? Komix says yes.

King's lawyer says he's done questions for now. Crown Lawyer Moiz Karimjee going to cross-examine Komix now. But first, Karimjee notes King is not wearing his mask in court.

JP Seymour: asks him to wear his mask.
King: apologizes and slips it over his mouth and nose.

Komix says she's known King for four weeks.
Karimjee: "Just four weeks!?!?"

Karimjee asks whether that's the extent of her knowledge of King. Komix says no...
She says they left on the convoy together four weeks ago.
"So you've been together for four weeks?"
"Yes, sir."

"You are part of his convoy?"
"I drove here."
She then confirms she is part of it when asked again. She also confirms King was one of the convoy leaders.

How many trucks followed King to Ottawa?
"I couldn't give you a number."

Karimjee: You've not been living with him in the same hotel room?
Komix: No, "but I've been in the same place as him."

Karimjee shares his screen on zoom, shows Komix a document that is a sort of poster that says "I am a Canadian I will not sit down I will not shut up!"
Komix confirms it's from one of her own social media posts.

Karimjee asks if that's the view she's espousing on social media, Komix says she posts a lot of stuff.
She says she's committed to justice and "anything else political-wise" is not her concern.

Karimjee: This expresses your view, correct?
Komix: "That expresses a view, yes."

"My views have changed, my commitment is now to the administration of justice and to the court," Komix says.

Karimjee: Asks if Komix saw the occupation of Ottawa and saw the streets blocked off by trucks, heard honking and significant noise.
She says yes.

Komix: "I'm wondering why you're asking me if I've seen this. The whole world has seen this."
JP tells her the Crown will ask questions and she should do her best to answer them.

Now Karimjee shows a youtube frame of King, Komix says she recognizes him. He plays a portion of the video. It shows King laughing about "how these people haven't been able to sleep for 10 days" and laughing about the court injunction against the noise.

He then says everyone out there is doing "fantastic" and that "we're winning on a large scale" and tells his listeners to stop with the horns.

Karimjee asks if Komix remembers that video.
She says yes.
Woman laughing in the background, is that you?
"I don't believe so," she says.

Karimjee asks if she was in the room when the video was shot.
"I may have been in and out of the room."

Karimjee asks about the "source" of her stated commitment to the courts/justice.
"You found no problem with citizens of Ottawa being disturbed by horns at all hours of the night. You had no issue with that. Correct?"

Komix: "It was not a concern... at the time. But once we found out that they were bothered... they stopped."
Karimjee: Surely you're not suggesting you didn't realize the horns disturbed people.

Komix says she wasn't aware we were bothering people near Parliament because she didn't realize people lived in the area.

Karimjee says he wants to explore more on this theme. He pulls up an image from police of the average noise levels in downtown Ottawa. Compares the average to the ringing of an alarm clock.

Komix says she doesn't know noise level at all times. Karimjee presses her on honking when she was downtown. "Yes, it was loud. But again, I wasn't in a residential area," she says.

Karimjee pulls up a photo of Rideau and Sussez, which shows a bunch of trucks clogging the intersection in the snow. (This is the blockade outside the Senate).

Karimjee: You saw trucks blocking lanes, streets, correct?
Komix: In this picture, yes, but what I recall is that lanes were open for traffic. "That's what I physically witnessed."

Karimjee: Are you saying to the court that you're not aware of any street being blocked by trucks completely?
Komix: It looks like that street is blocked. "I didn't personally see that street."

Komix says she saw only the main street in front of Parliament.
Karimjee asks if she was aware of the Emergencies Act, and that Ottawa said stop to the demonstrators. Komix says yes.

King's lawyer objects to Karimjee's wording, claims it's mischaracterizing what the city said. Karimjee says he's never heard a more irrelevant objection.

Karimjee re-asks: Did Komix know that all levels of government wanted the convoy to stop the occupation?
Komix: all levels of government?
Karimjee: yes!

King's lawyer objects again, and questions what Karimjee means. Was it Liberal backbench, Conservative backbench?

JP Seymour says Karimjee is getting at how -- and it's definitely a fact -- all levels of government wanted the occupation to end and publicly called for that.

Komix: "Yes, there was some, to my knowledge."
Karimjee: Did she know they were distributing flyers warning occupiers were breaking the law?
Komix: No. "I was not aware of that."

She says she never got a flyer and never saw one.

Karimjee now pulling up another video. It's the one he mentioned earlier of a "violent and racist rant" from King.

Seems to be a supercut that shows King calling the government "sons of bitches" and then it cuts to a new shot of him saying the only way this will be solved "is with bullets."

He also says people born in Canada are Indigenous and says there is a drive to "depopulate the Anglo Saxon race, because they are the ones with the strongest bloodlines."

It ends with him saying something I didn't quite catch about "cops are going to get shot."

Karimjee asks if Komix knew of those videos.
Komix: Some of those videos I just saw for the first time.

Karimjee asks if she agrees her knowledge of King is limited.
Komix: What I know of Mr. King and what you're saying on those videos, "things have been altered."
She says she knows King and he wouldn't hurt anyone. "He's talking about history."

"So making fun of Chinese people, were you aware of that?"
Komix says no, and the King she knows "loves every race."

Karimjee pulls up another video. It shows King asking whether people want to change the national language to Chinese or Hebrew, and then makes a racist comment about changing one's name.

Karimjee asks if Komix did not know this part of King.
Komix: "I was not privy to that video before just now, and I do know that is not the person I know."

Karimjee: This very moment in court you learned something about him that you did not know?
Komix says she knows King's girlfriend has "biracial children, African-American" and that she knows King does not discriminate.

Karimjee asking now about Feb. 8, 2022. "You knew he asked the protesters to lie to the police?"
Komix says no.
Karimjee pulls up another video.

It's a video from Facebook he posted when the cops started moving in on the demonstrators. In the video, he urges protesters to lie to get past checkpoints. He told them to take Ubers and cabs and to tell cops they are going to their hotel or going to work.

Karimjee asks whether there are some things about King she doesn't know.
Komix agrees there are things about everybody she doesn't know.

You've been under his leadership for the past four weeks, correct?
Komix: I'm my own person... but I have been in his presence, yes.

Komix says she was here in Ottawa to protect her "rights."

Karimjee now asking about King's criminal record. Was she aware of it before she stepped up to be his surety?
Komix: Not aware prior to past couple days.

Do you know how many times he has breached an order of the court?
Komix: No.

JP Seymour asks Karimjee to explain what a breach is. He explains what a probation order is, Komix says she understands that, and Karimjee asks if she remembers from King's criminal record how many times he's been convicted of breaching a probation order.

Komix says she doesn't know. Karimjee suggests six times.
King's lawyer now asks for pause to discuss how Karimjee is phrasing the question.

We're back. Karimjee continues and clarifies he's also referring to King's record as a youth.
Komix says she didn't review his youth record. "To me, that's irrelevant."
Karimjee shares his screen to show the criminal record.

Karimjee confirms with Komix that she decided not to read his youth record. "Youth do a lot of things," she says.

Dec. 2020, King had a trial on breaching a public order to wear a mask - Karimjee asks if Komix knew about that.
She says if it's not on his criminal record she doesn't have it.

Karimjee shows document from May 2021 in Red Deer. He asks if Komix was aware of this?
Komix says no.
"You don't know what happened?"
Komix: Correct.

Karimjee: You have made numerous posts about the convoy.
Komix: yes.
Karimjee: You have advocated that an "unjust law need not be obeyed." Correct?

Komix says no, but then asks Karimjee to ask the question again.
He asks: "Did you know that blocking the streets of Ottawa is a criminal offence?"

Komix: "I don't have that knowledge."
Karimjee says "there's nothing tricky about that," referring to occupation of downtown Ottawa, and states there's no area of law where that's legal. "If she doesn't know if that's legal or not, it's a serious concern."

King's lawyer says the questions is inappropriate because it's "too broad."
"What is my friend referring to?"
Says it's not obviously illegal.

Karimjee says he's referring to the occupation of Ottawa, not -- as King's lawyer suggested -- dropping a bag of groceries in the street.

Komix says she's also seen police blocking streets. "If I'm seeing the police do it, is that illegal for them?"

Karimjee reminds her she is under oath. Asks whether she's not sure the trucks can block the road.
Komix: "I heard that in the parliament discussions (that it's illegal to block roads)."
JP: Is that your answer?

Komix: I heard them say... "removing illegal blockades, I believe, was something that came out of Trudeau's mouth... But again, there was a lot of stuff that was mentioned in the news and on the media which was inaccurate."

Karimjee: In terms of trucks blocking the roads, until the PM mentioned it was illegal, you didn't have any "inkling" it was against the law?
Komix: When we were coming down here there was communication with police that there was streets they could demonstrate on.

Court taking lunch break now. Back at 1pm. (at which point I'll start a new thread.)