West Vancouver cop who assaulted newspaper deliverer sentenced to 21-day curfew
There’s going to be no jail time for Const. Griffin Gillan, the West Vancouver police officer who assaulted a newspaper delivery man in Downtown Vancouver early this year.
Gillan today (July 29) received a 21-day conditional sentence which requires him to be at home from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. every night.
Crown counsel had asked for jail time of four to six months for Gillan’s role in beating up Firoz Khan while the latter was delivering papers at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the early morning of January 21, 2009.
Senator and lawyer Mobina Jaffer has been assisting the Khan family. Jaffer told the Straight that the sentence means the suspended police officer can move about freely outside the hours he’s expected to be at home.
However, Jaffer pointed out that Gillan will have a criminal record as a result of the sentence.
“The judge did a very thorough decision,” Jaffer said. “We respect that. But for Mr. Khan, his life is really a mess. Constable Gillan went to court, he’s out, all’s well for him, but not Mr. Khan.”
Gillan’s three-week curfew will be followed by six months of probation, which requires him to attend anger management and substance abuse counselling.
Gillan had previously apologized in court to Khan and pleaded guilty to assault. The police officer maintained he was so drunk he couldn’t remember what exactly happened.
Gillan was off-duty and was out drinking with two other off-duty police officers when he beat up Khan.
Khan, who was self-employed, has stopped working since the incident. He doesn’t receive any benefits.
Khan, according to Jaffer, has not made a decision whether to file a civil suit against Gillan.
“Not at the moment,” Jaffer said. “He’s not thinking about that. He’s just thinking about living from day to day.”
Comments
7 Comments
Mike Cantelon
Jul 29, 2009 at 4:49pm
Gotta love a system where someone with the job of upholding the law gets to keep their job after participating in violent crime.
Chico
Jul 29, 2009 at 9:26pm
Now guess who'll be on the hook for the civil suit.
Will
Jul 29, 2009 at 9:58pm
If it were the other way around and the delivery man had assaulted the officer, what would have been the outcome?
Officer should be fired, have to pay the victim and lot of money, and should have to undertake long term community service obligations. Justice apparently sucks!
S.Thiraviasundaram.
Jul 30, 2009 at 2:17am
Khan is a bread winner and also self employed he should have been compensated as he did not work right from the incident.Crown Counsel is justified in his pleas for jail term of 4 to 6 months is justified.21 day curfew given by the Judge is a rare opportunity for the Cop to have comlete rest.In fact he should thank the Judge.It is not a punishment at all considering the issue.
Mark F
Jul 30, 2009 at 10:08am
He got off with no jail time and kept his job....All I have to say is that Griffin Gillan is a FREAK. He is a disgrace to the badge and should have been fired! A lot of people say the cops are human too....I wholeheartedly agree, but they also undergo strict psychological testing befor getting the job so as to weed out a-holes like this guy, Griffin Gillan.
on the fence
Aug 14, 2009 at 5:01pm
Oh I don't know, losing the respect of your peers who you see daily and being forced to pay into a civil suit because your working has got to hurt. I also doubt he'll be promoted to anything above desk jocky now. Khan is likely just biding his time till he can call himself whole again so that it has that much more of an impact in the civil courts and in about six months he'll have $60-100,00 in his pocket. And sure Gillian is an idiot when he's drunk but so are many people, especially those inclined to FREAK out over his type when they aren't directly involved.
Citizen
Jan 1, 2010 at 4:15pm
If he gets to keep his job after something like that, it would be a disgrace for the nation, not just the city.
Taking a wider view of things, the police are only able to get away with assaulting and murdering immigrant travelers and newspaper carriers because society as a whole accepts the current state of affairs. And what else would you expect from a society that finds it acceptable to leave the unemployed to live in homeless shelters or sleep in the park - no more welfare, and an unlivable minimum wage that has not risen in 10 years. I say the conduct of Vancouver Police reflects the values of the majority there: if you are poor, you don't matter.