Inside a mother’s struggle to clear her name after a wrongful arrest

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Erica Lenti I’m Erica Lenti, sitting in for Jordan Heath-Rawlings. This is The Big Story. In 2020, 27 year old Breeanna Bascombe had been trying to rock her infant daughter to sleep when police descended upon her parents Brampton, Ontario, home to arrest her on a murder related charge. But Breeanna had nothing to do with the crime inquestion, and her only connection to the case was that her ex boyfriend, Dayne Sitladeen had been implicated. Breeanna is one of the many Canadian women who have experienced a wrongful arrest, detained by police in hopes of providing more information on a case, or sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. Even when their charges are dropped and these women are released, their arrests often leave an enduring negative effect on their lives. Some can’t find work or rent apartments or even adopt a pet. For many, evidence of their arrests persists whenever you Google their names. So why are so many innocent women getting caught up in the Canadian criminal justice system? And how do we prevent that?

I’m Erica Lenti, sitting in for Jordan Heath-Rawlings. This is The Big Story. Eternity Martis is an award winning journalist and author based in Toronto. She wrote about Breeanna Bascombe and wrongful arrests for Chatelaine. Hi, Eternity.

Eternity Martis Hi, Erica.

Erica Lenti So Breeanna’s story begins with quite a harrowing experience. It’s the day of her wrongful arrest. While I edited this piece for Chatelaine, I remember that scene being particularly poignant. Can you take us back to that moment?

Eternity Martis Yes. So, Breeanna, it had been about ten months since Breeanna last saw her ex boyfriend, Dayne Sitladeen, and he had been on the run. And the way that she found out about it was that she had seen him just after Mother’s Day and went home a few days later and was with her child and saw that he was wanted for first degree murder. And so, really tough, she had moved on. She had moved in back with her parents, now had her second child. She was pregnant at the time, and she couldn’t get her baby to go to sleep. And so Breeanna didn’t really have a good sleep that night. The next morning, she had woken up, come down and was making breakfast, went back upstairs, fed her baby, had just finished breastfeeding her baby, who was six months at the time, and heard a knock at the door. And so her father said, Breeanna, can you come down? And Breeanna thought it was an Amazon package or the mail person, and came downstairs and saw two officers in, I believe, plain clothes and a van outside, which she thought was for her kids. And she couldn’t figure out what was going on. And the officer said to her, put some clothes on. And she thought, okay, well, I’m breastfeeding. I’m not really wearing a bra, I’m not really wearing proper clothing. Maybe he’s offended. I just finished breastfeeding. So she went upstairs, she put her clothes on, she came back down and they said, we’re here to arrest you. And she thought, well, what are they arresting me for? I haven’t seen my ex boyfriend in a while. I don’t even know if this is about him. And they said, we’re arresting you with accessory after the fact to first degree murder. And they arrested her. And she tried to say, well, okay, but my baby is six months old and she only takes breast milk from the breast, no bottle, no formula. And she went through the house and tried to show them, well, look, we don’t have formula in the house. And they took her and they arrested her and she went into Toronto police custody. She was interrogated all while her baby didn’t eat, and her baby didn’t eat for over 24 hours.

Erica Lenti Did police give any indication of what they were looking for? Did she have any indication of what was really happening there at the time of the arrest?

Eternity Martis I think when they said accessory after the fact, she knew it was regarding Dayne Sitladeen. And they had called her, I believe, a few months before, just to ask if she knew where he was, and she had said no. But they did take her phone, and so I believe that they thought that there was something on her Instagram page that related to her knowing things, which, of course, later turned out to not be true. They didn’t have any evidence of that. But for her, it came almost without warning. And what she told me was that she never thought, like, in a million years that they would come and arrest her for this in relation to his crime. And when it happened, she was completely taken aback. It had been ten months of mostly silence. She hadn’t heard from him. She hadn’t really heard from police, except for that one time they called to say, do you know where he is? Are you in danger? And so it was a very big shock to her.

Erica Lenti At some point, she was able to feed her daughter right? But it was quite an extended delay for her.

Eternity Martis Yeah. So she was held overnight. She didn’t get to go back home. And the next morning, she went into court. And because she hadn’t breastfed in over 24 hours, her breasts were engorged, she was leaking milk, she was crying, her baby was hungry, she was traumatized. And the judge said, well, you’re not going home today. And Breeanna had expected to go home. There was no reason why she shouldn’t have been able to go home. And the judge said, no, you’re going to Vanier, you’re going to pre trial detention. And Breeanna had been to Vanier before because of Dayne Sitladeen in the past, a few years before that, because the police had raided her house looking for weapons related to Sitladeen. And so she was like, that was one of the worst experiences of my life. And when you look at the research on pretrial detention, it does disproportionately affect black people. There was no reason to send her there. They should have let her go. That’s what her lawyer said. She’s not posing a threat to anyone. She’s not a flight risk. She’s not putting anyone in danger. It was COVID. So they’re trying to put this new mother in a detention center when they could have let her go. And the thoughts that Breeanna had were, well, maybe it’s because they’re really trying to break me down, to get information that she didn’t have. Thankfully for Breeanna, there was a woman in the court who was a lawyer and was watching the case and saw what had happened and realized that this was an injustice and really fought to get Breeanna bail instead of having her sent to Vanier. But Breeanna said this woman just came out of nowhere, was like a guardian angel. And if that didn’t happen, Breeanna would have been sent to Vanier and not been able to see her daughter or feed her.

Erica Lenti But did police actually think Breeanna was guilty? Or was there another sort of reason to bring her in or to rope her into this case?

Eternity Martis Well, it’s really hard to know if they thought Breeanna was guilty because I tried many times to talk to Detective Steve Henkel, who was the homicide detective at the time. I tried to talk to Toronto police and they would not answer a single question. So it’s very hard to know what they had on her. The court records say that they thought there was some instagram evidence. It still does not mean that they had to go in there and take her away from her child. You know, not everybody is taken that way. They could have waited. But one thing that Breeanna thinks could have happened was that they arrested her like that. And they also, let’s not forget, they put her name everywhere. It was on social media, it was in press releases. And what Breeanna thinks is that they did all this because Dayne was such a social media type of rapper who had a big following, that he would see all this wherever he was and be like, oh, my gosh, they have my ex, they have the mother of my children. I’m going to come back. And so they were trying to kind of bait him into coming back, but he didn’t.

Erica Lenti The charges against Breeanna, once she has this lawyer in place, they’re eventually stayed. When we were working on the story together, Eternity, I was like, I have no idea what it means to stay a charge. So can you tell us a bit about what that means, how it differs from a charge being withdrawn and how that sort of has manifested for Breeanna?

Eternity Martis So this was also very confusing for me, and I must have looked at over a dozen tabs, talked to over a dozen people to understand what a stay means. There are two types of stays. There’s a judicial stay, which the judge orders, which is almost like, okay, the prosecution did not prove their case this is done. And there’s a prosecutorial stay. And that’s when the Crown doesn’t have enough evidence to continue the case and puts the trial and the case on hold. So that’s what Breeanna had. And what happens is they have a year to restart the charges against her. If the Crown doesn’t take that initiative to restart it, then the charge is to be considered never having commenced. It basically means that the proceedings never happened. But that’s not a withdrawn charge. That’s not a dropped charge, because stays do not determine guilt or innocence. So, for example, if Breeanna was charged and they dropped her charges, that would be an admission of, okay, we really messed up. We’re dropping your charges. You’re cleared, which is still problematic because you still have a non conviction on your record that shows that you had a charge dropped. But the unfairness in all of this is that Breeanna never had her charges withdrawn. She had them stayed. Now because the prosecution never went forward that does mean that the case never commenced, but it still doesn’t determine guilt or innocence. It’s like a pause on your charges. And that’s very frustrating, because what that means for Breeanna is that, like many other people who have their charges dropped, stayed, or just don’t go forward for whatever reason, it means that you have now what’s called a non conviction. That can stay on your record permanently. And the Star in 2014, Robert Cribb and his investigative team did a really brilliant series on this called Presumed Guilty, which is about how people have dropped charges all the time. And not just that they could be stayed, they could be any interactions with police. If you call the police, that goes on your record. If you need a wellness check, that can go on your record. If you get stopped, and carded, that can go on your record. And all of these things, these non convictions can hinder you from getting a job, can hinder you from volunteering at your kids soccer games as a coach, can stop you from adopting a pet, can actually stop you from traveling, because in the States, they actually have our information. And so this can really ruin your life. And the thing about it is that it’s mercurial. So you could cross the border a dozen times. You can cross the border for 30 years, and one day it will pop up and you’ll be banned from going to the States. Or you can do ten background checks, and it’s fine to rent a home, but for a vulnerable background check, for example, working with children or seniors, it will show up, and you can’t volunteer then. So for Breeanna, for a while, she wasn’t able to do these things, and it really affected her because she wanted to be an actress. And of course, when you Google her name, it shows up because this was a high profile case. He was the most wanted rapper in Toronto. And if you look at his fan base, if you go on YouTube, there’s a lot of videos about his career and where he was raised. But for Breeanna, because the police put it out there, and for us as journalists, we published her name. When Breeanna goes to get a job or Breeanna goes for an audition, if someone Googles her, it says that Breeanna is wanted for accessory after the fact to murder.

Erica Lenti Do we know anything about sort of how common these types of wrongful arrests are in Canada? I mean, how does it manifest? And is there any research that’s talking about it?

Eternity Martis Yeah, this is a huge problem. And I’m really shocked and disappointed that the country, especially this province of Ontario, doesn’t do more about this because it’s devastating to people’s lives. So in Ontario, for example, almost half of everybody charged with a crime has a non conviction record, which means that half of that demographic who were charged have their charges dropped. And what that means then is that all of these people are hindered from travel, from getting a job, all of the things that I had just mentioned. And a lot of racialized communities are more likely to be overcharged with low quality charges. So black folks in Toronto, for example, they are more likely to be charged with out of sight charges, such as driving with a busted taillight, for example. But what happens is when police go and over police in Black and Indigenous communities, those folks then have these charges, and those communities are more likely to have those charges dropped. So then you end up in this vicious cycle of perhaps, for example, you grew up at Jane-Finch, you grew up in poverty, and you’re trying to make a name for yourself, and the police charge you for driving without your license, and that charge gets dropped. Now, when you try to better your life, you try to go get a job, but the first thing that shows up is that you have this charge or you want to volunteer because you need the hours and you can’t. And so we end up putting people in this very vicious cycle that is almost really a school, a youth to prison pipeline. And so in Ontario, for half of those charges to be dropped, you’re ruining a lot of lives. And there seems to be no urgency around how do we solve this. Because from what I’ve done in this research and I’ve researched this topic for many years, a lot of judges, a lot of police actually don’t understand what a non conviction is. So a judge might say, or a police officer might say, you know what your charge will be dropped. Don’t worry about it. But they don’t realize that that dropped charge will ruin someone’s life forever. And in places like Vancouver and now Alberta, what they do is that the Crown works with the police on charges to make sure that this doesn’t happen, because police have complete discretion to charge you with whatever they want. We’d like to think that they charge with discretion. They don’t. So police can do that without the Crown. But if we had the Crown being able to give input and say, you know what, this charge is unwarranted. This doesn’t need to be criminal, this doesn’t need togo to trial, we would have way less of that. And in turn, not only would that save people’s livelihoods, it would save court time and money and resources.

Erica Lenti So for people like Breeanna who have experienced something like this, what would the process even be to try to wipe this from your record, if that’s even a thing that can be done?

Eternity Martis Yeah, so this is a bit complicated, but if you have a non conviction so again, if your charges were stayed or withdrawn, what you can do is you can request from the police that your record and your fingerprints be destroyed. And those are two separate processes. So you need to apply for your record and you need to apply for your photos and your fingerprints. Once that happens, they are gone. But they’re not really gone. On a background check you probably won’t show up. But if you wanted to volunteer with children or seniors or possibly even adopt a pet. So anything that is considered a vulnerable background check, like a vulnerable screening for vulnerable populations, it will show up still. And again, a lot of judges, lawyers, and officers don’t even know this. Now, to take that a step further, they could be destroyed in Canada. They are destroyed in Canada in the sense that on a regular background check, it won’t show up. But Canada gives all of our criminal records to the States. So if you cross the border, they have no obligation to delete that. So you may think, oh, great, everything’s done. It’s not done. Which means that one year from now, five years from now, 80 years from now, you could go to the States, perfectly fine, and then one day it’s flagged and you can’t go back to the States again. So the short answer is yes, it’s kind of gone. But the long answer is, no, it’s not gone. And that’s a real problem. But you should, I recommend that everybody who does have a non conviction record go and try to destroy those finger prints and the photos and the records as well.

Erica Lenti We know that these wrongful convictions have a tendency to affect women more than men. Is there research or any sort of information that tells us why that is?

Eternity Martis Yes. The work that Kent Roach and his team at the University of Toronto are doing with their wrongful conviction database has shown that women are more likely to be wrongfully convicted. And I know Breeanna was wrongfully arrested, but it can lead to that. And so I think it’s important to look at the data on wrongful conviction to understand wrongful arrest. And the States have done this work fora while, and women are more likely to be wrongfully convicted there as well. Some of the reasons this happens is because women are more likely to give into guilt. So when police interrogate them, they might say, you need to confess for your kids or for your husband. And women feel that guilt. They take it very personally. So even if they had not actually committed the crime, they’re more likely to say, yes, okay, I did it to save their children, to protect their kids or the people that they’re taking care of.

Erica Lenti Is anyone really calling for reform here? What kinds of changes could prevent stories like Breeanna’s from happening?

Eternity Martis There is some good work happening through the John Howard society, through the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. There are also groups such as those doing work on wrongful convictions. There are some great people doing important work right now that at least advocate for non convictions to be completely wiped, but also show people and give people the information that they know for their own rights. Because when this happens to you, legal jargon, it’s really hard to follow. So if you’re somebody who doesn’t knowhow to read that or interpret that you’re completely lost in the system. There’s a lot of work being done in Canada with Kent Roach and the U of T team on wrongful convictions. But in a report that I read by Scott Wartley and his team about non convictions in Toronto, black women were 2.2 times more likely than white women to receive a non conviction. And black people were more likely to have non convictions. Which is important, because if you are wrongfully arrested like Breeanna, her case could have gone to a wrongful conviction. If she didn’t have the right legal team, if she didn’t have the right support, if she didn’t know her rights, it could have easily had gone there. So it’s just as important to know in the beginning, right when you’re held in pre detention, when you’re denied bail, when you are questioned by the police, all of those things are just as important and we need to be researching that as well.

Erica Lenti So in the midst of all of this, Breeanna being pressured by the cops for information, her charges being stayed. We haven’t really talked about Dayne. Where was he while all of this was going on?

Eternity Martis So Dayne was actually in Minnesota and he was found and caught by a state trooper in January 2021 and charged with 67 gun related offenses. He was also found with another man from Ontario who was wanted in the kidnap of a wealthy Chinese student, international student, and he was brought back. He was extradited to Canada. During this time, something we hadn’t spoken about was the few days after Dayne was wanted in May 2019, two of the men had surrendered. So it was three men who were wanted, and Dayne was the only one who was on the run. Those men had surrendered very soon after. So Breeanna had her charges stayed when Dayne was found in 2021, but was also subpoenaed to testify to trial these men. Something to note, which is very unfair, is that while Breeanna’s charges were stayed and they had no evidence against her and she did not commit a crime, one of the men who were charged with first degree murder had his charges dropped completely. He’s still going to have a non conviction, but just the difference, you can see. And one was dropped and one was stayed. Breeanna’s lawyer and Breeanna herself think that this happened because they were trying to wait until Dayne’s trial to get her to speak. So the stay was almost like dangling a carrot in front of her, saying that, we could have withdrawn your charges, but we didn’t because you might have information. And so Breeanna had testified. She was very clear with the crown at that trial, the trial of the two men, just how much emotional, psychological, the impact that it had on her. And they apologized to her, not in court, but while they were getting ready for court. And after that, it’s been kind of quiet for Breeanna. So quiet in the sense that there were no more trials coming up. But it was really hard on her. She’s had PTSD, she’s had nightmares. She had to apply for social assistance. She needed help getting on her feet because it was very hard to get a job. And she did find jobs here and there for part time work, but only because those people hadn’t Googled her name. With a trial coming up, I think Breeanna’s in a way better place. She’s getting work as an actress. She’s now moved out of her parents’ place and is living on her own with her daughters. She’s able to provide for herself and so she’s in a way better place. But I know she’s very worried about being subpoenaed again to testify at Dayne’s trial. And what her lawyer had said, and I agree with is that that’s really kind of an abuse of power. Her charges were stayed they had no evidence against her, they subpoenaed her, which is very traumatic to testify in the trial, these two people not knowing anything. And now that she’s trying to move on with her life, they might possibly try to rope her back in to testify at Dayne’s trial because she’s his ex girlfriend and the mother of his children. One thing I do want to say about all of this is that women tend to be used as pawns when their partners or ex partners commit crimes. It’s not uncommon from the people that I spoke to and the lawyers that I spoke to for girlfriends, mothers to be arrested in the hopes of getting a confession from them about their partner’s crimes. Even when they’re not related, they haven’t done anything.

Erica Lenti You really got to know Breeanna so well over the time that you reported this, Eternity. I’m wondering for you, what was your greatest takeaway from getting to know Breeanna, working on this story? What do you think that our listeners could learn from her?

Eternity Martis I think what we can learn from Breeanna is that I don’t mean to sound grim, but really it could happen to any of us. And just to reiterate, it could be a situation where you’re stopped by police, it could be a welfare check, it could be any interaction with police that could do this to us. Of course, not to the same extent as Breeanna, but I think what Breeanna’s case has shown is that you can be arrested and nearly go to jail when there’s no evidence against you. And I really want people to know that. And what we can learn from Breeanna is that life doesn’t have to stop after that. Not that it’s going to be easy, but she was charged with a very serious crime, one that I want to add is very hard to convict and tends to get thrown out. Because it requires a high burden of proof. But accessory after the fact to murder and she’s still thriving. She’s doing her best. She has reached out to media, tried to get the story taken down. She spoke to me. She was very generous and very patient. We must have spoken maybe five, six times, hours and hours. She’s doing the best as a mom for her kids, setting an example. So when something like this happens, I think that Breeanna has showed us that it’s important to continue on. And it doesn’t mean saying everything’s going to be fine. It means that this is a situation I have been dealt and I’m going to keep going. And I think that’s something that we can all take from.

Erica Lenti Eternity. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Eternity Martis Thanks, Erica.

Erica Lenti Eternity Martis wrote about Breeanna Bascombe and wrongful arrests for Chatelaine. That was The Big Story. For more, head to thebigstorypodcast.ca. We always love to hear your feedback, so please feel free to reach out @thebigstoryFPN on Twitter. Email us at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca, or leave a voicemail by calling 416-935-5935. The Big Story Podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts and on smart speakers by asking it to play The Big Story Podcast. Thanks for listening. I’m Erica Lenti in for Jordan. He’ll be back next week.