Ottawa Detective Helen Grus’s Lawyer Requests Copies of Autopsy Reports for Infants Who Died Suddenly

The Ottawa Police station on Elgin Street in Ottawa, on Feb. 1, 2021. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

The lawyer for Helen Grus, an Ottawa Police detective who is being charged with disorderly conduct for investigating the vaccination status of the mothers of deceased infants, requested copies of the coroner’s autopsy reports in order to clarify the charge against her.

“We are in a position here where I’m unsure of the exact elements and what it is that she has done that is unlawful. There are a number of pieces of evidence that haven’t been provided, and the evidence that has been provided, as far as the anticipated witness statements, is lacking,” defence lawyer Bath-Sheba van den Berg said during a proceeding held in Kanata, Ontario, on Friday.

Grus, a detective with the OPS sexual assault and child abuse unit investigating child abuse and neglect, faces a charge of discreditable conduct for allegedly conducting an “unauthorized project” between June 2020 and January 2022 when she probed into the sudden deaths of nine children. Grus allegedly accessed Ottawa police files and then contacted the coroner’s office to learn the COVID-19 vaccination status of the parents, as she believed there could be an association between the two.

According to a report by the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, mRNA from COVID-19 vaccines has been found in human breast milk. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) also contains data showing serious side effects and deaths from breastfed babies whose mothers recently received COVID-19 vaccinations.

On Jan. 30, 2022, Grus also allegedly contacted the father of a deceased infant to inquire into the COVID-19 vaccination status of his wife, without the knowledge of the lead detective. Grus was suspended without pay in February 2022, but was ordered to return to work with restrictions during an Oct. 11, 2022, OPS internal hearing.

‘Spotless Record’

If Grus is found guilty of the discreditable conduct charge, she could be demoted or suspended from the OPS. Van den Berg called the potential consequences “very harsh,” especially for a detective with a “spotless record.”

As part of the OPS’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse unit, Grus’s mandate was to investigate all sudden and unexpected child deaths of children under the age of five. Van den Berg argued that as part of the associated questionnaire, Grus was expected to ask about the parent’s medical history, which would have included their vaccinations.

“There’s a duty to carry out an investigation diligently, especially when there’s an unexplained death. So when detective Grus is making a phone call as to her vaccination status, one would think but that is that’s within her duty,” she said.

Van den Berg said there appeared to have been an “apprehension of bias” in the OPS’s decision to pursue the charge of discreditable conduct against Grus. “It appears that some colleagues were in disagreement and didn’t like Detective Grus’ views, and this really does taint the investigation process and the decision to charge Grus with discreditable conduct,” she said.

In September 2021, Grus sent an email to her colleagues where she claimed to be concerned with the adverse effects of the “experimental mRNA gene therapies commonly known as the ‘COVID vaccine.'”

Subpoena CBC reporter

Van den Berg requested that certain parts of Grus’s discreditable conduct charge be “severed,” as they are duplications from the previous insubordination charge that was dropped. “It would be procedurally unfair to include the same wording that is effectively—for a lack of a better way of saying this—trying Detective Grus for something she was already found not guilty of,” she said.

Van den Berg also requested a subpoena or investigation into who was responsible for leaking private police investigation materials to CBC reporter Shaamini Yogaretnam, who published two articles on Grus’s case on March 28 and March 31, 2022, and that Yogaretnam be compelled as a witness to testify during the case.

Grus submitted that the misconduct that brought the reputation of the OPS into disrepute was done not by her, but by the unidentified persons who leaked information to the CBC journalist.

“This is a case where we have an officer who was actually doing her job and is now faced with a discreditable conduct charge,” van den Berg said. “And we’re asking for Miss Yogaretnam to be compelled as a witness to testify, because that helps us answer the question of why we are here today in a disciplinary proceeding.”