‘I will never see him again’: mother of Jamie Leard addresses court
It was two years and two months after Jamie Leard was shot and killed by his former friends in Upper Cape, New Brunswick, that his mother Doris Leard had the chance to speak in court, and tell one of her son’s killers about the impact of his actions on May 25, 2021.
“I miss Jamie so much,” Leard told the Moncton courtroom last week. “He is never coming home again. I will never see him again.”
Leard said she called and texted Jamie almost daily, to see how he was, and tell him she loved him. “Now I can’t, and never will be able to again,” said the grieving mother.
Leard talked about a number of routines and rituals that are now lost to her forever, including dinners at her home with her son, annual visits to family in PEI, and Christmas and birthday celebrations. “I will never have grandchildren,” said Leard, “as he was my only child.”
In addition to the overwhelming grief for the loss of her son, Leard expressed fear and discomfort in her own home. “Every time a car goes by. I get scared. I’m scared that they might get out and set my house on fire,” Leard told the court.
Leard was given time to read her victim impact statement on July 25, during a sentencing hearing for Sean Patterson, one of two men who has pled guilty to a role in Jamie Leard’s death.… Continue
Pottie now represented by Toronto-Saint John criminal lawyer Nathan Gorham
The two men accused of murdering Jamie Leard on May 25 last year were in court recently for a pre-trial conference.
Sean Patrick Patterson is being represented by New Brunswick lawyer Jason Dempsey. A New Brunswick legal aid lawyer, Sylvain Pelletier, was listed as representing Henry Alexander Joseph Pottie as recently as March 7, but Pottie’s file has been transferred to another lawyer, Nathan Gorham, according to Pelletier.
There is a Nathan Gorham practicing law in New Brunswick with Gorham Vandebeek LLP, with offices in Saint John and Toronto. CHMA has reached out to Gorham for comment.
He recently represented Matthew Raymond, who in November was found not criminally responsible for the shooting deaths of four Fredericton residents in 2018.
Gorham’s website bio says his practice focuses on complex criminal trials and appeals. He has co-authored a textbook on prosecuting and defending drug cases, and is also an adjunct professor at the University of New Brunswick
Patterson and Pottie are charged with the first degree murder of Jamie Leard on May 25, 2021 in Upper Cape, about halfway between Port Elgin and Cape Tormentine.
Their trial is set for just over a year from now, on April 17, 2023. The voir dires for the trial – meaning hearings to look at admissibility of evidence and witnesses – are scheduled to begin on February 6, 2023.
-With files from David Gordon Koch… Continue