Journalism-by-wire as dangerous as flying a Navy helicopter-by-wire

PORTAPIQUE could have been spelled PINE STREET

As God and Bell Fibre is my witness, I am very guilty of journalism-by-wire : Covid won’t let me into the paper records of courthouses.

But I do try to search online for alternatives to strictly relying  on the public government online databases of court cases.

They never seem to extend into the 1990s or earlier, so GW’s violence only starting 2001 might just be an artefact of fairly new computer databases.

A couple of minutes ago, on a Facebook forum devoted to dissecting the GW cock-up, a regular contributor mentioned that her friends, former neighbours of Gabriel Wortman and Corinna Kincaid when they lived at the bottom of Pine Street between 1996 and 2001, remember GW seriously beaten up another child (not Matt M) and hassling plenty of others : he had a reputation of being mean to neighbour kids.

This is not “the grumpy old man” from Hollywood’s Central Casting : Gabe was only 27 -28 when he moved to Pine !

Coupled with his serious assault on Matt M on Portland Street, this should have etched out a distinct pattern to the neighbour policeman on the beat, if such a role existed any more.

But again - and again and again - it shows that Gabriel was indeed well known to the HRM police despite their thrice before the cock crows denials.

Let’s ease up a little on Mark Furey’s beloved Musical Riders and turn a little heat on the Premier McNeil’s favourite blue movie, the video about his half a dozen relatives on staff with the HRM police during GW’s 27 plus “violent” years in metro Halifax....