SYDNEY, N.S. — Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh denies all of the allegations against him in the defence he has filed to a lawsuit he is facing from six men who say he sexually abused them when they were boys growing up in the Port Hawkesbury area in the 1970s.
The defence was filed with Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Port Hawkesbury on Feb. 26.
Throughout the brief document, MacIntosh, now 76, denies having had sexual interactions with the individual plaintiffs during the time periods alleged. He goes on to say other allegations made in the notice of claim are purposefully inflammatory, frivolous and vexatious.
MacIntosh also states the plaintiffs were of the age of majority at the time of any sexual contact with him and were therefore able to, and did, give consent.
“The defendant denied all claims of sexual assault, sexual battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of mental injury as alleged in the statement of claim or at all,” the defence states.
He also denied the plaintiffs sustained injuries or damages as alleged in the statement of claim and said any injuries, losses or damages they experienced, “are due to traumatic events in their life (sic) which have nothing to do with the defendant, and for which he is therefore not responsible.”
He asks that the claim be dismissed with costs.
The six men — Bob Martin, Dale Sutherland, Alvin MacInnis, Weldon MacIntosh-Reynolds, Jeffrey Hadly and Barry Sutherland — previously successfully lobbied the province to lift time limits for victims to file lawsuits against abusers.
The notice of action against MacIntosh was filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Port Hawkesbury on Dec. 23.
The six plaintiffs say in the court filing that MacIntosh’s actions caused them lifelong emotional repercussions — with harm including panic attacks, depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress. They say they also suffered financially and also incurred costs for mental health care.
The MacIntosh saga has a drawn-out history, with the first charge against him related to a Strait area boy filed in 1995. The former prominent businessman was subject to two trials in 2010-11 following his extradition from India in 2007, but his 17 convictions involving four complainants were quashed on appeal because it took too long to bring him to trial. That decision was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Each plaintiff claims general and aggravated damages of $300,000; special damages to be determined prior to trial; punitive and exemplary damages of $50,000 and costs associated with the action.
The widespread failures in the MacIntosh case resulted in the Nova Scotia attorney general issuing an apology to the complainants and for changes to the Limitation of Actions Act, removing time limits for victims to begin civil lawsuits against their abusers, the result of successful lobbying efforts by the MacIntosh complainants.
MacIntosh is living in Montreal, a city where he lived prior to his move to India.
MacIntosh was initially convicted on charges relating to four of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. All of the men are now aged 56-64. Between the years 1970-75, they all lived in or near Port Hawkesbury, where MacIntosh also lived at the time.
MacIntosh has two unrelated but similar convictions dating back to the early 1980s in Newfoundland and Labrador. He was also released last year from prison in Nepal after serving about half of a seven-year sentence for a conviction of abusing a boy. It’s believed he returned to Canada in October 2018.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs have declined to comment at this point in the proceedings.
