Crown had no reason to hold homicidal father, inquest told

The actions of prosecutors in the case of a man who murdered his family and his in-laws before killing himself were thorough and professional, the head of Crown counsel for Vancouver Island testified Tuesday.

Jennifer Power told a coroner's inquest in Victoria that an internal review of the Crown's role in the Peter Lee case has found no fault in how it was handled.

Lee took his own life after killing his wife, Sunny Park, his six-year-old son and his wife's parents in their Oak Bay home on Sept. 4, 2007.

Power said police investigators looking into a bizarre motor vehicle accident involving Lee and his wife, believed Lee had deliberately tried to injure Park by driving his SUV into a hydro pole and charged him with aggravated assault.

The day after the incident, the inquest heard on Monday, Park told Victoria police she was worried about her husband's anger, violence and his fixation with knives.

The Crown would subsequently withdraw the aggravated assault charge — replacing it with charges of dangerous driving causing injury and unlawful driving causing injury — because lawyers believed there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction.

Police tried to persuade Crown lawyers to insist that Lee be held in custody until his trial on those charges, Power said Tuesday, but the lawyers found there was no substantial proof that the incident was anything more than an accident. 

As well, Power told the inquest, Lee had no previous criminal record, was not considered a flight risk, and although he was facing charges in a separate violent attack against another person, a technicality prevented the Crown from arguing for detention. 

The Crown agreed to release Lee under strict conditions, Power said, including no contact with his wife, a ban from going to the family home or business and posting a $5,000 bond.

An attempt by Lee to reach his son by phone — he mistakenly called Park's number — before the fatal attack did not constitute a breach of those conditions, Power said. Reports published earlier that he had breached conditions were erroneous.

Spokesman Stan Lowe said Crown lawyers made the right decision.

"We've all become masters of hindsight," Lowe told reporters outside court, "but what is abundantly clear … Mr. Lee appeared very adept and cunning at hiding his murderous intent in this case." 

Lowe said an internal review by the Criminal Justice Branch had found no fault with the Crown's actions. 

However, Lowe admitted, that review did not look at whether the provincial government's decision to cut the Crown's victim assistance program had any effect on the tragedy.