NO CHaRGES
On October 30, 2017, the Kawartha Lakes Police Service announced that no charges were warranted against anyone involved in Soleiman’s death.
It took the Kawartha Lakes Police nearly a year to investigate Soli’s death. During this time, nearly 70 people connected to the incident were interviewed, including correctional staff, inmates, nurses, ministry doctors, and paramedics.
However, the police had failed to interview the man who was in the cell across the hall from where Soli was beaten and killed, despite knowing about this eyewitness.
The lead investigator of Soli’s case was officer Jeff Burke. Only 2 months after he finished the investigation into Soleiman’s death, officer Burke was caught stealing drugs from the police station’s evidence locker.
Officer Burke was arrested and later charged with 2 counts of theft, 2 counts of possession of stolen property, 2 counts of fraud, and 3 counts of breach of trust.
After pleading guilty to breach of trust, Burke was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest. He was also charged with impaired driving in January 2020.
Burke had struggled with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), following a machete attack in 2011 and a shooting incident later that same year.
After he was assigned lead investigator for inmate deaths at the Lindsay jail, Burke says his “stress levels began to increase to a concerning level” and his “PTSD symptoms began to re-emerge.”
Burke experienced paranoid episodes and medication-induced mood swings during the time he was working on Soleiman’s case. Burke’s counsellor had advised, during her first session with him, that he “needed to be off work.” Nonetheless, it was not until after he had wrapped up Soleiman’s case that he went on sick leave.
Burke would later say that his “mental health was at an all-time low” between June and September 2017, the same period when he was working as lead investigator on Soli’s case.
THE STATEMENT
