© Mark Blinch/ReutersRob Ford, the Toronto mayor, conspired to have a prisoner beaten up for threatening to expose his illicit behaviour, according to a lawsuit.
The embattled Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, is being sued by his sister's ex-boyfriend for allegedly conspiring to have the man beaten in jail to prevent his own illicit behaviours becoming public.
A lawsuit submitted on Wednesday by Scott MacIntyre alleges the mayor was behind an assault at a Toronto jail in March 2012 that was intended to keep MacIntrye quiet about Ford's abuse of alcohol and drugs.
The lawsuit alleges MacIntrye was threatened with "dire consequences" if he did not remain quiet. He was in jail after being charged with threatening the mayor, for saying he would expose his "unsavoury activities", the lawsuit says.
MacIntrye alleges Ford conspired with Payman Aboodowleh, who coached football with Ford, to have a jailed former player of theirs beat MacIntyre up.
Ford and Aboodowleh arranged for staff members at the Metro West Detention Centre to "ensure there was no supervision or surveillance of the area" where the alleged assault occurred, the lawsuit says.
Ford's lawyer, Dennis Morris, said the allegations were "without fact or foundation". When questioned further if the mayor had conspired in any way to harm MacIntyre, Morris said: "The answer is no."
Ford offered no comment when reporters asked him about the lawsuit.
The mayor acknowledged in 2013 that he had smoked crack has rebuffed calls to resign.
The lawsuit also names Ontario's ministry of correctional services, which is responsible for the province's jails, Aboodowleh and Aedan Petros, the former football player who MacIntyre alleges attacked him.
MacIntyre is seeking Cdn$1m in damages.
Source: Associated Press
government office shows, apart from what can be concluded of his own nature, the: 1) use of the system as means of attenuating public attention to distractive ends; and, 2) complicity of that same system - to that end - by and through the means of a power structure which controls it, encompasses the media and other modes of manipulating attention, awareness, perception, belief and the like. Further, media coverage of such concerns regarding mayoral politics in one country, when broadcast internationally, indicates the same with regard to the use and function of media across countries covering the story (For what benefit is a story about a crazy Toronto mayor broadcasted in Rapid City, SD? What manner of relevance makes this a meaningful part of the nightly news broadcast in such a place, if not to settle the masses by inclining them towards a view that they've got it much better than those sorry sot-led plebes in Toronto? Does the news draw out or attempt to indicate any relevance to local issues? If not, what is its purpose? What is the aim in application?)
There's plenty to be covered in local politics in respective countries without the attention of the people being disrupted through coverage of such international tripe, unless the coverage of such tripe includes a determined finger-pointing towards 1) and 2), above. The majority of "media" (i.e. medium or intermediate through which stimuli affecting self is transmitted from elsewhere to you) isn't concerned with such things... What visions does one's television tell them (or print or electronic media)?