Winghamite Scott Hayes was brutally run down in a Wingham parking lot 12Feb2010. Ronald Ward was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in Sept2011 for this act. This was Wingham’s first murder since 1879 when the Wingham police department was founded. Despite the massive cost of the Wingham Police, the OPP had to be called into handle the investigation, leaving many wondering why the Wingham Police still exist.
The Court justices ruled the trial judge erred in his instructions to the jury on the defense of “accident,” on the use jurors can make of evidence of after-the-fact conduct, and on his description of the “fault element” in murder.
Ronald Ward’s conviction was reduced to manslaughter and time served.