Kitch trial witness emailed Crown disputing testimony of another witness

A day after testimony saying she instructed a former executive assistant not to express concerns in email about former IWK CEO Tracy Kitch's expenses, the general legal counsel for the Halifax-based children's hospital wrote to the Crown disputing that claim.

Jennifer Feron was a Crown witness last week in Kitch's trial on charges of fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust. News of her email was revealed Monday in court while Alison Lucio, Kitch's former assistant, was in the witness box for the third day.

On Friday, Lucio testified that after repeatedly raising concerns about Kitch billing personal expenses to a corporate credit card, Feron told her not to commit those concerns to email.

During her cross examination of Lucio on Monday, defence lawyer Jacqueline King read passages from Feron's email to the Crown, including parts where Feron writes that Lucio raised no concerns to her about Kitch's expenses and that she was not even aware Kitch had a corporate credit card at the time period in question.

Lucio stood by her testimony.

"I think Jen Feron was very careful not to see expense reports. I brought my concerns to Jen Feron," Lucio said.

On Friday, Lucio also testified that Feron instructed her to pay a delinquent hotel bill related to a visit to Halifax by Kitch's mother after the hotel threatened to send it to collections. Reading from Feron's email on Monday, King said Feron disputed even knowing about the hotel stay, much less the bill.

Outside the courtroom, Crown attorney Peter Dostal said it's unusual for a witness to contact the Crown after their testimony to discuss the evidence of another witness.

"I'm not saying that it's impossible or necessarily inappropriate in all circumstances, but this was certainly unexpected," he told reporters.

In the view of the Crown, Dostal said the email is not material to the proceedings. He also said it's not cause for him to recall Feron as a witness based on the information he has.

"That doesn't prohibit the defence from making application — they're entitled to make application to the judge to seek a recall of the particular witness and, if they choose to do that, we'll consider the merits of it based on the reason why and we'll take a position on that when and if that happens," he said.

In a telephone interview, King said she doesn't know yet if she'll apply to have Feron recalled.

"It will depend on a number of things," she said.

King said when she first saw Feron's email on the weekend, her initial reaction was that the Crown had an obligation to bring it to the attention of the judge.

"This isn't just a witness disagreeing with another witness issue," she said.

"The witness that wrote in said, as an officer of the court, she felt she had an obligation to notify the court of what she understood to be evidence that was false. And that's very concerning."

The trial continues Tuesday.