Case closed

Opinion, North Shore News

A junior North Vancouver Mountie may have learned the hard way this week that sometimes it simply does not pay to go out of your way to lend a hand.

But let’s hope not.

Last week, the Mountie, Const. Kam Khamphoune, was subjected to a grueling, four-day hearing conducted by an RCMP arbitration panel.

Although criminal charges were never laid, he was charged by the RCMP with disgraceful conduct after being accused by a 16-year-old girl of sexual transgressions she said occurred in late 2002 when she was 14. In January 2003, the constable turned in his gun and badge and was suspended until the allegations were either proven or dismissed.

Last Monday, 17 months later, he was acquitted on both counts. The panel characterized the constable’s youthful – and worldly – accuser as an “out-of-control young lady who thinks she can do what she wants without any consequences.”

Her pattern of lies became evident after the panel scrutinized her fabricated stories and matched them up with the constable’s telephone records. They concluded that he was “absolutely accurate in all his recollections” and that “he tried to help her in good faith.” In testifying, “he was clear, articulate and convincing.”

Justice has been done and the constable is headed back to work. Let’s hope his colleagues and North Shore residents alike extend a welcoming hand. And, let’s also hope that despite the hell he has been through he still tries occasionally to go above and beyond the call of duty.