Second police witness in Freedom Convoy trial says data was ‘wiped’ from phone
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Two members of the Ottawa Police Service liaison team have now testified that messages and contacts from the period covering the protests were wiped clean from their phones.
(LifeSiteNews) — During Day 20 of the trial for Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, a police witness testified her phone was “wiped” of all information when asked by the judge if she had copies of vital information of conversations between her and protesters. This is the second police officer in less than a week who has testified their phone was suddenly “wiped” of all data.
Nicole Bach of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Police Liaison Team (PLT) told Justice Heather Perkins-McVey last Thursday that “my phone was wiped due to upgrade system.”
Bach was testifying before the court regarding a conversation she had with Barber relating to the location in Ottawa during the protests.
Defense counsel Diane Magas noted to the court how certain messages in chat groups came from her client’s phone and not from Bach’s.
Perkins-McVey asked Bach if she had “copies” of the messages and she replied she did not after her phone had been “wiped.”
Magas asked Bach, “Your cellphone was wiped clean?” She replied, “Not sure wiped clean is the terminology,” adding it was an “upgrade.”
OPS liaison team officer Isabelle Cyr testified last week that her contacts were “wiped” clean from her phone between January 27 and February 9, 2022, which was when the main protests took place.
She noted to the court, however, that she had some text message exchanges with Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber printed out before her information was “wiped.”
Bach says she took no steps to preserve her data before ‘wipe’
Magas also asked Bach if she would agree that the “evidence in your phone would be required,” and what kind of steps she took to make sure she preserved it.
Bach replied that she made no effort to preserve the information, only saying, “It was suggested I do the upgrade.”