Crown drops assault charge against New Glasgow mayor
Prosecutor said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction
An assault charge against New Glasgow, N.S., Mayor Nancy Dicks was dropped Monday in provincial court.
Dicks' lawyer, Stan MacDonald, appeared for her in Pictou provincial court where she was scheduled to enter a plea. Before a plea was entered, however, Crown prosecutor Bill Gorman told the court the Crown was no longer pursuing the charge.
"After a comprehensive review and consultation within the Public Prosecution Service, I have made the assessment that there is no reasonable nor realistic prospect of conviction and I withdraw the information before the court," he said.
Cape Breton Regional Police laid the charge earlier this year after an investigation into an incident that allegedly took place in New Glasgow on Sept. 27, 2020.
Angela Bowden, a writer, speaker and activist, said Dicks approached her at a Black Lives Matter event. Bowden said after a brief conversation, the mayor grabbed her leg and shouted, "Now you listen here."
Bowden has previously told CBC she wanted an apology and a mediated meeting with the mayor. She contacted several New Glasgow councillors and in the spring of 2021 she received a letter from Dicks, in which she expressed regret for her part in the interaction.
In a separate letter, Deputy Mayor Fred El-Haddad told Bowden that Dicks had accepted responsibility for her actions before council as part of discussions over a code of conduct complaint.
Police investigation
It was after receiving those letters and feeling dissatisfied with the response that Bowden took the matter to New Glasgow Regional Police, who turned it over the Cape Breton Regional Police.
Bowden did not immediately respond to CBC's request for comment.
In a phone interview Monday, Dicks said she respects the decision and the process that was taken.
"We work with a lens on equality, inclusion and growth in our community, so I would say we move on from here and that's our focus."
Dicks said she has not spoken to Bowden since before the charge was laid and she does not have any plans to contact her now that the charge has been dropped.
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