CTV.ca News Staff
A former paratrooper appeared at a hearing Tuesday, in which prosecutors argued they still have substantial evidence to maintain second-degree murder charges in the death of a Somali youth more than 10 years ago.
Far from the young soldier shown in a photograph grinning as he held up a bloodied and beaten 16-year-old Somali boy, Clayton Matchee appeared emaciated and frail in his appearance at the hearing.
In 1993, Matchee was one of eight Airborne soldiers charged in the torture and murder of Shidane Arone in Somalia.
Matchee tried to hang himself with his own bootlaces after he was arrested. Doctors have said he will never recover from the subsequent brain damage sustained in his attempted suicide.
A military court-martial will convene in September to decide whether the former member of the disbanded Canadian Airborne Regiment is to face charges.
Matchee was released from the military in April 1995 on medical grounds and sent to live at a psychiatric hospital in North Battleford, Sask.
The horrifying images of the beating -- taken by the offenders themselves -- caused a scandal in Canada and soiled the nation's reputation as an international peacekeeper. As a result of the incident, the Canadian Airborne Regiment was disbanded.
Prosecutors are required to submit their case every two years in case Matchee recovers. In past hearings they have used testimony from Kyle Brown, a former Airborne private also convicted of manslaughter and torture in the Somali youth's death and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
Maj. Gord Duncan, Matchee's defence lawyer, may ask the hearing's head, Cmdr. Peter Lamonte to stay the hearing or dismiss charges against his client.
At a 2002 hearing, Matchee's family pleaded with authorities to dismiss the charges because of his medical condition.