Reported by: Joel Noe
Source: Postmedia News | The Ottawa Citizen
First Reported by:
The development came after a day and a half of live video testimony by the five-time Grammy award-winning artist from an undisclosed location in Europe.
Through his lawyer, Giovanni (John) Palumbo told the court he wanted to plead guilty to one charge of criminal harassment and one charge of breach of recognizance for being within 500 yards of the singer at the Juno Awards last March at Toronto's Air Canada Centre.
At the time, he was arrested in the crowd wearing a Shania Twain T-shirt and was holding a book about her.
"He's devastated that she's afraid," said Palumbo's lawyer, Gary Barnes, following the pleas. "He never intended for her to feel that at all . . . but he realizes that because of his actions, he had that effect on her and that's why he pled guilty."
The Crown has asked that two other charges related to breaching conditions, including being in Toronto for non-Ontario College of Surgeons and Physicians business, be withdrawn.
Ontario Justice Richard Schneider ordered that Palumbo, 51, be subject to a psychiatric assessment in Ottawa before returning to court for possible sentencing on Oct. 18. If he is declared not criminally responsible for his actions, he will be sent to a mental health facility.
Barnes says his client, a former surgeon with a history of mental problems, is "still in love with Twain" and is sorry for putting her through the trial.
Palumbo now admits that for the past three years, he has sent Twain numerous love letters, photographs and has made several attempts to meet her, including parking his Lamborghini outside her Muskoka, Ont., cottage in the summer of 2009.
"He feels terrible," said Barnes. "He has upset the lady he loves. Who's not going to be sorry about this?"
Earlier on Friday, Twain, 46, testified she found Palumbo's letters "scary and haunting" and pleaded for him to stop harassing her.
Dressed in a white pullover shirt, with an orange shawl draped over her shoulders, she was testy towards Barnes, who questioned why she didn't remember specifics in relation to her involvement with the police.
"I'm not a walking information centre of dates and names," she said.
In November 2009, Palumbo had been arrested on similar charges related to Twain but those were withdrawn when she declined to appear in Ottawa court to testify against him.
Twain said she felt some sympathy towards Palumbo.
"I am torn emotionally because I have compassion for anybody who is reaching out. The fans often do that. I appreciate their trust," she said.
"Yesterday, I felt very sad and awkward. It's such an invasion of his privacy (to publicly release the letters). I'm so not enjoying this aspect of this. I still have fears and anxiety about being contacted by Mr. Palumbo. I just wish it to stop."
She also admitted she was "sensitive to domestic violence situations" because of her exposure to it as a child and was wary of getting involved with this case because Palumbo had served a jail time for threatening and assaulting his ex-wife.
Even so, she had to hire private investigators, extra bodyguards and then eventually contacted the police when the "one-way communication" with Palumbo persisted because she felt "responsible to my family and their safety."
"I really didn't want to get involved in any kind of judging process of any other human," she said. "It was a scary thing for me to do."
The situation culminated in the summer of 2009 when Palumbo was spotted by her in his car and in a boat near her cottage. He was also at her grandmother's funeral that year in Timmins, Ont.
She thought he should've gotten the message when as a married woman, she did not reply to any of the letters, and refused all his flowers.
"I love my fans and my fans love me but we don't invite each other out on dates," said Twain.
During the testimony, Palumbo, a slender grey-haired man dressed in a wrinkled black suit jacket, got into repeated disagreements with his lawyer, often standing and calling him back from questioning Twain so they could talk.
At one point, he interrupted the court with an outburst.
"But I didn't know you received any of them (the letters). Do you understand?" yelled Palumbo, rising on his feet in the prisoner box. He told Schneider that Twain's testimony has been "emotional" for him.
"It is emotional," he said. "I have emotions, very strong emotions especially when they (letters) are supposed to be lighthearted."
His lawyer said the case has been blown out of proportion.
"A lot of this is a misunderstanding between two people," said Barnes. "They got the wrong impressions of each other."
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