An attorney who had assumed inactive status in 2019 has been disbarred by an Alberta Law Society Committee
On June 9, 2022, Mr. Berndt was convicted in the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta of the following indictable offences under the CC:
- Sexual assault [section 246.1 (currently s.271)]
- Sexual interference [section 151]
- Invitation to sexual touching [section 152]
- Sexual exploitation while being in a position of trust or authority [section 153(1)(a)]
He was sentenced to 14 years and required to register as a sex offender.
He opposed publication of the details of the offense
The LSA opposed the application regarding the Notice to the Profession and argued:
- Consistency with the overwhelming majority of other suspension notices is important.
- Transparency in the LSA process is important.
- Details are in the notice of suspension which has been on the LSA website since August 2022 so it cannot be reasonably argued that publishing details now will have the negative impact alleged.
Edmonton Journal reported on the criminal case
A retired Edmonton lawyer sentenced to 14 years in prison for molesting his children is abandoning his appeal.
Helmut Berndt, 73, filed formal notice to withdraw his sentence and conviction appeal Friday.
In April, a jury found Berndt guilty of committing five sex offences against his three children between 1986 and 2001.
“I am so relieved to finally feel closure,” daughter Lavinia Perreault said in an email Friday. “No more worrying about any possibility of appeal. He will serve his time for what he did.”
Berndt was charged in 2019 after Perreault and her two siblings came forward. They did so over the protests of their mother, who continued to support Berndt.
At trial, the siblings described how Berndt repeatedly abused them in the family home. Perreault, 37, recalled her father sexually touching her when she was four years old. Cedric Shui, her brother, said the abuse began in elementary school and ended when he was 15.
Berndt claimed he was innocent and that his children “were not to be believed due to being, variously, mistaken, confused, deceitful, vindictive or generally unreliable,” Justice Earl Wilson said in a summary of defence lawyer Brian Beresh’s case.
Wilson ultimately sentenced Berndt to 14 years in prison. He said he considered imposing an 18-year sentence — three years longer than the Crown’s proposal — but opted for restraint due to Berndt’s advanced age.
Berndt later appealed his conviction and sentence, but failed to convince Court of Appeal Justice Jack Watson to grant him bail pending a decision in the case. Watson found Berndt’s case did not “clearly” pass the legal test of being “not frivolous” and was thus too weak to merit release.
Beresh declined to comment on the decision to abandon the appeal.
Juanita Falkingham, the eldest of the three siblings, said she was “incredibly relieved” to hear Berndt had dropped his appeal.
“This whole thing was causing a lot of stress … and I feel so good knowing I won’t have to worry about any of that down the road,” she said. “No trial, no more testifying, just an end.”
(Mike Frisch)
