Wife of former Manitoba senator faces assault charge
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/05/2015 (3233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA – The personal life of former Manitoba Senator Rod Zimmer is once again making headlines.
Zimmer, 72, retired from the Senate in August 2013 citing health concerns. He has battled esophageal cancer since 2005 and spent many months in the hospital prior to his resignation with pneumonia.
His time in the Senate – he was appointed by former prime minister Paul Martin in 2005 – was not marked by much fanfare, but a year before he resigned his life was splashed around in headlines around the world after his much-younger wife was arrested for causing a disturbance on an airplane.
Now Maygan Sensenberger, 26, is facing nine new criminal charges stemming from incidents in August 2014 and this past February.
Sensenberger was represented in court in Ottawa by a lawyer Thursday for a brief appearance.
Among the charges she faces are assault with a weapon, mischief, uttering threats, assaulting a peace officer, possession of a weapon to commit an offence and failing to attend a court hearing. The charges stem from an incident at an Ottawa medical clinic last August, and another at the home she shares with Zimmer in Ottawa in February.
One of the charges for failing to appear in court came because she never showed up for a hearing about the first charges and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
On Feb. 22, paramedics called police for help when they were attending to a 9-1-1 call at Zimmer’s home for a medical emergency facing him. The paramedics called in police and Sensenberger was arrested, resulting in charges of possessing a weapon to commit an offence and uttering threats as well as two counts of assaulting a peace officer.
She was released on a $5,000 bail. Her next court appearance is in mid-June. She has yet to enter a plea.
Ottawa Police would say nothing about the case Friday because it is still before the courts.
Police have been busy with Zimmer and Sensenberger recently after a high-profile theft of more than two dozen guns from Zimmer’s Ottawa home May 13. The Ottawa Police Guns and Gangs unit is investigating that case and four people were arrested in relation to it.
Zimmer was not at home during the theft, but one of the people arrested worked for Zimmer as a chauffeur until just recently and police believe the thefts were an inside job.
In August 2012, Sensenberger was arrested and charged with causing a disturbance on a plane and uttering threats after an incident on an Air Canada flight between Ottawa and Saskatoon. In that event, Zimmer fell ill on the plane and Sensenberger, who had been drinking, got irate.
She eventually pled guilty to causing a disturbance but the threats charge was dropped. She received a one-year suspended sentence and one-year probation during which she was not to consume alcohol.
The incident gained international attention because of the 46 year age difference between the two. The couple met in Toronto and married in the fall of 2011.
They live now in a home in Ottawa’s tony Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood.
A longtime Liberal fundraiser, Zimmer worked for Canwest Corp., Manitoba Lotteries and the Pan Am Games in varying communications and marketing positions before he was appointed to the Senate. He was especially good at getting big donations from major corporations for the Liberals before the rules changed. Sources have told the Free Press his cancer diagnosis affected his work in the Senate.
He was the subject of an investigation into his expense claims as a senator in 2013, particularly over his residency claims and travel. He was cleared by an initial review but his name has come up occasionally during the major audit of all Senate expenses being done in the wake of the Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin scandal.
Duffy is on trial for fraud and breach of trust for filing expense claims he wasn’t entitled to, including for personal things and work being done on behalf of the Conservative Party instead of the Senate.
Wallin has repaid $100,000 in expenses but has not had any charges filed against her. Two additional senators, former Conservative Patrick Brazeau and former Liberal Mac Harb, had to repay expenses. Brazeau, who is facing criminal charges on an unrelated matter, owed $48,000 while Harb owed $231,000. Harb resigned from the Senate in 2013. Brazeau, Duffy and Wallin have all been suspended from the Conservative caucus and are on paid leave from the Senate itself.
A report on the senate expenses is expected next month and reports have said at least 10 more senators will have their expense claims investigated by the RCMP but the names of those senators have not been made public.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
History
Updated on Friday, May 22, 2015 2:30 PM CDT: Updated