John Harvey Hibbs
October 2, 2004
Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada

See also John Harvey Hibbs in the Canadian Homicides section.

Monday, October 4, 2004
The Halifax Herald Limited
Obituary

HIBBS, John Harvey - 58, Lower Sackville, passed away Sunday, October 3, 2004,
in the QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax. 

Born in Triton, NL, he was the son of Hilda Hibbs and the late Clifford Hibbs. 
John worked in the mines for Inco in Windsor and Sudbury. Later he became a 
taxi driver for Satellite Taxi Company for 14 years. John's passion was 
gardening. 

Surviving are his loving wife, the former Jeanne Goodwin; daughter, Glenda 
(Les) Manuel, Bedford; Vicki (Jamie) Clarke, Mount Uniacke; Peggy Sue, 
Halifax; son, Leonard, Dartmouth; Curtis (Marie), Sydney; stepson, Michael 
(Tracey) Goodwin, Jacksonville, Fl.; stepdaughter, Tammy (Bob) Auchterlonie, 
Ottawa, Ont.; grandchildren, Meranda, Megan, Michael, Morgan, Max and Fraser; 
brothers, Hubert, Wilmore, Eric, Melvin and Hemen; sisters, Vivian, Salome, 
Dorothy, all of Newfoundland; sister, Ruth, Denare Beach, Sask. 

Visitation will be 2-4, 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, October 6, with funeral service 
at 10 a.m. Thursday, October 7, all in Atlantic Funeral Home, 125 Sackville 
Dr., Lower Sackville. Rev. Robert Chapman officiating. Interment will be at 
a later date. No flowers by request. Donations may be made to Victims 
of Crime. On-line condolences to: www.atlanticfuneralhomes.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

National Post
(Canada)
October 3, 2004

N.S. taxi driver found murdered

Sunday, October 03, 2004

HALIFAX -- A taxi driver in Nova Scotia has been murdered.
Halifax police say the 58-year-old man was found unconscious
beside a cab in Lower Sackville.

Officers got a 911 call around nine o'clock Saturday night about
an ongoing assault on Walker Avenue.

Constable Joe Taplin says when police arrived the driver was
unconscious on the ground. Paramedics tried to revive the man
but he later died at the Queen Elizabeth Two Health Sciences
Centre.

The victim was from Lower Sackville and worked for the Satellite
taxi company. His name has not been released.

Taplin says authorities believe the victim had driven to the
Walker Street residence to pick up a fare. Robbery is not
believed to have been a motive in the assault.

Police have a 49-year-old man from Lower Sackville in custody.
He will appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court Monday morning.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HCH Dec. 17 2005 Metro

Trial dates set for man accused of killing cabbie

A Lower Sackville man accused of killing a local cabbie is going to trial 
next fall.

Leroy Downey had previously elected trial by Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge 
alone but on Thursday, changed his mind and asked that a jury to hear his case.

The 50-year-old faces one count of manslaughter in the Oct. 2, 2004, death of 
48-year-old John Hibbs. A cabbie for Satellite Taxi for 14 years, Mr. Hibbs 
died in hospital after he was attacked outside a Walker Avenue apartment 
complex. His attacker was believed to be a would-be passenger.

Mr. Downey will remain free on bail until his trial Oct. 10 to 23.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Daily News
(Halifax, Nova Scotia)
May 1, 2007

Witnesses weigh in on cabbie death

ROBYN YOUNG

The f-bomb was all over the courtroom yesterday in Nova Scotia
Supreme Court as witnesses and attorneys recounted the events
leading up to the death of a Halifax cab driver.

Leroy Downey, 52, of Halifax, is on trial for manslaughter in the
death of taxi driver John Harvey Hibbs on Oct. 2, 2004.

The accused was allegedly getting into Hibbs's taxi when the two
began an argument that quickly escalated into a physical fight.
Hibbs later died from a tear in his vertebral artery caused by
blunt-force trauma to the head.

And self-defence may be the best defence for Downey as
eyewitnesses testified seeing the cab driver drag the man out of
his back seat while shouting, "Shut up and get the f--- out of my
taxi."

The first of four Crown witnesses, 16-year-old Morgan
Cunningham, said Downey started the argument because he was
upset the driver had not pulled up to a specific door of his
apartment building as requested. She said Hibbs then started
spouting foul language at the accused as Cunningham and two
friends watched from her second-floor balcony of the 137 Walker
Ave. building in Lower Sackville, where she was in earshot of the
dispute.

But testimony from the preliminary hearing, read by defence
attorney Patricia Hague Hutton yesterday, pointed to Hibbs as
the first to use his fists.

"I believe the cab driver threw the first punch," said 22-year-old
witness Matthew Hiltz on April 21, 2005.

Hiltz told the court yesterday that Downey threw the final punch,
causing Hibbs to fall backwards.

"It ended when the cab driver's head hit the side of the car," he
said.

Hiltz also told the court Downey was intoxicated at the time of
the fight.

Witness No, 3, Christopher Chase, watched the fight from a
nearby hill where he stood with his dogs.

"It looked like he was winning the fight," Chase said of the
cabbie. But Downey's final blow "rocked him," said Chase.

Tara Lyn Sutton, another resident of the Walker Avenue building
and the final Crown witness, told the court the accused was
upset and kneeling beside the victim after the fight.

"He was holding his arm and saying, 'Are you all right? I'm sorry,
I'm sorry,'" Sutton told the court.

The trial continues today in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Chronicle Herald
(Halifax, Nova Scotia)
May 25, 2007

Downey acquitted in cabbie death

Accused was defending himself, didn't intend to kill or harm 
driver, judge rules

By JENNIFER STEWART Court Reporter

Family and friends of a Lower Sackville cab driver killed during a 
fight with a fare rushed from the courtroom Friday after the man 
was acquitted of man-slaughter.

A judge found Leroy Downey not guilty, explaining that he 
thought the 52-year-old was well within his rights to defend 
himself after Satellite Taxi driver John Hibbs dragged him out of 
the cab and punched him in the face on Oct. 2, 2004.

During his hour-long decision in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, 
Justice Simon MacDonald said he didn't believe the testimony of 
witness Christopher Chase, who was walking his dogs in the area 
at the time of the altercation outside 137 Walker Ave. in Lower 
Sackville.

Mr. Chase testified that he saw Mr. Downey throw the first 
punch, eventually ending the scuffle by knocking Mr. Hibbs 
backward, striking his head on the cab.

An autopsy later showed that the 58-year-old cabbie died from a 
ruptured artery, causing massive bleeding in his brain.

Mr. Chase's evidence conflicted with two other witnesses, who 
had a better view of the fight, Justice MacDonald said.

He said Mr. Chase's testimony "didn't have a ring of truth to it," 
calling the man "flippant and argumentative."

This was primarily "a pushing and shoving match," Justice 
MacDonald continued, in which Mr. Downey did not intend to 
grievously harm or kill Mr. Hibbs, which is a primary element of 
manslaughter.

Supporters of the Hibbs family declined comment outside the 
courtroom.

Christina Williams, Mr. Downey's sister-in-law, said the family is 
pleased with the decision and hopes Mr. Downey can now move 
on with his life.

"I've been praying for him," Ms. Williams said.

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