FREDERIC SERRE
The 1510 West

A Quebec Superior Court judge yesterday put an end to the criminal case against Robert Miller, the disgraced billionaire and former owner of West Island-based Future Electronics, on sex charges dating back 30 years and dropped all charges, saying he is too sick to stand trial.

“This is not an acquittal,” Judge Lyne Décarie said at the Montreal courthouse. “(Miller) would be unable to adequately participate in his trial and the procedures could create significant health challenges for him. His medical condition will only deteriorate. Putting the trial on pause would not be a solution.”

Décarie ruled that Miller, 81, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, is not strong enough to face 24 sex-related charges involving 11 victims, some as young as 11 and 12, allegedly committed as far back as 1996. Décarie said she based her decision on recommendations made Monday by both the Crown and Miller’s lawyers, who said Miller is unable to talk and is in the late stages of Parkinson’s.

While he won’t face a criminal trial, Miller’s troubles aren’t over. In January, a Quebec Superior Court judge authorized a class-action lawsuit brought against Miller by women who claim he had sex with them when they were minors. The class action now involves about 50 women, some who were as young as 11 or 12 when they first had sexual contact with Miller. Three others have filed individual lawsuits claiming more than $30 million in damages.

John Westlake, a retired Montreal cop, whose 19 years of undercover work led to the arrest of Miller, scoffed at the claims that Miller is too ill to attend his trial, saying it is an insult to the victims who have stepped forward and who were ready to testify, and it’s a slap in the face of the evidence Westlake presented during his years of investigating the claims against Miller.