Women not guilty of death threats to school staff

 
May 18, 2011
Jennifer Yang      
Staff Reporter     
 
Two women who got into a protracted battle with a Toronto elementary school over the outcome of a spelling bee were found not guilty Wednesday of sending death threats to school staff.

But while Linda Pitney, 64, and Rafat Parsaei, 47, were acquitted of charges related to hundreds of death threats found around Perth Avenue Secondary School in 2008 and 2009, Pitney was found guilty of criminal harassment.

The two women and Pitney's longtime companion, 69-year-old Carole Tovell, were arrested in July 2009 and accused of writing several letters threatening to bomb the elementary school and shoot a teacher and her newborn baby.

All three were charged with intimidation and threatening death, but only Pitney – a handwriting analyst –faced the additional charge of criminal harassment.

Tovell had her charges withdrawn Wednesday.