The first police officer to arrive on the scene of a 2012 murder is outraged that criminal proceedings against the victim’s husband have been ended due to long delays since his arrest.

On Thursday, it was announced that Sivaloganathan Thanabalasingham would not be tried for the murder of his wife Anuja Baskaran. Fifty-six months had passed between Thanabalasingham’s arrest and the scheduled beginning of his trial, almost twice the limit set by the Supreme Court of Canada in a 2015 judgment that’s become known as the Jordan ruling.

“I’m outraged,” said Hugues Olivier, an 18-year veteran of the SPVM. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Olivier said he had been contacted by other officers who were just as angry as him at the outcome of the case.

Thanabalasingham was arrested on Aug. 13, 2012 after his 21-year-old wife was found dead in their Ahuntsic home.

Olivier said the police work in the case was handled well. He said he didn’t understand the long delays in the case, which he said was straightforward. He recalled testifying at a preliminary hearing in 2014.

“I’ve seen some junk in my life,” he said. “You could have given me no notes and I would have been able to testify easily.”

Olivier said nobody in the SPVM had any issues with evidence or the investigation which could have caused delays.

“I can still see it,” he said of the crime scene. “And he’s getting off without a trial.”

“It’s rare that I want to talk, but here, I’m outraged,” he added.

The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions has refused to comment on the reasons for the delays.

Thanabalasingham’s attorney, Joseph La Leggia, refused to elaborate on how he got his client released but said the written judgment would soon be made public and would contain the judge’s analysis.

La Leggia said that cases in which the 30-month time limit is exceeded do not automatically end in release and each case is judged according to its own circumstances. His client was arrested before the Jordan ruling.

La Leggia said he respect the prosecutor’s office and would not comment on why the case took five years to reach trial. He did say that at a June 2015 hearing to set a trial date, he was offered dates in February 2018, which was later changed to April 2017.

The lawyer said he understands the public’s shock at the ruling.

“I did the work I had to do as a defence attorney,” he said. “I represented the best interests of my client.”

On Friday, the Quebec Bar Association said it opposed the end of proceedings.

Spokesperson Claudia P. Premont said the association has repeatedly asked the federal justice minister to appoint judges  to Quebec’s Superior Court, which has had several vacant seats for months.

“It’s the position of the Quebec Bar Association that this situation can’t go on  and judges must be named to remedy the delays in our court system,” she said. “Canadian Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has no reason not to proceed with appointing federal judges in Quebec.”