Davies first encountered Bigras and Faulkner on the evening of Dec. 10. It was the first day of the OC Transpo strike -- which Davies believes, to a point, led to his predicament. Because he couldn't catch a bus to the Sparks Street pub where he was going to listen to Celtic music, he decided to walk from his Gilmour Street apartment. He made it as far as Somerset and O'Connor streets when a van pulled up beside him and the man driving it asked: "Where are you going?"

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Jonathan Davies showed up at small claims court Thursday to take on a couple who took advantage of his trusting nature -- a condition of his Asperger syndrome affects Davies' ability to pick up on the warning signs of trouble -- and defrauded him of thousands of dollars during last winter's transit strike. The perpetrators didn't show up, but a large group of Davies' friends and supporters did.

Photograph by : Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen

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He kept walking, but the driver pulled around a corner, stopped, got out and yelled: "I'm over here."

Davies approached the man, who turned out to be Faulkner, and was offered a ride to wherever he was going. Faulkner told Davies that he was helping out people during the transit strike. Davies got inside the van, where Bigras was sitting in the second row.

Davies was asked if he could give them any money to help pay for gas. He offered $10, as long as they picked him up at the bar at 11 p.m. to take him home. They were punctual as promised, and the unsuspecting Davies was snared.

Two days later, after a few more rides to wherever he needed to go, Davies let it slip that he was receiving a monthly stipend from an inheritance left by his late father, a doctor. Within minutes, Faulkner asked Davies to lend him $180 for automobile insurance, and promised to repay him when his paycheque arrived the following week. Without the insurance, Davies was told, Faulkner wouldn't be able to drive him around during the bus strike.

So Davies agreed, which led to the avalanche of requests for more loans over the next few days. Even when he began to worry and asked about repayment, he kept buying the couple whatever they asked for. Even Faulkner's son and daughter got into the act.

Davies finally turned to Wallace Troup, a retired cardiologist and executor of his father's will, on Dec. 16, and told him what was happening. They went to Davies' bank, who told their client to report the matter to police.

Troup told the court Thursday that although Davies' condition has not hurt his intellect or linguistic abilities, "he is not skilled in perceiving a lie being told to him."

Davies, who pumped his fists gently as the judge delivered his decision, told the court earlier that one precaution he now takes is not to carry his credit cards with him anymore unless he needs to buy something. He told me yesterday that he also has learned something from his dealings with Bigras and Faulkner: Not to lend people money.

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