Case information

None.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

(PUBLICATION BAN IN CASE)(PUBLICATION BAN ON PARTY)

Criminal law - Appeals - Powers of Court of Appeal - Crown’s right to appeal from acquittal - Appellant’s acquittal on two counts of sexual assault overturned on appeal and new trial ordered - Trial judge failing to consider the evidence as a whole Does an error in the interpretation of admissible evidence raise a question of law alone, such that the Crown may appeal from an acquittal? - If so, what is the proper legal test for permitting a Crown appeal from an acquittal?

The complainant was 17 years old in 2006 when, she alleged, on two occasions the appellant her older male cousin, had sexual intercourse with her without her consent when she spent the night at his apartment. On both occasions, she testified that she voluntarily laid down on the bed with him and unsuccessfully resisted his sexual advances. She wrote a poem about the first alleged sexual assault and posted it on a poetry website. She told no one about the alleged assaults until five months after the second alleged assault occurred. At the appellant’s trial on two counts of sexual assault, he testified that he could not recall ever having slept in the same bed as the complainant and denied ever having sexually assaulted her. His counsel argued that the complainant’s continued contact with the appellant and the delay in making any complaint were inconsistent with her later claims of sexual assault. The prosecutor filed the poem as an exhibit to assist in establishing the narrative of her complaint and to rebut the appellant’s submission that her conduct diminished her credibility and the reliability of her account.