The accused’s lawyer says the complainant “destroyed his own story” with answers on the stand
The trial of Sault Ste. Marie High School teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student ended abruptly this week.
On Wednesday, when the appellant was scheduled to return to the stand for a third day, the Crown asked Ontario Judge Romuald Kwolek to dismiss the charges.
“I don’t believe I have a reasonable prospect of being convicted in this case,” prosecutor David Didiodato told the judge.
Credibility and reliability issues have arisen and “the Crown can no longer prove these offenses beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said in a statement he read into the record.
The woman pleaded not guilty to the charges.
SooToday has decided not to name the accused at this time as the charges have been dismissed.
A court-ordered publication ban prohibits the reporting of information that could identify the complainant.
The youth testified Monday that the accused began chatting, texting and making “many” phone calls with him.
He told the court of three incidents, saying the woman asked him to meet her in the car park of the Great Northern Road Hotel and come to her car when he arrived.
During the dates, she kissed him — kisses that lasted five to 10 minutes, he said, noting that she told him not to tell anyone.
Didiodato said the case, on one level, would call attention to the question of credibility, given that no one but the accused and the complainant was present at the time the assaults allegedly took place.
But it also involves forensically retrieving and examining the cell phones that belong to them.
He told Kwolek that he asked the appellant a number of questions about various images retrieved from his phone, their processing, editing and editing.
During cross-examination by defense lawyer Saman Wickramasinghe on Tuesday, the young man was asked additional questions.
Given the answers provided by the applicant to those questions, there were significant credibility and reliability issues – issues arising from facts known about images obtained from the forensic examination of his mobile phone, the assistant Crown attorney said.
“I want to be clear (that) I believe” that the events (the kiss) described in the appellant’s statement did occur.
“But I’m obliged to drop the prosecution at this point,” he told Kuolek.
When reached for comment, Wickramasinghe said it made sense to ask the judge to dismiss the charges, calling it the only thing the Crown in that position could reasonably do.
“Either shorten the trial or waste more time and public resources to prove that” the complainant lied, he said in an email.
“You can’t prove something that didn’t happen.”
The Toronto lawyer alleges the appellant lied to the court and his untruthfulness increased when he was questioned about the messages and data police pulled from his cell phone.
“His answers destroyed his own story and his credibility in a way that could not survive even basic scrutiny.”
Wickramasinghe said his client had patiently waited two and a half years for the trial to unfold.
The woman and her defense attorney were confident it would produce that result, he said. “We’re just surprised it took as long as it did.”
Add Comment