A 61-year-old Alberta man who formerly worked in trucking and construction in Quesnel has been acquitted of sexual assault, sexual touching of a person under 14 and threatening a complainant’s family.
The April 7 ruling by Judge Baljinder Kaur Girn said the man was accused of offences against three minors between 1998 and 2000. All identities are protected by a publication ban and only initials were used in the judgment.
The accused pleaded not guilty. The Crown alleged he acted as a father figure and abused a position of trust.
Girn acknowledged concerns about the complainants’ credibility and reliability, but found few issues with the accused’s testimony. Ultimately, she ruled the Crown had not proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
She said the mother’s “corroborating evidence would have been useful in assessing the complainants’ testimony,” but she drew no inferences from the fact neither the mother nor grandmother testified.
“In coming to my conclusion, I have carefully considered all of the evidence before me, including the fact that the complainants were children at the time of the alleged assaults, and that more than 25 years have passed,” Girn wrote.
After acquitting the man on all seven charges, Girn acknowledged the difficulty the complainants faced in participating in the trial and giving evidence.
“My determination should not be taken as a finding that the complainants lied about what happened to them when they lived in Cranbrook from 1997-2000, nor should it be taken as a personal reflection upon the complainants,” Girn wrote.
“It should not even be taken as a suggestion that their version of events is impossible. Rather, my conclusion is the outcome of the stringent standard of proof required in a criminal trial.”
