A provincial court judge in Wabush put an end on Thursday to the sexual assault trial of a Quebec man due to unreasonable trial delays.
The man, who lives east of Montreal, avoided trial under guidelines laid out by the Supreme Court of Canada’s Jordan ruling. It stipulates that in provincial court, a maximum of 18 months can elapse between the moment charges are laid and the trial’s conclusion.
“The court recognizes that the charge… is serious and, on the whole, comes to its decision with a certain degree of reticence, but it’s clear the limit has been surpassed and the remedy is clear,” said Judge Wynne Anne Trahey in a nearly two-hour decision to stay the proceedings, delivered in French.
The judge calculated that 22 months had elapsed since the man was charged in October 2022 — a tally that didn’t include almost nine months of delays attributed to the defence, notably due to the fact the accused’s lawyer was on maternity leave.
The charge related to an alleged incident in September 2022 involving a Labrador woman.
Problems with disclosure, translation
An application the defence filed in April to request the stay of proceedings outlines a series of “deficiencies in the disclosure of evidence.”
According to that document, the defence waited months for the results of DNA tests carried out by the Crown, only to realize in February 2024 that certain samples had not been analyzed — a mistake that took six months to rectify.
On two occasions, the Crown also revealed it had neglected to provide evidence to the defence.
First, in March 2024, it told the court that it had uncovered a previously undisclosed recording of the 911 call made by the complainant.
Three days into the trial, on Nov. 22, 2024, the Crown acknowledged it had failed to disclose a transcript of a statement from the complainant containing “passages that were previously inaudible on recordings,” according to the Jordan application.
The complainant also missed the first three days of the trial, which was conducted in French, because weather disrupted air travel in Labrador.
Due to the complainant’s absence, shortcomings in the disclosure of evidence and numerous problems related to interpretation services, new court dates were needed, with trial dates set for this past week — a further six-month delay.
Not an isolated case
The Quebec man is far from the only person in Newfoundland and Labrador to avoid trial in recent months because of lengthy delays.
CBC News reported earlier this year that between early January and mid-February, charges against 10 people had been dropped due to the Jordan decision.
Among them were seven members of the Innu Nation of Labrador charged with illegally killing and possessing caribou and two people charged in connection with alleged puppy scams.
A judge also granted a Jordan application filed by a man charged with impaired driving.
In September 2024, Kurt Churchill, charged with the second-degree murder of a man shot to death in St. John’s in 2020, also avoided trial due to lengthy delays.
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