Trial delay led judge to stay sex assault charge

A trial against a Brantford man accused of sexually assaulting a fellow high school student from 2010 to 2012 came to a halt in August after a Brantford judge agreed the Crown had delayed that trial beyond a reasonable time.

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“This case should not have taken this long,” ruled Justice Robert Gee in a written decision.

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“It has exceeded the presumptive ceiling by two months … as such, the charge is stayed.”

The man was charged on Oct. 1, 2021 and, although there were two appearances last year where neither he nor his lawyer showed up in court, he was prepared for a one-day trial in November.

But the Crown chose to deal with another trial on the list and it was pushed back to April when other matters and a technical issue interfered.

The defense filed an application for dismissal before the trial could finish in June since Canadians have a Charter right to have an Ontario Court trial completed within 18 months of being charged. The rule is 30 months for trial in the Superior Court.

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Gee went through all the appearances, requests for disclosure and delays for almost two years and decided the fault was with the Crown’s office.

As in much of the rest of Ontario, Brantford’s Crown office was overbooked and understaffed at the beginning of the pandemic.

They requested Gee to take into consideration the backlog created by the lockdown and the closing or slowing of the court systems.

But the judge said Brant is plagued by an overbooked system where pre-trials and other appointments for case management “collapse” with a guilty plea.

“History has shown us the best way to make use of our limited court time is to overbook the lists,” Gee said.

“Were we not to do this, and give every matter set for trial an otherwise clear court list, we would far too often be left with empty courtrooms … and trial dates would necessarily get stretched out further and further.”

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He said the overbooking has continued in Brant for at least the 13-and-a-half years he’s been on the bench.

But Gee also held the Crown accountable for not proceeding with the trial when the opportunity arose in November because it put other matters first and the complainant was about 90 minutes away even though she had been told to “stand-by” in case she was to wait short.

There were also delays to do slow disclosure of evidence, which Gee said is a “systemic” problem with the area police services.

“Delays… are far too often the norm in Brantford and tolerated too readily by the Crown’s office. No solutions to the problem ever seem to be forthcoming (and) the situation has not improved.”

The charge of sexual assault has been stayed, meaning it is ‘on hold’ for a year’s time.

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