Decision pending in sexual assault trial

EAGLE STAFF

The final two witnesses testified last week in a provincial court trial where a man faces four charges, including sexually assaulting a girl.

The man, 41, also faces charges of assault, touching someone under 16 for a sexual purpose and dangerous driving. The trial began on Nov. 14 at the Elks hall and continued on Dec. 11. Judge Miguel Martinez said he aimed to give a decision here on May 14, noting that he had “three or four” other judgments to finish.

During the Feb. 12 session, Judge Martinez heard testimony from the former spouse of the accused - the mother of four children who’d testified earlier - and the accused. He denied all accusations. He often answered “No” or “That did not happen” to questions posed during Crown prosecutor Tom O’Hara’s cross examination.

The mother testified that the daughter that the man is accused of sexually touching was “absolutely hysterical” after he left their home on an October 2024 evening. She was eventually told that the man had “put his hands into her pants,” the woman testified.

Before he left, the accused, who’d been so intoxicated he had to hold onto furniture, according to that witness and an adult who’d testified previously, had lightly slapped her face in “patty-cake” fashion several times as the girl was clinging to her, the woman testified.

She said she’d seen the man drunk on countless previous occasions but he testified that he hadn’t been drinking nor had he driven the four children to Rosetown from Davidson earlier that evening.

Reminded by the prosecutor that all four children had testified he’d taken over driving partway through the trip, the accused maintained he’d stayed in the front passenger seat all the way.

He’d gone upstairs to try to calm down the girl, who was upset at not being allowed to have a treat of her choice before bedtime, kneeled by her bed, “read her a story, hugged her, said good night and said I’d see her next weekend,” he testified.

His lawyer focused on inconsistencies and contradictions in witness testimony, compared to what they’d told police in statements shortly after the incident. His client “was not shaken on any material points” during cross examination and remained “steadfast that he wasn’t driving,” the defender said during the argument portion of the trial.

The prosecutor argued that five people testified that the girl “wouldn’t stop sobbing, which was out of character for her” and that other incidents they recalled showed that the accused wasn’t “in his right mind.”

Answering police questions, the girl said seven times in her statement that the man had “put his hands in my pants,” O’Hara said.