A judge of the Provincial Court in Wabush ended Thursday to the trial of sexual assault of a Quebec man due to irrarhrazonable trial delays.
The man, who lives east of Montreal, avoided the trial under the guidelines established by Jordan’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada. It stipulates that in the Provincial Court, a maximum of 18 months may pass between the moment in which the positions and the conclusion of the trial are established.
“The court recognizes that the position … is serious and, in general, it reaches its decision with a certain degree of reluctance, but it is clear that the limit has been exceeded and the remedy is clear,” said Judge Wynne Anne Trahey in a decision of almost two hours to suspend the procedure, delivered in French.
The judge estimated that 22 months had elapsed since the man was accused in October 2022, an account that did not include almost nine months of delays attributed to the defense, especially due to the fact that the defendant’s lawyer was a maternity leave.
The position related to an alleged incident in September 2022 who involved a Labrador woman.
Problems with dissemination, translation
An application that the defense submitted in April to request the suspension of the procedures describes a series of “deficiencies in the dissemination of evidence.”
According to this document, the defense waited for months the results of the DNA tests carried out by the crown, only to realize in February 2024 that certain samples had not been analyzed, an error that took six months to rectify.
On two occasions, the crown also revealed that it had neglected to provide evidence to the defense.
First, in March 2024, he told the Court that he had discovered a previously unleashed recording of the 911 call made by the plaintiff.
Three days after the trial, on November 22, 2024, the crown acknowledged that he had not revealed a transcription of a statement from the plaintiff that contained “passages that were previously inaudible in the recordings,” according to Jordan’s request.
The plaintiff also lost the first three days of the trial, which was held in French, because the weather interrupted air trips in Labrador.
Due to the absence of the plaintiff, deficiencies in the dissemination of evidence and numerous problems related to interpretation services, new judicial dates were needed, with trial dates established for last week, an additional delay of six months.
It is not an isolated case
Quebec man is far from being the only person in Newfoundland and Labrador to avoid trial in recent months due to long delays.
CBC News reported earlier this year that between the beginning of January and mid -February, charges had been withdrawn due to Jordan’s decision.
Among them were seven members of the Innu nation of Labrador accused of illegally killing and possessing Caribou and two accused people in relation to the alleged puppies of puppies.
A judge also granted a request from Jordan filed by a man accused of driving with disabilities.
In September 2024, Kurt Churchill, accused of the second -degree murder of a shot man killed in St. John’s in 2020, also avoided the trial due to long delays.
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