Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Alice Woolley delivered the decision in the case involving a man from the Rocky View County area who was charged with several counts of assault, aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault on Monday at the Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary. The charges stemmed from offences dating between 2013 and 2015.  

The man, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, was found guilty of three counts of assault. However, Justice Woolley did not find the man guilty of aggravated sexual assault as well as sexual assault.  

“Mr. [Allan] Fay [the defence counsel] acknowledged that given the nature of the accusations against [the accused] section 43 of the Criminal Code, which allows a parent to use reasonable correction against a child does not apply here,” she said. “If I am satisfied beyond a doubt about the allegations against [the accused] made by the complainants, Mr. Fay acknowledges that what [the accused] did could not constitute a reasonable correction.” 

The complainants, who also cannot be named under the publication ban, testified in the trial to multiple instances in which the accused hit them multiple times, sometimes upwards of 10 or 20 times, with different objects, including shoes, wooden sticks, spatulas, and his hands. In some instances, there were bruises and blisters on the victims after the assaults. 

“[The complainant] recalled a specific incident where she and [her sibling] went to bed before they tired. [The accused] was watching a movie and the [complainants] came down and went into the kitchen and looked down into the living with where the movie was showing. When [the accused] caught them; he hit them with a leather flip-flop on the face two to three times,” said Justice Woolley. 

There were also instances in which the complainants were made to kneel on a ‘rock floor’ as punishment for several minutes at a time which was described by the complainants as “very painful”. 

However, when it came to the sexual assault charges, Justice Woolley said that while she did not actively disbelieve the complainant's testimony, there were enough inconsistencies in the testimonies that sowed reasonable doubt. 

“I am uncertain that he was at home alone with [the complainant] enough for an assault of this nature to occur or that it is likely he who would have committed such violent assaults with [the other complainants] upstairs,” she said.  

Justice Woolsey also underlined the fact that one of the complainants didn’t remember the sexual assault until after having sought medical intervention at a hospital in 2019. 

“In cross-examination [the complainant] said she was having flashbacks, but she blocked these events from remembering. Some of them she did not recall until she checked into the hospital. In redirect, she said that she remembered physical abuse prior to 2019.” 

The judge-alone trial began last October and concluded in mid-March. A criminal appearance court hearing is scheduled for April 29th, 2022 to schedule sentencing for the man in approximately four months’ time.  

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