Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Criminal Law – Unreasonable verdict – Whether applicant’s conviction was a result of a miscarriage of justice.

The applicant’s two former wives and his two daughters alleged that the applicant committed multiple violent and sexual offences against each of them over long periods of time. The applicant either denied the allegations or gave alternate versions of events that exonerated him. A credibility issue arose at trial with respect to one daughter, V.H.. She had previously told her mother, a foster care mother, a children’s aid worker, and the police about the same alleged abuse but had recanted those allegations as untrue before a trial proceeded. V.H. and the applicant’s sister gave conflicting accounts of the recantation. V.H. also testified that, later in life, the applicant had acknowledged and apologized for the abuse. The applicant denied the allegation of a confession and gave a different version of events. The trial judge held that V.H. was credible and he accepted her testimony, including the confession. The applicant was convicted of 13 offences. The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions. It held that V.H.’s reason or motive for having previously recanted her allegations was only relevant to her credibility and the trial judge was not required to resolve every discrete factual issue bearing on her credibility.