Case information

Criminal law — Evidence — Assessment — Whether submission on witness’ reliability misapprehended as submission on credibility — Whether inconsistencies between complainant’s evidence and evidence of others left unresolved — Whether evidence given less weight due to stereotypical reasoning — Whether rule in Browne v. Dunn misapplied

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.

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The complainant went to a gathering at a private residence where the applicant was staying. She consumed alcohol and cocaine and eventually went to sleep on a mattress in the residence while she waited for a ride home. She later awoke to find her pants around her ankles. The applicant was on top of her, kissing her, and attempting to have intercourse with her.

The trial judge convicted the applicant of sexual assault. In doing so, he relied upon the rule in Browne v. Dunn and a finding of apparent bias against the complainant to assign less weight to the evidence of a defence witness. He also found the complainant to be reliable and credible, and rejected or assigned no weight to conflicting evidence.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal, generally holding that the trial judge’s findings of fact were adequately explained and based on the correct legal principles. These findings attracted deference and no appellate intervention was warranted in this case.