A. Sadro

The accused was charged with sexual assault and assault by choking against a friend of his wife.

The complainant testified that the accused grabbed her neck, forced a kiss, and engaged in non-consensual sexual touching.

The accused testified and claimed the interaction was a brief consensual kiss.

The court rejected the accused's evidence, finding it implausible and contradicted by contemporaneous text messages in which he repeatedly apologized and asked for secrecy.

Applying the W.(D.) framework, the court accepted the complainant's evidence and found the accused guilty on both counts.

The Ontario Court of Justice found that the accused, Adebiyi Adekunle, experienced a violation of his section 11(b) Charter right to be tried within a reasonable time due to excessive delay of over 20 months from charge to trial.

The delay was primarily attributed to the Crown's inaction and failure to move the case forward, including missed pre-trials and lack of timely communication.

The court rejected the Crown's arguments that portions of the delay were caused solely by the defence or justified by case complexity.

The remedy of a stay of proceedings was granted.