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Convictions entered on three assault counts; abuse and delay applications failed.
Following a judge-alone criminal trial alleging repeated physical abuse of two child complainants, the court accepted the core evidence of the children and rejected the accused's denial when the evidence was assessed as a whole under the W.(D.) methodology.
The court found the Crown proved repeated assaults on one child with a belt and wire, and separate assaults on the other child, but held the weapon-specific counts relating to the younger child were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The defence application for a stay based on abuse of process was dismissed because the asserted frailties in the evidence did not establish prejudice to trial fairness or the integrity of the justice system.
The s. 11(b) application was also dismissed, both because of its untimely presentation after the evidence had largely concluded and because, after deducting defence delay, the net delay fell well below the Jordan ceiling.
