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Convictions for sexual assault and uttering threats set aside and new trial ordered due to ineffective assistance of counsel.
The appellant appealed convictions for sexual assault and uttering threats, raising grounds of inadequate trial interpretation and ineffective assistance of counsel.
The Court of Appeal found that while interpretation issues were minor, trial counsel's failure to investigate and utilize a surreptitious audio recording of the complainant's conversation, which contradicted her testimony on a key credibility point, constituted ineffective assistance.
This failure, combined with the trial judge's misapprehension of evidence, rendered the verdict unreliable.
The appeal was allowed, convictions set aside, and a new trial ordered.
