Jackson Foreman

The accused was charged with sexual assault following an incident where the complainant, a co-worker, woke up naked in his bed with no memory of the preceding events.

The Crown alleged that the accused engaged in unprotected vaginal intercourse and other sexual touching without the complainant's consent.

The court found the complainant to be a credible and reliable witness, rejecting defence arguments that her memory loss was feigned or that her post-offence conduct suggested consent.

The accused was found guilty of sexual assault.

The applicant applied for a stay of proceedings under s. 11(b) of the Charter, arguing that the delay to his trial exceeded the 30-month Jordan ceiling.

The trial was originally scheduled within the ceiling but was not reached due to a lack of available judges.

The court found that the Crown discharged its onus of establishing exceptional circumstances, attributing 90 days of delay to the Covid-19 pandemic backlog in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Additionally, the court attributed 84 days of delay to the defence due to counsel's unavailability for earlier rescheduled trial dates, despite finding no fault on the part of the defence.

The application for a stay was dismissed.