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Accused acquitted of sexual assault where extreme intoxication did not negate capacity to consent.
The accused was charged with sexual assault after an encounter at a teenage house party.
The complainant had voluntarily consumed alcohol and experienced a total memory blackout.
The Crown alleged the complainant was too intoxicated to have the capacity to consent.
Reviewing circumstantial evidence from witnesses, the trial judge found the complainant initiated the encounter, navigated stairs, and communicated consent through her actions until she mistakenly called the accused by a different name, at which point the accused stopped.
The Court held the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the complainant lacked capacity or that the accused lacked an honest belief in communicated consent.
