The accused was charged with five offences arising from an alleged assault on February 26, 2014, including choking, uttering death threats, assault with a weapon (knife), and subsequent breaches of probation by contacting the complainant.
The Crown relied on the complainant's testimony and 74 pages of photographed text message screenshots purporting to be from the accused's phone.
The accused denied committing the assault and denied sending the text messages.
The court admitted reply evidence in the form of the accused's cell phone records from the service provider after the accused testified, finding the second exception to the rule against reply evidence was satisfied.
The court found the accused guilty of the two probation breach counts but acquitted him of the substantive offences due to reasonable doubt arising from credibility concerns regarding the complainant's evidence and employment records suggesting the accused was at work during the alleged assault.
