A youth was tried for sexual assault of a young child occurring between 1994 and 1996.
The complainant, who was four or five years old at the time, testified that the accused forced her to perform fellatio on multiple occasions in the basement of their family home.
The accused denied all allegations.
The court found the complainant to be truthful but harbored significant concerns about the reliability of her recollection given the passage of time, her very young age at the time of the incidents, inconsistencies in her account, and the vagueness of certain details.
The court acquitted the accused, finding that while abuse may have occurred, the evidence did not meet the criminal standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
