The accused stood trial on charges of sexual assault, sexual touching of a child under 16, and uttering threats arising from repeated intra-familial abuse of a young complainant over several years.
Applying the W.(D.) framework and the governing principles for assessing child witnesses and delayed disclosure in sexual offence cases, the court accepted the complainant’s evidence as credible and reliable despite incremental disclosure and some imprecision in detail.
Expert pediatric evidence was relied on to explain why the absence of physical findings did not undermine the allegations.
The accused’s denials were rejected, and the court found the Crown proved all counts beyond a reasonable doubt.
