After a summary trial on a sexual assault charge, the court convicted the accused based on the complainant’s evidence alone.
The court rejected the Crown’s argument that an earlier pool incident and the later bedroom incident formed a single transaction, holding they were too different in time, place, and character.
Applying the governing principles on reasonable doubt, consent, and mens rea for sexual assault, the court found the complainant credible and reliable on the core allegations.
In the absence of any defence evidence and with no air of reality to mistaken belief in communicated consent, the court held that proof of non-consensual sexual touching made proof of mens rea a virtual certainty.
