The accused was tried on an indictment alleging sexual touching and sexual assault of a child complainant over a multi-year period within a family home setting.
The court applied the W.D. framework and the child-witness credibility principles cautioning against the use of adult standards in assessing a young complainant's evidence.
The defence relied on denial, alleged inconsistencies, innocent explanations for some touching, and a theory of recent fabrication arising from family conflict.
The court rejected those positions, accepted the complainant's sequential disclosures and key incidents as reliable, and found the evidence proved both counts beyond a reasonable doubt.
