Sexual assault survivors’ court proceedings dropped due to pandemic delays

A sexual assault survivor is speaking out after their alleged attacker’s trial was dropped because of court delays. The victim says they will never see justice because the pandemic slowed down court proceedings, infringing on the accused’s right to a speedy trial.

CHCH News can’t show you their face or use their real name, but a person from Hamilton says the party they attended in January 2020 forever changed their lives. “I was going to a party at a friend’s house. I knew everyone attending. I thought it was a safe gathering. It was only a couple of people there.”

“I don’t actually remember what happened during the assault. I was so intoxicated I couldn’t get myself home. People seen the assault happening and left the place. They didn’t report it while it was happening. They just left. There was video taken of the assault. I have pictures of the assault sent to me.”

The victim says they reported the sexual assault to police and the alleged attacker was charged in Mar. 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The courts were shut down and the victim says because of all the covid delays, the trial was set for nearly two years after the charges were laid which is too long in the court system.

“His lawyer says that wasn’t fair, he wasn’t given the proper amount of time for a trial and the judge did agree so the charges were stayed.”

The sexual assault survivor says even when the Crown tried to appeal the stay nothing changed.

In Canada, cases heard in provincial court should go to trial within 18 months. More serious offences have a ceiling of 30 months, but defence lawyer Ari Goldkind says covid changed everything.

“18 and 30-month delay numbers were really without the idea that covid would come. It was really done without the idea that there would be a pandemic that would upend the world. The bottom line to how the delay is calculated is now jurisdictional specific. What happens in Hamilton is different than Toronto,” Goldkind said.

Goldkind says the pandemic threw the general rules of how to calculate a delay out the door but he says everyone has the right to a speedy trial especially if the accused is cooperating and trying to move the case along.

For the victim, it feels like justice will never be served, “I didn’t even have a day in court where I could speak or tell anybody my story. You don’t have a right to victimize other people and walk away from it because you didn’t have a speedy trial. Everyone was affected by covid.”

CHCH News tried to contact the Ontario Court of Justice but has not yet heard back.