WARNING: This article contains graphic details heard in court that may not be suitable for some readers.
An Innisfil father struck a hopeful tone that he could rebuild his relationship with his children after a Barrie jury found him not guilty of sexual assault against his former wife on Thursday.
“It’s difficult to try and think about building a future when you don’t know if you have one,” said the man, just minutes after the acquittal was delivered at the Barrie Courthouse on Mulcaster Street late yesterday afternoon.
“Hopefully, (this verdict) will afford me the opportunity to demonstrate to my children that I’m not (the person) that has been portrayed … hopefully this matters to them," he said.
The man, 52, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban that protects the identity of sexual-assault complainants, also expressed gratitude toward the jury and legal system after waiting almost four years to clear his name.
“It’s encouraging to me that the justice system worked,” he said, “and that when normal, average, everyday people can demonstrate their (judgment), they are clearly capable of (rendering a verdict).
“I’m truly grateful and thankful.”
The man's ex-wife was not in the courtroom for the verdict.
Members of the jury could be seen leaving the premises with court staff, some carrying overnight bags that were not required after deliberations that went on for about six hours, sandwiched around two separate meal breaks.
Crown attorney Linsay Weis declined a request for comment following the verdict.
The trial took place before Superior Court Madam Justice Susan Healey.
The single charge of sexual assault stemmed from three separate incidents that had allegedly took place between 2012 and 2014 that his ex-wife brought to police in 2021.
The woman, 45, alleged that her then-husband climbed into their bed at their home in Innisfil in the middle of the night and forced himself upon her as she slept. The woman testified her husband then penetrated her anally, restraining her by the shoulder and preventing her from getting away.
But the case may have turned because the accused maintained the woman’s current partner’s criminal past was a motivating factor in her making the allegations.
Shortly after the couple parted in 2014, the woman began a relationship with a convicted sex offender who was facing allegations that he abused his own daughter. He was later convicted of sexual exploitation in that case and sentenced to prison.
But the ex-husband – the man who was found not guilty on Thursday – learned of his ex-wife’s partner’s criminal history and subsequently withdrew his consent for his three children to be in his presence.
The woman acknowledged that she was untruthful in explaining her new partner’s whereabouts, telling people he was opening a Tim Hortons franchise in Switzerland when, in fact, he was in prison serving time for assaulting his daughter.
Instead, the woman said she went to police in 2021 because she had learned through her son that her ex-husband could be moving near to her new home in Hanover, about two hours away from their former home in Innisfil.
“I was freaked out,” she testified on Tuesday of hearing about a possible move by her ex-husband to her new home. “I couldn’t bury (my memory of the assaults) anymore.”
The case also had the unusual circumstance of the accused representing himself.
“I ran out of money,” he said when asked why he didn’t hire new representation after numerous delays while being represented by his original lawyer.
The court appointed criminal lawyer Hubert Gonzalez to cross-examine the complainant, because the law prohibits former spouses from questioning former domestic partners on the stand. The accused offered no evidence in his own defence and declined to cross-examine the Crown’s sole, other witness.
Instead, the man made an impassioned closing argument on his own behalf on Thursday morning, arguing that he was not guilty of the charge.
An almost four-year process ended in little more than four minutes.
“I was completely underwhelmed with how unceremoniously it ends,” the man said in reaction to the verdict. “It was just so abrupt. I’m at a loss of words to describe it.”
