Former CBC radio host avoids sentencing for alleged sexual assault
Jian Ghomeshi, former CBC radio host for Q was acquitted on March 24, 2016, on all counts of sexual assault and choking. Justice William Horkins’ verdict comes following a trial that sparked nationwide debate on how the justice system treats sexual assault victims.
Ghomeshi, 48, and his lawyer Marie Henein said nothing as they left the courthouse following the verdict. However, Ghomeshi’s legal team released a statement later that night.
The statement noted that Ghomeshi had been rightly acquitted, even with the unprecedented scrutiny and pressure revolving around the trial. The case was determined based on the evidence heard in a court of law, the statement said.
“In our system of justice, that is what must happen in every case, regardless of who is accused or what crime is alleged. That is precisely what occurred in this case,” read the statement. “This has been a very long, exhausting and devastating 16 months for Mr. Ghomeshi. He will take time with his family and close friends to reflect and move forward from what can only be described as a profoundly difficult period in his life.”
Horkins said that the evidence from all three women were not only riddled with inconsistencies, but was also “tainted by outright deception.”
“The harsh reality is that once a witness has been shown to be deceptive and manipulative in giving their evidence, that witness can no longer expect the court to consider them to be a trusted source of the truth,” said Horkins. “I am forced to conclude that it is impossible for the court to have sufficient faith in the reliability or sincerity of these complainants. Put simply, the volume of serious deficiencies in the evidence leaves the court with a reasonable doubt.”
All three women testified that they had been engaged in a romantic relationship with Ghomeshi when he had episodes of violent behaviour in incidents dating back to 2002 and 2003.
The identities of two women are protected by a publication ban, whereas actress and Royal Canadian Air Force captain, Lucy DeCoutere, appealed to the courts to have the ban lifted.
The first woman alleged that Ghomeshi pulled her hair in his car and punched her in his home. DeCoutere alleged that Ghomeshi choked and slapped her in his home. The third witness alleged that Ghomeshi squeezed her neck and put his hand over her mouth in a Toronto park.
The judge’s comments came after numerous inconsistencies documented in court. The first witness had told police and the court she had no subsequent contact with Ghomeshi following the assault; however, she later confessed that she sent him two emails and a picture of herself in a bikini one-year-later. The woman then said she sent the emails to bait Ghomeshi to explain the assaults.
“I suppose this explanation could be true, except that this spontaneous explanation of a plan to bait Mr. Ghomeshi is completely inconsistent with her earlier stance that she wanted nothing to do with him, and that she was traumatized by the mere thought of him,” argued Horkins.
DeCoutere had told the court that she had no romantic interest after the alleged assaults. However, it was later revealed in court that she had sent an email to Ghomeshi the night of the assault that she wanted to have sex with him. It was also revealed that DeCoutere had sent a handwritten letter to Ghomeshi days later stating she wished they had spent the night together.
“I find as a fact that Ms. DeCoutere attempted to mislead the court about her continued relationship with Mr. Ghomeshi,” argued Horkins. “It was only during cross-examination that her expressed interest in a continuing close relationship was revealed.”
The third women, however, who had told the courts that she only felt safe being with Ghomeshi in public spaces after her alleged assault, failed to document to the courts and police that she had a consensual sexual encounter with him.
Deb Singh, who works at a Toronto rape-crisis centre, said that the acquittal was disappointing, but not surprising.
“This is not the first time the judge has used rape myths to get perpetrators off,” Singh said outside court. “The justice system in itself has not taken any real measures to create new ways of gathering evidence for the purpose of ending sexual violence in our communities.”
Ghomeshi still faces another charge of sexual assault, with a trial scheduled for June.