Child welfare advocates and opposition politicians are calling the recent staying of charges in a Victoria sexual assault case involving a six-year-old a failure of the provincial justice system.
"This is a very unfortunate outcome for the child and family whose lives have been deeply affected by not only the alleged abuse, but a failure of the justice process," said Laura Vye of the Victoria Child Abuse Prevention and Counselling Centre in a written statement. Vye added that she had reviewed the judgment but was otherwise unfamiliar with the case.
The provincial government and B.C. Prosecution Service are promising to learn from the case and do better to minimize the risk of this happening again.
The case involves a man who is accused of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl who was visiting his house with her mother for a pre-Christmas meal. After the mother reported the accusation to police, it took roughly four months for police to lay charges. A cascade of issues and delays followed, and the trial still had not concluded over two years later.
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that in provincial court cases the time period between the charge and the end of trial cannot exceed 18 months, otherwise the delay violates the right of the accused to a fair trial.
A B.C. Prosecution Service spokesperson wrote in a statement to Black Press Media that the Crown will not appeal, saying there were a number of factors that contributed to the delay, including translation issues, availability of counsel, illness of a witness, courtroom scheduling and the availability of a semi-retired judge.
The spokesperson also wrote that the Crown does everything within its control to ensure trials are completed within mandated time limits.
"That being said, any case that is stayed is something that the BCPS and other justice stakeholders must learn from," the spokesperson wrote.
The defence counsel in the case could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
The Conservative Party of B.C. blasted the government's handling of the case, as well as the overall management of judicial resources.
"Here we have someone accused of molesting a child, who now won't be held accountable," said Surrey-South MLA Elenore Sturko in a party news release. "This failure is a stark reminder of the urgent need for reform in our justice system."
And Conservative leader John Rustad called it a "profound miscarriage of justice," calling for immediate action restore confidence in the provincial justice system.
In response to questions from reporters on Wednesday (July 24), Premier David Eby committed to making sure the government works to prevent this from happening, acknowledging the result must be "devastating" to the victim.
"We'll do all we can to ensure that every trial gets to court in a timely way to minimize this risk," he said.
Eby added that there has been 19 cases dismissed because of delays since the original Supreme Court decision in 2016, while pointing out Ontario has had more than 170 such cases.
In the decision, Judge Mayland McKimm wrote that even if some leeway is given for things out of the Crown or court's control, such as the defence counsel having an illness and the presiding judge being semi-retired and unavailable at certain times of years, he would have still ruled the same way.
"The length of delay is entirely unacceptable and a violation of the accused’s right to a trial within a reasonable time even if the delay can be differently parsed and categorized and blame laid elsewhere to shoehorn the matter under the eighteen-month ceiling," McKimm wrote in his decision.
A spokesperson for the B.C. Attorney General told Black Press in a written statement that some of the factors are beyond the ministry's control, but staff are taking action on ones that are.
"Survivors, and the public expect to see cases determined on their merits and not dismissed because of unreasonable delay," the spokesperson wrote.
The ministry spokesperson also said the government has appointed an independent expert to review the treatment of survivors of sexual violence in the legal system.
"We also need to make sure that legal systems better respond and support those affected by sexual violence," the spokesperson wrote.
