I’m really glad you could join me today. This is a question that our firm faces all the time the lawyers in our firm because we do represent a lot of people in sexual assault. And the first thing, the question that our clients ask is “what are the odds of winning my case?” Well, that’s a really loaded question, but I can give you some general ideas about sexual assault cases. Generally, and not all sexual assault cases, it’s a he said she said type case. That’s one person’s word against the other and there’s very little other evidence to prove the case. Now there are exceptions to every rule, but that’s most sexual assault cases we do. And in that situation, given the burden of proof, the Crown has to prove a case in Canada beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s a very heavy, heavy burden. I mean, the Crown has approved push the scales of justice all the way down beyond reasonable doubt. It’s not mathematical certainty, reasonable doubt, but it’s far closer to mathematical certainty than it is to just mere who’s more likely telling the truth. So, all the accused has to do is create a reasonable doubt in the mind of the judge or jury and in many cases, that’s quite doable. I mean, I will say this on any he said she said case, you basically start out with at least a 50% chance of winning, there’s no question. Those odds can go up considerably in the hands of a skilled, experienced criminal lawyer who understands how to cross examine the property and present a case properly and prepare a client to testify. We can often win these cases. Now not every case is winnable. Every case is different. The real answer to any individual case, though, is we have to get a hold of the police reports the complainant statement, what she’s saying or what he’s saying because there are we represent women charged with sexual assault to. I mean that it could be a he said he said her she said she said type case there’s no question, but let’s face it, the majority of sexual assaults are perpetrated on women. So, with that burden of proof, we go to trial and you’re cross examining the complainant, you’re trying to create improbabilities, inconsistency between what she says or he said at the trial versus what they said in their statement to convince a judge or jury that there’s reasonable doubt. And I’ll tell you a lot of these cases are winnable. We have a great track record of winning these cases. And I can tell you any good criminal lawyer in the province is going to seem to say the same thing that the odds are generally fairly good winning these type of cases. Now, in cases where there’s other witnesses and things like that, some cases are not winnable. I mean, the accused might have given a confession. But the important thing is if you have an articulate client who maintains their innocence, and their property prepared, I mean, their word alone in court can create a reasonable doubt. So, if you have a complaint let’s take an example. so say the complainant testifies and they’re very bright person they remember given very clearly and they come across great in court. Well, you might say well all hope is lost well, no because the accused if they’re prepared properly, which takes hours to properly prepare a witness to face a skilled cross-examiner. If they come across, well, they can create a reasonable doubt to. I say this to people and this will sound very strange. Everyone comes across a different way in court. I mean, you could have someone who’s completely telling the truth, but they’re a terrible witness. They don’t come across well they don’t have a good demeanor, they can express themselves. You’re not bright. They’re not articulate. Conversely, you could have a person who is a complete liar, a sociopath or psychopath who is used to lying and can come across very well sound brilliantly. Unfortunately, in our criminal justice system, I can say this and it’ll sound sad, but it’s the truth, winning in court has very little to do with who’s telling the truth. Let’s say you have a complainant who is a great liar. She’s made up the story. She has motives who lie but she’s just a high IQ person articulate. They can convince a judge that you’re guilty. There’s no question about that. Conversely, a person who’s telling the truth might come across terribly and so it’s a sad reality that look we don’t have a lie detector in court to determine its human frailty. We’re having a judge assess you but the bottom line with a sexual assault if it’s properly prepared, on a he said she said case, you always stand a reasonably good chance of winning, and particularly in the hands of a skilled and experienced criminal lawyer who’s done a lot of sexual assault trials during the course of their career. So, there you have it, those are the odds of winning a basic case. But it all boils down to really the facts of your particular case. In order to give proper odds which we do, we will talk to the client about the strengths and weaknesses of a given case and that really depends on the disclosure that we received from the Crown.
