A B.C. Supreme Court judge stayed charges against a man accused of sexually assaulting his ex-wife more than three weeks before his trial due to violation of his right to a timely trial.
In an Oct. 3 Fort St. John ruling, Justice David Crerar said the time between the original single-count charge and anticipated end of trial was 39.6 months — almost 10 months longer than the 30-month limit set in 2016 by the Supreme Court of Canada.
The man, whose name is protected by a ban on publication, was originally charged in August 2022 for incidents alleged to have occurred over a 27-month period between December 2019 and February 2022. A Provincial Court trial had been scheduled in January 2024, but the case was transferred in June 2025 to BC Supreme Court and a trial scheduled for Oct. 27.
The man denied allegations of eight kinds of non-consensual sex during the marriage, including use of sex toys and injuries. His lawyer alleged the ex-wife fabricated the allegations, which she reported to police 10 weeks after their separation, in order to punish him for a workplace affair and to gain leverage in divorce proceedings.
The Crown changed gears in June 2024 — 22 months into its prosecution — by filing a new, three-count information that also alleged choking and sexual assault causing bodily harm.
Crerar’s decision said the man’s lawyer called the case a “classic he said-she said sexual assault case,” with two main witnesses and a third minor witness, the complainant’s doctor.
The Crown argued the accused was to blame for a net delay of 19.5 months, but Crerar said the defence took “meaningful steps” to expedite proceedings.
Ruled Crerar: “This relatively simple case could and should have been completed within 18 months, had the Crown provided sufficient clarity of the allegations facing the accused, which it possessed at the outset, from the outset, instead of setting forth a chain of delay through its three-count information, with increased jeopardy and change of trial court and trial modality, 22 months into the prosecution.”