Posted on 03/02/2021 1:26:19 PM PST by Loyalist
An Antigonish judge has found two brothers not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman who testified the whole thing started after she was chased by a bear.
The victim’s name in this case is protected by a publication ban and everyone involved is identified by initials.
“She testified that she was sexually assaulted by the two accused and a third man (now deceased) on May 25, 2018. She recalled the date because it was the day after a harrowing experience when she ran away from a bear,” Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice James Chipman said in a written decision released Friday.
One of her friends testified that she recalled walking with the woman “two summers ago” when they encountered the bear.
“While walking her dog in the afternoon with the complainant she saw the bear on what she described as (the road) leading to her mother’s home,” Chipman said. “She said that upon observing the bear that the complainant ‘bolted' into the woods.’”
'They fled from the bear'
The friend and dog followed her “as they all fled from the bear.”
“While running away, the complainant lost her jacket, purse and a shoe,” said the judge. “She ended up at her father’s nearby residence and they contemplated going back to try to find her lost belongings; however, it was getting dark so they decided to wait until the next day.”
The next day she learned that one of the two men she later accused of sexually assaulting her had shot a bear. Thinking it was likely the same one that chased her the day before, she called his brother to ask him if he could drive her to take a look at the bear.
Hunt for purse
That drive turned into a hunt for the purse and other belongings she lost while running away from the bear. And eventually the man agreed to help her find a used alternator for her car.
They were drinking that morning and the woman estimated "her level of intoxication would have been a ‘3 or 4’ (out of 10),” said Chipman.
They arrived before lunch at the garage of the other brother that the woman eventually accused of sexually assaulting her.
"While at the garage, the complainant drank what she thought to be whisky or dark rum,” said the judge. “The complainant stated, ‘my glass was being filled for me, a lot.’”
She remembered leaving the garage at around 5 p.m. “to get more alcohol.”
Would she like a bear tooth keepsake?
It was getting dark when one of the brothers asked the woman "whether she would like to have a tooth from the bear as a keepsake,” Chipman said. “She thought that sounded ‘awesome,’ so she went to the site where the bear was located.”
One of the brothers drove his extended cab pick-up truck with the other brother in the front passenger seat.
It was around 9 p.m. when one of the brothers tried to extract the bear’s “biggest eye tooth” for the woman.
“She recalled that the tooth ‘snapped, so (the brothers) decided to snap out a piece’ of the jaw including the other eye tooth.”
One of the brothers told her she didn’t have to watch. He took her back to the truck and got her a bottle of water to wash her hands.
"Although she was not drinking at this point, the complainant described herself as ‘very, very drunk.’ She said she was ‘at a 10’ (out of 10) and experiencing ‘a lot of wooziness.’ She noted that she had not eaten throughout the day and that on a couple of occasions had ‘thrown up behind the garage.’”
She testified one of the brothers got her another bottle of water and she took a drink.
Backseat of the pickup
“She next recalled laying on her back over the backseat of the pick-up truck.”
That’s when she said the sexual assault started. It was initiated, she testified, by one of the brothers and another man, who has since died.
"The complainant said that she did not understand ‘how I got in the back seat or how my pants got down.’ She added, no conversation was happening, 'I hear people but I can’t hear them speaking … its like at a distance, like an out of body experience… like I can’t speak.’”
The woman said that she did not want these “things” to be happening to her, said the judge.
She remembered one of the brothers asking if she was ok.
"The complainant testified that she was ‘not o.k. with what happened.’”
The next thing she remembered, they were walking down a dirt road and then driving back to the garage where they’d been drinking earlier.
Extracting the bear tooth
Once there around 10 p.m., one of the brothers put the piece of bear jaw in a vice and extracted the tooth.
The woman asked the other brother to drive her home. She testified that he tried to sexually assault her again on the way.
"The complainant said that at no time did she consent to any of the sexual assaults,” said the judge. “She added that she had ‘too much alcohol’ and that she was incapable of giving consent but that had she been capable, she would not have given consent to any of the sexual acts.”
Memory loss and cocaine addiction
On cross-examination, the woman admitted “that she has memory loss concerning the events in question. She agreed that in her statement she said that she was ‘having blackouts of that night.’ She can recall things but due to the trauma, she does not want to. She agreed that the blackouts are ‘missing pieces’ and that she was blacked out a lot of the time. She initially did not want to recall events because when she thought about them, they ‘broke me down.’”
She also "acknowledged a longstanding cocaine addiction,” Chipman said. “She agreed that she was admitted to a psychiatric ward in around September, 2018. The complainant said that she used ‘a lot’ of cocaine around the time of the matters in issue. The complainant agreed that between May and October, 2018 that she continued to consume drugs and alcohol. She said that she was drinking alcohol but did not take drugs on May 25, 2018. The complainant has been ‘clean’ of drugs since June, 2019, the time when she became pregnant.”
The woman told the court “that she was ‘probably under the influence’ of drugs when she provided her statement” to police, said the judge.
One of the brothers “specifically denied sexually assaulting the complainant at any time,” Chipman said.
The other brother testified that he had very little to drink that day and didn’t see the woman consume any alcohol. He also noted that the woman had hugged him and thanked him for the bear tooth.
Neither brother’s “evidence on its own leaves me with a reasonable doubt,” said the judge.
Judge can't accept her evidence
But Chipman said he couldn’t accept the woman’s “evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that she was sexually assaulted in the manner that she described. Stated another way, given all of the evidence I am not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the sexual assaults occurred.”
The judge had “grave concerns about the reliability of the complainant’s overall evidence. In this respect, I found the complainant to be rather unsure of what happened to her as she attempted to describe the sexual assaults. Indeed, the complainant questioned her own reliability and founded this on her self-described high level of alcohol consumption.
Chipman said “it would be dangerous to rely on the very uncertain evidence of the complainant. The complainant herself said that she assumed what happened not actually knowing what happened. Mere probability of guilt is never enough in a criminal matter. In this case, I am left with significant doubts about the guilt of either of the accused men.”
The woman told the court “that she was ‘probably under the influence’ of drugs when she provided her statement” to police, said the judge.
You don't say!
She’s a nut!!
Doesn’t the Left say that ‘drugs are fine’?
“Drugs are goood, OK?”
-Rock and Roll Doctor
There is never humor in sexual assault but since the cocaine angle means this is bogus, apparently, here is a joke.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Two guys hiking in the deep woods see increasing amounts of evidence there is a bear near them. Both are afraid.
First guy removes his hiking boots and finishes lacing up his running shoes.
Second guy: (laughing) Pal, bears run fast. You are never going to outrun a bear.
First guy: I don’t have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you. (Takes off running.)
This incident should be in Super Troopers III. Insane incidents you can’t just make up.
But...but I thought any woman’s accusation was supposed to be undeniable proof of sexual assault, against any man. Who does this judge think he is to require reliable evidence?
(\s)
Yeah, but did she ever get the alternator?
She’s a nut!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She’s a nut with a severe drug and alcohol problem.
Thank God a court recognized this and didn’t take her seriously. Most courts would have just charged the guy with rape and assault.
Because vaginas matter.
That drive turned into a hunt for the purse and other belongings she lost while running away from the bear. And eventually the man agreed to help her find a used alternator for her car.
—
Happens all the time. You’re looking for a purse and next thing you know your looking for an alternator.
And this is the sad part. If only the woman had been just a bit more believable, a little more convincing, it wouldn't have mattered how innocent the brothers were. That the prosecutor even charged these men is insane, and as horrible as this judge sounds, they still could have been convicted if a slightly more "woke" judge were assigned the case...
Sometimes you **** the bear. Sometimes the bear ***** you.
Good story, eh?
“the complainant ‘bolted’ into the woods.
....
The friend and dog followed her”
Yeah, when your “friend” decides to run full speed from a bear, you kind of have no choice but to follow.
A real Canadian would take on the bear with a knife...
What a relief: bear isn’t guilty!
Chased by running bear. Is the woman named, by any chance “White Dove?”
Did Governor Andrew Cuomo show up at any time during the assault to offer assistance... To the assaulters? She does sound a bit ‘off’ her rocker.
She’s a nut!!
...........................
Her own testimony suggests that she’s a nut who likes her booze and is not averse to group sex!
You'll have to ask around...
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