Defence seeks to explore complainant’s sexual history
Counsel for Jonathan Dort, 41, of Geary, will apply to court to allow evidence about girl’s past in sex-crime trial
The defence in a sexual-assault case says it plans to apply to the court to get records about the complainant in the case and to adduce information about her sexual history at trial.
Jonathan Dort, 41, of Maxwell Road in Geary, faces charges of sexual assault and sexual interference, alleging he forced himself on a 15-year-old girl in the Fredericton Junction area Jan. 7, 2021.
The girl’s identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
Dort’s trial began April 11, but it was set over when evidence was heard about online communication between the defendant and the complainant over Instagram. The trial was adjourned to give the defence a chance to determine if those messages were recoverable for the purpose of introducing them as evidence.
However, the court heard last month that the messages couldn’t be retrieved. Defence lawyer Alexander Carleton noted at that time that the defence might seek to make an application to question the complainant about her sexual history, despite the unavailability of the Instagram messages.
Section 276 of the Criminal Code of Canada bars the introduction of such evidence in trials with a few limited exceptions, and to demonstrate such exceptions apply in a case, the defence has to apply and go through a hearing so a judge can determine if it meets the criteria for admissibility.
The case was back in provincial court Monday, with lawyer Adrian Forsythe acting as an agent for Carleton. He said the defence does plan to file an application under Section 276 to introduce evidence about the complainant’s sexual history.
Furthermore, he said, Carleton plans to file an application for a hearing to determine if records about the complainant can be disclosed, though he didn’t detail the nature of those records.
“There’s not a whole lot of evidence on this,” Forsythe said, noting it’s expected the hearing on both applications would only take a half-day of court time.
The trial itself is scheduled to resume Aug. 18 before provincial court Judge Natalie LeBlanc.
Judge Mary Jane Richards scheduled the application hearing for July 4.
In April, the teenage complainant testified Dort was giving her a ride home on the date in question, but rather than take her to her parents’ place directly, he pulled over to the side of the road in the Fredericton Junction area.
He tried to kiss her, she said, and he touched her sexually. That violation was followed by him getting on top of her and penetrating her vaginally.
The complainant testified she was terrified, believing he might kill her when he was done, but instead, he drove her home after it was over.
The girl denied ever consenting to sexual contact. However, given her age at the time, she was legally unable to give such consent.
Under cross-examination in April, the complainant acknowledged there were references to sex in her exchanges on Instagram with Dort just before the incident.
She testified she thought Dort was joking when he was talking about sex.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
No matter what her sexual life is now or in the past. She is 15 and not an adult. He is an adult and should not be having sex with an under age person. He should know better
I have just called the bar and advised that I intend to file a complaint against the lawyer. It is BS like this that brings the reputations of the law & lawyers into disrepute. A lawyer has a duty represent a client to the best of their ability within the bounds of the law but that does not include acting unethically or following the directions of a client to act in an unethical manner or to attempt to coerce, harass or intimidate a victim.
They also have an obligation as an Officers of the Court not to take actions that will bring the law or or the legal profession into disrepute.
This as an attempt to intimidate & harass the victim -- this motion is bound to fail and serves no purpose other than intimidation of a child.
This is disgusting.