Workplace sex-assault case dropped
Stirling W. Peterson, 57, of Niagara Falls, Ont., was accused of groping female co-worker in 2019-2020, but Crown withdrew charge after new information emerged
A former car salesman fired from a Fredericton dealership after being accused of getting handsy with a female co-worker has seen the criminal charge against him dropped.
The second trial of Stirling W. Peterson, 57, of Niagara Falls, Ont., but formerly of Fredericton, on a summary charge of sexual assault got underway in Fredericton provincial court late last month,
The complainant testified that Peterson grabbed her breast on one occasion and then her buttocks on another while both were employed at Fredericton Hyundai between November 2019 and April 2020.
The woman said Peterson touched her breast while they passed one another in a stairwell at the dealership, and no one else was around. But she noted that two other employees witnessed him grab her behind while she was bent over cleaning her desk in a public area.
The defendant was one of the top salespeople at the business at the time.
The complainant said she was dissatisfied with how management at the dealership dealt with the inappropriate conduct, and she decided to go to the Fredericton Police Force to report the unwanted touching months later.
Peterson was subsequently fired.
During a recess after the complainant’s direct examination and before the defence’s cross-examination was to begin Oct. 27, the lawyers said new information had come to their attention that merited an adjournment of the trial while the parties looked into what they’d been told.
Judge Cameron Gunn adjourned the matter to Nov. 17, when a date for the continuation of the trial was to be set.
The substance of the new information was never mentioned on the court record.
But when the matter came before the court Friday, prosecutor Christopher Titus said the Crown was withdrawing the charge against Peterson.
Peterson wasn’t present for Friday’s proceedings, but defence lawyer Edward Derrah was on hand and didn’t object to the Crown’s motion.
Titus gave no explanation for the decision to withdraw the charges, and again, the nature of the new information that led to the adjournment last month wasn’t discussed.
And thus, the prosecution against Peterson came to a close.
Conviction followed by appeal
This marked the second time Peterson stood trial on the allegation.
Judge Natalie LeBlanc convicted him last year after trial, and she sentenced him to a year of probation. The provincial court judge also imposed orders requiring Peterson to submit a DNA sample for a criminal database and to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
But in a decision issued in February by the summary appeal court, King’s Bench Terrence Morrison found LeBlanc had misconstrued and confused testimony, leading to an erroneous ruling.
Her mistakes resulted in “a miscarriage of justice in this case which warrants a new trial,” Morrison wrote.
You can contact Don MacPherson at ftonindependent@gmail.com.