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Client found not guilty of six counts of Sexual Assault after a five-day trial at the Ontario Court of Justice, Toronto. F.R. and the Complainant were related to each other as cousins. Despite the age difference of 20 years, F.R. and the Complainant would party with common friends on a regular basis which included alcohol and marijuana use. The Complainant was 18 years old and F.R. was 38 years old. On one occasion, the Complainant alleged that she was at F.R.\u2019s residence. On this day with her common friends, they were consuming alcohol and smoking marijuana. At around 4 am, she alleged that she went to sleep and was not quite conscious of her surrounding. She claimed to recall the event in scenes. The Complainant alleged that F.R. walked inside her bedroom with his dog, sat on the bed beside her, and rubbed her buttocks. She claimed to be aware of what was happening, however, did not know how to tell F.R. to stop. She claimed that F.R. only stopped when her friend walked into the room. On the second occasion, the Complainant alleged that she was visiting her boyfriend\u2019s residence with F.R. Her boyfriend was F.R.\u2019s friend and also 20 years older than the Complainant. On this occasion, the Complainant, F.R., and her boyfriend were drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. At some point during the evening, the Complainant\u2019s boyfriend left his apartment leaving the Complainant alone with F.R. The Complainant alleged that she was drunk and laying in bed. The main lights in the room were off but there were LED lights in the room. The Complainant alleged that she was covered in paper towel. At one point, F.R. proceeded to rub the Complainant\u2019s butt for a few seconds. He allegedly stopped when the Complainant told him that she did not want them to be incest. On the third occasion, the Complainant alleged that she was once again at her boyfriend\u2019s residence with F.R. and another common friend. As usual, they were drinking and smoking marijuana. The Complainant alleged that after her friend left the apartment, she fell asleep on the bed with her boyfriend and F.R. However, when she woke up, she felt as though her vagina was stretched. She suspected that F.R. may have penetrated her vagina on this night. The Complainant further alleged that she confronted F.R. about this and he allegedly admitted to doing so. On the fourth occasion, the Complainant alleged that she was hanging out at F.R.\u2019s residence with a friend. Once again, she sleeps on the same bed as F.R. with her friend next to her. She alleged that she felt F.R.\u2019s hands inside her pants and was trying to digitally penetrate her vagina. The Complainant woke up and turned away from F.R. On the fifth occasion, the Complainant alleged that she was once again sleeping in the same bed as F.R. after a long night of partying. On this occasion, she alleged that F.R. allegedly put his hands inside her pants and was rubbing her vagina. She claimed to have moved away from him and continued sleeping. On the last occasion, the Complainant, F.R., and their common friends went to a social gathering at a hotel. On this day, the Complainant\u2019s friend alleged that she saw F.R. touch the Complainant\u2019s buttock while she was asleep. On a later date, F.R. was confronted by the group of friends. The witness and the Complainant alleged that F.R. admitted that he had touched the Complainant inappropriately. As a result, F.R was charged with six counts of sexual assault. Yuvika Johri of Neuberger & Partners LLP, Criminal Lawyers Toronto, was retained to represent F.R. against the charges. Yuvika thoroughly reviewed the disclosure and the Complainant\u2019s statement. She discovered numerous inconsistencies in the Complainant\u2019s allegation. At trial, the Complainant was crossed examined for 2 days by Yuvika Johri. During cross examination, it was established that there were serious reliability concerns with the Complainant\u2019s narrative of what may have happened or if they happened at all. For example, during examination in chief, the Complainant testified that for the longest time, she believed her boyfriend to be the reason for her stretched vagina until F.R. allegedly admitted to her months later that he was responsible for it. However, during cross examination, the Complainant changed her evidence and explained that she believed F.R. to be responsible for the act from the beginning and claimed to have confirmed with her boyfriend the next day who told her that they did not engage sexually with each other. Yuvika Johri also cross examined the witness who claimed to have seen the alleged butt rubbing at the hotel. Yuvika Johri established that prior to noticing anything, the Complainant had tainted the witness\u2019s opinion about F.R. (who happened to be F.R.\u2019s girlfriend) by sharing the allegations with her. With this knowledge, the witness kept an eye out to observe anything out of the ordinary between F.R. and the Complainant. Yuvika Johri established that although F.R and the Complainant were sleeping next to each other, they were covered by a blanket. The witness was looking to spot inappropriate touching, however, could not with 100 percent certainty confirm that anything that she may have observed was an intentional act. Defence was able to establish a reasonable doubt against all the allegations and F.R. was found not guilty of six counts of sexual assault. A finding of not guilty was important in this matter as the client was facing incarceration for a lengthy period of time if convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","success_category":[118,119],"class_list":["post-30008","success_story","type-success_story","status-publish","hentry","success_category-all-success-stories","success_category-sexual-assault-domestic-assault-and-other-violent-crimes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrlawyers.com\/6ixDev-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success_story\/30008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrlawyers.com\/6ixDev-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrlawyers.com\/6ixDev-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/success_story"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nrlawyers.com\/6ixDev-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"success_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nrlawyers.com\/6ixDev-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success_category?post=30008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}