← More Sexual Assault, Domestic Assault, and Other Violent Crimes success stories

Client found not guilty of two counts of sexual assault spanning a 22-year relationship and marriage with over 742 alleged sex assaults, after a four-day trial in the Superior Court, Toronto. J.Z. and the complainant commenced dating in 1997 and eventually got married. They separated in 2019. The couple had three kids and had what seemed a normal marriage. The relationship began to deteriorate in the mid-2000s after J.Z. sustained multiple concussions leading to him being under employed that created significant financial pressure. J.Z. is a teacher but ran a sports training business on weekends and due to his injuries, he was not able to perform as well in his business. The complainant started to allege that J.Z. had sexually assaulted her as far back as when they started dating by forcing himself on her when he was sleeping. Later, the complaints grew to include alleged sexual assaults that occurred likely when he was awake but pretending to be asleep during which he choked her and then ridiculed her after. The arguments grew and J.Z. told the complainant that he wanted a divorce and to sell the house after a major blow up regarding these allegations. J.Z. denied the allegations and said it made no sense. J.Z. and the complainant eventually filed for divorce which became highly contentious. There were issues of parental alienation and J.Z. would not agree to the settlement the complainant offered. The complainant went to the police and J.Z. was charged with two global counts of sex assault that alleged over the entire relationship and marriage she was continuously sexually assaulted resulting in over 742 acts of sex assault. J.Z. was removed from the house and then was cut off from contact with the children. Joseph Neuberger of Neuberger & Partners LLP was retained to defend the case. Diana Davison joined the defence team. The defence was able to obtain several documents written by the complainant during the divorce and police investigation that the Crown alleged were third party records. Joseph Neuberger used these written “stories” for cross-examination. In addition, the family court filings were a fertile area of material to cross-examine on. A motion had to be brought to ask certain questions related to “other sexual activity” that was successful. After an extensive and detailed cross-examination of the complainant, J.Z. testified and did well. The judge found J.Z. credible and found serious credibility issues with the complainant. For example, Joseph Neuberger submitted to the court in closing argument that the complainant alleged that the majority of sexual assaults were all the same with only memory of one being slightly different. Further, the first sex assault was to have occurred when the two first started dating and was a very brutal violent sexual assault. At the time, the two were not living together and the complainant lived at home with a loving family and a good circle of friends. It was argued that the complainant would not have continued to date J.Z. had this violent sexual assault occurred. Although the court noted this argument was close to myth-based reasoning about how a real victim should behave, Joseph Neuberger submitted that in the totality of evidence, it was well beyond common sense that the complainant would have continued to date J.Z. and be subjected to endless sexual assaults even before they were engaged. The lack of any real specificity of the sexual assaults other than being all the same, rendered her credibility highly suspect and in the defence position a fabrication. Ultimately, J.Z. was found not guilty on both counts.