BC Supreme Court Justice Michael Stephens will deliver his charge July 22 to the jury that heard the trial of a Prince George man charged with sexual assault and touching a person under 16 for a sexual purpose.
Joseph Alexander Child, 46, pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial on July 9. He did not testify in his defence after the complainant alleged that he forced her to touch his gentials, massaged hers with his hand and engaged in sexual intercourse in his bedroom.
“The jury only needs to find one of these events took place to find Mr. Child guilty of both counts charged,” said Crown prosecutor Rodney Withall in his closing submissions on July 21.
Withall emphasized the complainant was only 14 at the time, “and incapable, at law, of consenting to any sexual activity with a 42-year-old man.”
The incident allegedly took place during a sleepover at Child’s basement suite near Spruceland Mall on Aug. 11, 2020.
Defence lawyer James Macdonnell’s aggressive cross-examination on July 18 was met with emphatic and often emotional testimony by the complainant.
“Crown submits that you observed genuine pain and trauma, not some highly trained actress with the ability to turn on those emotions as a skilled performance for the jury,” Withall said.
He conceded the complainant had some memory gaps, but she did not consume alcohol or drugs to impair her memory. It was simply the passage of time since the incident.
“Testifying in court is not a memory contest. Assessing and reading your own memory is a nonsensical, fruitless process,” Withall said.
DNA that matched Child’s was found in a 2021-tested vaginal swab, but Macdonnell suggested it came from skin cells placed there by the complainant’s finger, rather then by Child’s semen.
“Question everything, it’s your job and someone’s freedom depends on it,” Macdonnell told the jury.
Macdonnell conceded that the style of his cross-examination of the teen complainant might cause them to dislike him, but “this is not a popularity contest.”
Macdonnell suggested the girl had made sexual advances that Child rebuffed. She had even fallen asleep in the man’s bed and needed to be splashed in the face with water to be awakened. He also suggested to the jury that the girl was motivated by her desire to gain sympathy and approval from her sister.
“We know children lie, anybody here who has children will know that,” Macdonnell said. “It is a fact.”
The identities of the victim and witnesses are protected by a publication ban.
