Sole witness in sexual assault trial ‘a steep hill’ for Crown to climb, defence says

Relying on one witness to make a sexual assault charge stick is “a steep hill for the Crown to climb,” said the lawyer for Robert Sheaves, who is on trial in Iqaluit.

“The accused is entitled to acquittal on this record,” defence lawyer Scott Cowan told Justice Paul Bychok during closing arguments in an Iqaluit courtroom Tuesday.

Sheaves is charged with sexual assaulting a girl who was in her early teens between 2021 and 2022.

A court order prohibits publication of her identity.

Crown lawyer Emma Baasch said in her closing argument that the testimony Sheaves gave during the June trial was “incoherent.”

Sheaves could not explain why the complainant — now about to turn 17 — had knowledge of places in his home that were, according to him, “off limits.”

“She knows because he brought her in there and told her to go in there,” Baasch said.

Sheaves created opportunities for “sexual violence,” Baasch said.

Sheaves faces four counts of sexual assault and four counts of sexual interference. He was 64 when police arrested him following a Feb. 26, 2022 search of his Iqaluit home.

During his closing argument, Cowan noted there were no other witnesses besides the complainant and there was no physical evidence or corroborative evidence.

The court’s job solely is to scrutinize the testimony of the complainant and from that testimony make its determination, Cowan said.

During the June trial, Crown prosecutors played video statements the complainant made for police in which she claimed Sheaves had sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions.

But Cowan said Tuesday the accused “adamantly denied any sexual contact with the complainant.”

During her video statement on Feb. 24, 2022, the complainant said she had difficulty remembering, that “she’s tripping out on drugs. She is literally having hallucinations during the video statement,” Cowan said.

That video statement is the basis of the Crown’s case, he added.

“That is a fragile basis on which to build a case.”

In the Crown’s final submission, Baasch said there was a second video statement taken on March 2, 2022, “with substantial corroboration” of what the woman said in the previous statement. And there was no indication she was intoxicated or that she was having issues with recall.

“If she took drugs, [prior to the first statement] which is entirely possible based on the information that was received by this court, this court is not required to reject her evidence … on the basis purely of intoxication.”

Based on the Crown’s evidence, “Your Honour has to convict beyond a reasonable doubt,” Baasch told Bychok.

Toward the end of the day, Sheaves told the judge he was weary of the legal process that has been going on for two years.

“Just lock me up, Your Honour; I’m tired,” Sheaves said. “It’s been two and half years.”

But Bychok told him: “It is not the judge’s job to just lock people up.”

In court on Aug. 26, the judge will set a date to deliver his decision.