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Judge stops trial to acquit man of sex charges

Following an Inuit sexual assault complainant’s testimony, Judge Louis Du Blois dismisses jury and sets her alleged assailant free

JANE GEORGE

KUUJJUAQ — A Kuujjuaq man accused of sexual assault was found not guilty last week — even before a jury had a chance to consider the evidence against him.

During his years as a judge in Quebec’s superior court, Louis Du Blois had never before called for a "directed verdict" until last week.

That’s when he told the jury that Jimmy Emak, 40, a Kangiqsualujjuaq resident charged with sexual assaulting a 40-year-old Kangiqsualujjuaq woman, had to be acquitted.

"No jury could find Mr. Emak guilty on the evidence presented in front of the jury," Du Blois told the court last week.

The official verdict would be "not guilty," Du Blois said.

Only very rarely will any judge decide to dismiss a jury before its members can render a verdict.

Du Blois’s "directed verdict" was the first in Nunavik.

Before a case goes to trial, the Crown prosecutor is supposed to ensure that evidence against accused persons is strong enough to justify prosecuting them. After that, a preliminary inquiry is supposed to determine if there is enough evidence to justify holding a trial.

But Judge Du Blois eventually determined that there was an "absence of ingredients" of evidence and no reason to continue the trial.

At 9 a.m. on the day of the trial, jury members arrived at the Kuujjuaq courthouse to hear Emak’s case. Emak had elected to be tried by judge and jury.

The woman had accused Emak of sexually assaulting her in her home on April 22, 1999.

She said in court that when Emak knocked on her apartment door she let him in, thinking he was her drunken brother. She said he then chased her into the bedroom, took off her clothes and sexually assaulted her.

Angered by comments he made to her about wanting to have sex with her daughter to make her pregnant, the woman said she became angry and stabbed him with a knife.

Later, she went to the police to make a complaint against Emak.

These elements of her story didn’t change during her testimony. But many other details did, especially the sequence of events.

She gave varying times for when the accused entered her house, how long he stayed, and whether they had sex again, later.

Speaking slowly, the woman needed prodding and explanation from interpreters in order to answer lawyers’ questions.

The repeated questioning appeared to intimidate the woman, who stood stiffly in front of the court. As the questioning proceeded, the woman, whose palms were visibly sweating, became even more uncertain of her testimony.

When defense lawyer Jacques Stuart challenged her on her memory of the events, the woman said that perhaps she was still sleepy. She said she had woken up at 8 a.m., shortly before her court appearance.

The alleged victim didn’t mention several details of evidence that had appeared on the police report she signed, including a claim that her assailant had bitten her on the shoulder and breast.

She did, however, spontaneously introduce other details, which the court didn’t quite know how to handle.

The woman said after they had had sex, Emak accused her of taking some hash he was selling. Angered by this alleged theft, he had threatened to report her stabbing him to the police.

During the preliminary inquiry into the charge against Emak, this turn of events had never been mentioned.

The fly-in prosecutor, Richard Duchesneau, was new to the case. He inherited it from Louis-Christian Boisvert, who was badly injured earlier this month in a snowmobile mishap.

Duchesneau appeared to be caught off-guard by the numerous inconsistencies and contradictions in the complainant story.

The many differences between her testimony and the police report on the alleged incident appeared to dismay Capt. Carl Pépin of the Kativik Regional Police Force.

The two-day trial, which according to one court worker cost about $50,000, was over in three hours.

The 12 jurors, six men and six women — a cross-section of Kuujjuaq’s upstanding citizens — received the news of their early dismissal with amazement, then smiles.

"I hope you enjoyed the short time of duty you had," Du Blois told the jury.

When the trial began, Emak showed little emotion, but after the jury’s dismissal, when he was free to leave, Emak happily shook hands with his lawyer.

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