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But she said
Nick Cake, a former Crown prosecutor who is now a London, Ont., criminal defence lawyer and also following the trial, is not surprised memories have faded.
“Witnesses' memory, of course, is of paramount importance. It all goes to their credibility and their reliability,” he says.
But, he adds, “I don't think that the message here is that all of the defendants have gotten together with all of their buddies and everyone's trying to cover something up.
“I think the message here is that this happened in 2018. It's now 2025. If you want people to remember things, maybe get the charges laid a bit earlier, right? There was an opportunity for that to happen, but for a variety of reasons that didn't happen. But if you want memories fresh, let's run criminal trials contemporaneously with the allegations.”
While the legal discussions may be frustrating and confusing, both lawyers say it’s important to make sure all the evidence is being presented and the law is being applied to try to prevent appeals later.
Still, Cake says if he were the Crown, he would take a look at the witness list to see what their value is in a judge-alone trial.
“Because ultimately, if you're now putting witnesses on the stand that aren't necessarily assisting your case, it may in fact devalue what [the complainant] E.M. had to say because it clouds the whole nature of the trial.”
But she said
''I’m sure that’s his plan to help the defence…but when you show he is lying with his “sudden memory loss “ act with a seasoned judge on the stand I’m not sure how much it helps
Nick Cake, a former Crown prosecutor who is now a London, Ont., criminal defence lawyer and also following the trial, is not surprised memories have faded.
“Witnesses' memory, of course, is of paramount importance. It all goes to their credibility and their reliability,” he says.
But, he adds, “I don't think that the message here is that all of the defendants have gotten together with all of their buddies and everyone's trying to cover something up.
“I think the message here is that this happened in 2018. It's now 2025. If you want people to remember things, maybe get the charges laid a bit earlier, right? There was an opportunity for that to happen, but for a variety of reasons that didn't happen. But if you want memories fresh, let's run criminal trials contemporaneously with the allegations.”
While the legal discussions may be frustrating and confusing, both lawyers say it’s important to make sure all the evidence is being presented and the law is being applied to try to prevent appeals later.
Still, Cake says if he were the Crown, he would take a look at the witness list to see what their value is in a judge-alone trial.
“Because ultimately, if you're now putting witnesses on the stand that aren't necessarily assisting your case, it may in fact devalue what [the complainant] E.M. had to say because it clouds the whole nature of the trial.”