Post-event Demeanour of a Sexual Assault Victim
When
assessing the credibility of a witness, there are a number of factors to
consider. These may include a witness’s reactions to events.
It has long been held that
post-event demeanour of a sexual assault victim can be used as circumstantial
evidence to corroborate the complainant’s version of events.
R. v.
J.J.A., 2011 SCC 17, [2011] 1 S.C.R. 628, at
paras. 40-41, per Rothstein J. in dissent.
[The majority decision, written by
Charron, J., had ordered a new trial, solely ruling on the admissibility of
fresh evidence, and so had not found it necessary to deal with the issue of
post-event demeanour of the complainant]. See also R.
v. J.A., 2010 ONCA 491
(CanLII), at paras. 17 and 18 [renamed R. v. J.J.A on appeal to the SCC]; R. v. Mugabo, 2017
ONCA 323 at para 25.
In
R.
v. James, [2014] S.C.J. No. 5, at paragraph 5, Moldaver, J., speaking for
the unanimous Supreme Court of Canada remarked that “…the trial judge failed to
consider the complainant's distraught condition a short time after the event
when she reported the alleged sexual assault to the police.”
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