Charges against an army cadet accused of sexually assaulting two 14-year-old girls in New Brunswick were dismissed amid a procedural "mix-up" involving a military investigator and a Crown prosecutor, the Canadian Press has learned.
The misstep means the alleged victims, also cadets, will not be able to have their case heard in court, to the shock of the mother of one of the girls.
"I couldn't believe it. All I want is the truth," said the woman, who lives about 30 minutes outside Halifax but can't be named to shield her daughter's identity.
"I just want justice for her."
The girls allege they were at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown last summer when a 16-year-old male cadet forced them to touch his genitals on separate occasions.
Since the allegations involved conduct on an army base, a military investigator was called in. Once he determined there was enough evidence to lay charges, the matter was turned over to a civilian prosecutor because the alleged victims were not military personnel.
The youth later pleaded not guilty to two charges of sexual assault.
A spokeswoman for New Brunswick's attorney general said Friday that the military's investigator should have served five people — including the alleged victims — with summonses.
According to court documents, the Crown alleges the investigator failed to do so because he was new in his position with the National Investigation Service, or NIS, and didn't understand the summonses were his responsibility.
But the military has rejected this allegation, saying it was up to the Crown to indicate who should be served, but that never happened.
"To say it's unfortunate is certainly an understatement," provincial Justice spokeswoman Valerie Kilfoil said in an interview.
"There was some kind of breakdown in communications or understanding of whose responsibility it was to serve the summons."
The two charges were dismissed Wednesday in youth court in Burton, N.B., when the public prosecutor was forced to concede he had no evidence to go ahead with the case.
"The Crown is not in a position to proceed to call evidence on this matter today because [of] what can best be described as a mix-up," Crown lawyer Paul Hawkins said in court.
Hawkins asked the judge for an adjournment, but his request was turned down. The judge said the accused had a right to a speedy trial and any further delay would impinge on that right.
A military spokeswoman in Ottawa said its investigator did everything he was supposed to do in this case.
Military investigator says he acted properly
"There's obviously a conflict here and we need to determine what the conflict was, what the miscommunication was, and we need to look at our processes," Capt. Cindy Tessier said.
"We need to determine what did go wrong here."
The NIS investigator, Master Cpl. Jim Rose, said he looked into the girls' complaint in July after the girls began their six-week stay at Camp Argonaut.
Rose said he found sufficient grounds to charge the young man and he turned over the file to the Crown, along with a list of potential witnesses.
He said he expected the Crown attorney to tell him which witnesses should be summoned, but the call never came.
"The Crown attorney failed in an adequate time to provide a list of witnesses to be subpoenaed for the trial," Rose said in an interview Thursday.
"Normally, he looks at the witnesses and who he wants to call and that wasn't done in this particular case in time."
Provincial officials have determined the case will not be revived because there are no grounds for an appeal.
The girl's mother said both sides let her down.
"We weren't told anything," she said. "It seems like both sides are merely trying to blame the other."
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