Appeal court tosses out conviction of man found guilty of molesting young girls
CHARLOTTETOWN — A P.E.I. man found guilty of molesting his three stepdaughters has had his conviction overturned after an appeal court found problems with the length of time it took to get videotaped statements from the girls.
The appeal court said the trial judge failed to hear evidence about whether the time gap between the alleged sexual touching and assaults and the girls’ statements could be considered reasonable.
The man was convicted last year of seven sex-related offences and two counts of assault and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison.
In a ruling this week, the appeal court found one girl, who was between seven and 10 years old when the alleged offences took place, gave her video statement more than four years after the last incident, while the two others gave their statements 22 months to four years later.