Man wrongfully convicted of rape tells court he never gave statement to RCMP

HALIFAX – A man wrongfully convicted of statutory rape for having sex with a 14-year-old Nova Scotia girl in 1969 testified Monday that at the time he was charged he never gave a statement to the RCMP and did not plead guilty at a trial, even though that’s what the record shows.

Gerald Barton, who now lives in Edmonton, is suing the Nova Scotia Crown for malicious prosecution and the RCMP in Digby, N.S., for negligent investigation.

In January 2011, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal admitted fresh DNA evidence that proved Barton was not the father of the child born to the original complainant, who has since died.

The court quashed the conviction and entered an acquittal, saying Barton was the victim of a miscarriage of justice when he was 19 years old.

Earlier Monday, Barton told the Nova Scotia Supreme Court that he couldn’t have made the statement attributed to him by the RCMP in January 1970 because he didn’t even know the meaning of some of the sexually explicit words used to describe the crime in Jordantown, N.S.

Court documents say Barton, now 64, spent a short time in jail and was sentenced to a year of probation after being convicted of having sexual intercourse with a female between 14 and 16 years of age.