HALIFAX – A federal report says human error and breakdowns in communications by both provincial and federal officials were factors in the delayed prosecution of Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh.
Justice Minister Peter MacKay has released the findings of an internal review into the case.
MacKay says the federal government apologizes for institutional failures and the mistakes made by federal employees who played a role in the case.
In 1995, MacIntosh was living in India when he was first accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1970s.
But the former Cape Breton businessman wasn’t extradited until 2007 and his first of two trials didn’t start until 2010.
In April, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a lower court ruling that quashed all sex offence convictions against him.
The court agreed with a 2011 ruling from the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, which said it took too long for the case to get to trial.
There have been calls for a public inquiry, but MacKay says there is no need for that because he believes such a probe would not provide more answers than those contained in the report Friday.
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