Trailer Park Boys actor Mike Smith, known for playing Bubbles on the show, has had a sexual assault charge against him dismissed in a Nova Scotia court, as the complainant says she was “unwilling to sacrifice” her mental health.
A three-day trial was set to begin Thursday, after he pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault in connection to an incident alleged to have taken place on Dec. 30, 2017.
Media packed the Dartmouth, N.S., provincial courthouse Thursday morning, expecting Smith to appear.
Smith’s defence lawyer, Stan MacDonald appeared on his behalf. The Crown told the judge they would be submitting no evidence in the matter, and the defence motioned for the charge to be dismissed, which was granted.
“Mr. Smith is happy to put this behind him,” MacDonald told the media outside the courtroom.
When questioned by reporters following the dismissal, the Crown said it had determined there was no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction.
“We have to assess it with an ongoing assessment of whether the prosecution standard is met,” said Crown attorney, Bryson McDonald.
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The Crown would not confirm whether the complainant had refused to testify.
“The Crown has had conversations with the complainant. We have an ongoing obligation to do so and we have met with the complainant multiple times throughout the process. However, I’m not going to go into specific conversations or private communications with the complainant,” said McDonald.
Global News has been in contact with the complainant, whose identity is protected under a publication ban.
In a statement, she said “this trial was dismissed because I am unwilling to sacrifice my mental health.”
She said she believes the criminal justice system retraumatizes survivors and subjects “their experiences to dissecting public scrutiny.”
“Because the evidence relies heavily on the character of the witness, victims often face ‘character assassination’ during cross-examination,” she wrote.
She said she was “intimidated” by the system, which she said has lawyers using “tactics that blame victims for surviving and reporting sexual assaults.”
“I … hope the legal system reflects on my words and implements equality in sexual assault cases, where both parties bear the burden of truth, rather than placing it solely on the person who has been harmed.”
When asked about how defence lawyers approach questioning complainants in trials, Smith’s lawyer said, “We do what the law allows us to do within our ethical boundaries.”
In a statement, Trailer Park Boys Incorporated, which handles the business operations of the TV franchise, stated Smith will be “resuming his responsibilities.”
“The court has dismissed the charge against Michael Smith, concluding the legal proceedings that began in October 2025 regarding an allegation dating to December 2017,” the statement read.
“Now that he is cleared of this matter, Mike is resuming his responsibilities with Trailer Park Boys Incorporated.”
The company added it will provide no further comment.
— with a file from Ella MacDonald
When is there going to be some justice? There needs to be an end to this. About a decade ago I went on a date with a woman who had 3 children. About 15 minutes i to our dinner she proceeded to tell me that her first child was fathered in a r*pe. And her second from another r*pe with a different man. And her third was also from a r*pe from yet another man. She then changed to topic to s*x. When I got up to use the bathroom I saw an emergency exit and if it hadn’t had the fire alarm sign on it, I would have left. After the uncomfortably dinner, we parted ways and I never spoke to her again.
This is what’s out there. I was also friends with a l*sbian who always brought up that her uncle had purportedly r*ped her. We visited her friends at one point and they mentioned they had been in that situation, too. Years later she came clean and admitted she falsely accused him.
Steve, Asking a person to use their voice in court can rob them of their voice because the formal and rigid rules of the legal system often strip away their personal narrative, context, and control.
How does asking you to use your voice rob you of your voice?
This is the moral decay that goes unpunished far too often.
Woman lie, cheat, steal and are quicker to violence than the next man. We just live in a society that doesn’t want to prosecute them.
A recent juror caused a mistrial because they simply did not want to support the law. That’s not how things work and that never happens when the accused is a male.
Our sense of justice has become polluted by people that do not share our values.
And yet again…
Hashtag don’t believe her
Meanwhile the media paints female pe-do teachers as misguided angels, a mom who killed her 3 kids is seen as a victim, and a death row inmate keeps having their gender mentioned over and over and over and over just because its female.
Men die by suicide at a much higher rate due to societal pressures, many of which come from the actions of the media described above.
Guilty until proven innocent, the main legacy of the meet too era.
Another unfounded accusation years later. Made up fake accusers should be jailed for a long time
Another mans reputation/career/and future ruined by a false accusation.
Yes has been acquitted, yes has been rehired, but his life is still over. A tiny fraction of the people that saw his original charges will end up seeing this, the vast majority will continue believing that this man is a rapist.
People love to say that false accusations don’t ruin lives, but tell me… Where is Kevin spacey these days? He was acquitted and proven innocent, how did the masses react to that? Oh yeah, hardly anyone knows hes innocent and Hollywood still refuses to associate with him, last I heard he broke down on live TV saying hes going to be homeless.
We need to start charging these women with the same punishment they were hoping to pin on innocent men.
Ladies: Sunday morning regret is not the same as rape.