Okanagan man convicted of sexually assaulting woman at church

Editor’s note:

On Monday, March 11, 2019, at Vernon, B.C., the crown entered a stay of proceedings in its court case against Joseph Vance Caron.

Editor’s note:

Joseph Vance Caron won the right to appeal his case and, through appeal, the case was tossed out.

The appeal took place on June 1, 2018 in Vancouver.

“It is a curious feature of this case that factual matters that might have been considered peripheral and of little importance to the offences alleged assumed a role of substantial import in the evaluation of the appellant’s credibility,” said Justice Gregory Fitch of the Court of Appeal.

“The Crown invited this approach at trial and maintained on appeal that alleged inconsistencies between details in the appellant’s version of events and the physical evidence found at the scene were important to the resolution of the case and material to the assessment of the appellant’s credibility.”

Fitch also said “in my respectful view, the alleged inconsistencies between the appellant’s evidence and the physical evidence found at the scene assumed a role of outsized importance in this case.”

“The appellant was entitled to have his credibility evaluated in a manner untainted by misapprehensions of the evidence going to the heart of the judge’s reasoning process. In my view, that did not occur in this case. As a consequence, a new trial is required.”

The appeal can be found here.

ORIGINAL STORY:

VERNON – A north Okanagan man has been found guilty on three of four charges stemming from a sexual assault investigation.

Late on the night of May 27 2014, a woman was out for a walk when she took cover from a rain storm at the rear entrance of a downtown Armstrong church.

The 21-year-old was approached by a man who asked for a cigarette and struck up a conversation. He then raped the intellectually challenged woman and threatened to strangle her if she continued resisting.

Joseph Vance Caron, 46, was arrested two months later at his parent’s home a few blocks from the church.

Caron admits to being at the scene that night but denies any wrongdoing, claiming the woman either consciously or subconsciously made the story up.

The judge didn’t believe Caron. “Simply put, his story did not ring true. My observation of him in the witness box was that he appeared nervous. He was too eager to talk and try to persuade me that the Complainant’s allegations were untrue,” ruled B.C. Supreme Court justice Gary Weatherill

“Further, the accused stated that there was nothing unusual about the night of May 27th, yet he was able to reconstruct the events and conversation in significant detail following his arrest 2 months later.”

The judge went on to say “I find that the Complainant was a careful, perceptive and forthright witness who distinguished between that which she was sure had happened and that which she only thought might have happened. She also sensed the importance of telling the truth in the situation.”

Caron was convicted of sexual assault, choking and uttering a threat.

He will be sentenced at a later date.