Ontario’s top court has ordered a new trial for a Toronto man convicted of sexually assaulting a friend after an out-of-town wedding, saying the judge who oversaw the case erred in his instructions to the jury.
Paul Chafe was found guilty in 2017 in connection with an incident that took place five years earlier in Kitchener, Ont., where he, his girlfriend and a mutual longtime friend had gone for a wedding.
The three were sharing a suite in a Conestoga College residence hall but had separate rooms, with the couple in one and the friend in the other.
The complainant, who cannot be identified, alleged she was sexually assaulted in her room during the night after the group and several other wedding guests returned to the residence hall following the reception.
She identified Chafe as the man she had seen masturbating in her doorway, and believed he was also the one who had allegedly done so in her bed later that night.
In a decision released this month, the Court of Appeal for Ontario found the judge failed to properly caution jurors on the dangers inherent to eyewitness identification and failed to give guidance on how to assess evidence related to Chafe’s reaction to the allegations.