A Nova Scotia mother is calling for more attention to the rights of victims and complainants after the province’s Court of Appeal upheld a decision to stay a sex offense charge due to excessive delays in the process.
The alleged incidents took place between February 11 and 27, 2021, when the alleged victims were six and nine years old.
“My thoughts are the same as many other people who have gone through the justice system, and I don’t have much hope,” the children’s mother said. Global News is protecting the identity of the individual due to a publication ban.
“I think our entire legal system needs to be reworked. There needs to be much more support for (complainants). And more judges need to be hired, and they need to be able to help the people who are out there who need help.”
Brandon William McNeil had pleaded not guilty to two charges each of sexual exploitation, sexual interference and assault. According to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal’s decision, McNeil now uses a different name and pronoun.
While the trial concluded in Dartmouth provincial court in October 2021, a verdict was never handed down as the original judge, Rickola Brinton, went on leave.
A mistrial was finally declared in February 2023. Although dates for new trials had been set, a request was made to suspend the charges due to the delay.
In June 2023, the court decided to suspend the charges.
In her 2023 decision, Judge Bronwyn Duffy said she was “fully satisfied” that the Crown had done what they could to prioritize the case and that the defense “could not be blamed” but that there was “no easy answer on this dilemma’.
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That prompted the children’s mother to call the process “a disgusting waiting game” while speaking to Global News in June 2023.
It was appealed to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, arguing in part that the judge erred when he agreed that a 15.7-month wait for a verdict was a “deliberative delay” and that it was “significantly longer took longer than it should have.”
On Wednesday, the appeals court rejected the appeal.
“There was no ‘real option’ here. As Crown Counsel noted, the future regarding the trial judge’s return was clouded by uncertainty. It was not until February 14, 2023 that the plug was pulled and Crown and defense gave up hope of a verdict,” said the decision of the three-member panel.
“I find no legal error in the subdistrict court judge’s finding that the 15.7 months of deliberative delay was considerably longer than reasonable under all circumstances.”
The children’s mother, who both testified in court during the original trial, said they were “completely let down” by this latest decision.
“We thought it was another huge disappointment by the justice system in an already terrible event.”
There is now the possibility of taking the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
‘I have contacted the appeals lawyer to see how the procedure is going. “We are keeping our options open and that is something we will consider pursuing,” the mother said.
She said she believes pursuing the case will be beneficial to other future complainants “so that if they find themselves in this situation, they have a case that they can look to to give them hope.”
“But our biggest thing right now has to be focusing on the (children) where they are in life and making sure they’re doing well.”
In 2023, the Nova Scotia judiciary confirmed there was a backlog of cases and a shortage of judges.
The full number of judges in the province is 28, and that number has not changed in “many years,” a spokesperson said.
Attorney General Brad Johns also said at the time that there was a “higher than normal” pension rate.
On Wednesday, the courts confirmed there are currently no vacancies in the system, but one judge is still on extended leave.
Judge Rickcola Brinton, the original judge in the case, is suing the provincial court and the former chief judge, alleging her rights to judicial independence and medical privacy were violated when she was pressured to reveal her COVID-19 vaccination status.
According to the statement of claim, she was approved for long-term disability leave.
For the children’s mother, the situation in this case was nothing but frustrating.
“The courts should have looked at that situation sooner, and something should have been done sooner, so that we didn’t end up in the situation we are in now … without justice being brought to them after what they had to endure.”
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