NB, in his late 20s, was accused of raping his 12 year old cousin while babysitting her for her grandparents. He, the victim and grandparents, all lived in the same house.
On the evening following the rape, NB had gone to a pharmacy with his girlfriend in order to get a morning after pill for the victim. The victim also said in her ABE interview that NB had sexually assaulted her on at least one other occasion in their old house.
NB handed himself in to the police station, making partial admissions to family and police officers before going ‘No Comment’ at interview. His phone was seized but he refused the PIN. However, a few days before trial, police were able to access NB’s phone and found indecent images of children.
Ben was instructed to prosecute this matter the evening before trial. The Crown had originally intended to adduce the images via a bad character application; however, Ben advised to adduce the images via a late amendment to the indictment (with the bad character application as a backup option) – the application to amend the indictment was successful, leading to guilty pleas to all counts on Day 1 of trial.
The matter awaits sentencing.
