My perspective - Justice served?

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Published on Friday, April 1, 2016

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

“Not guilty”. Last Thursday, when disgraced former broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi was acquitted on all charges, those two words sparked protests and widespread debate about the Canadian justice system.

In February, Ghomeshi stood trial on four charges of sexual assault and one of choking. The alleged offences were said to have occurred in 2002 and 2003 and related to three women.

The Ghomeshi scandal erupted in October 2014, when CBC abruptly fired the popular host. Almost immediately, a story broke in which three women claimed they had been slapped, punched, grabbed by the hair, grabbed around the neck, choked and been subjected to verbal abuse by Ghomeshi. In the weeks that followed, more women came forward, both anonymously and by name, talking of mistreatment at Ghomeshi’s hands.  Beyond that, former employees came forward outlining not just sexual abuse in the workplace, but an extremely toxic work environment.

By the time the trial had finished, few were expecting a guilty verdict. Marie Henein, Ghomeshi’s lawyer, had done an excellent job of introducing reasonable doubt into the judge’s mind. Henein produced evidence countering the complainants’ claims that they had little or no further contact with Ghomeshi following the incidents.  She produced emails and photographs they had sent to Ghomeshi following the alleged attacks. The third complainant admitted on the stand to misleading police. 

The issue wasn’t that they had had further contact with Ghomeshi, many victims of sexual assault have complicated relationships with their attackers, who are usually someone they know and are often someone who has power over them. The problem was that they hadn’t been forthcoming about the contact. This information had been concealed or suppressed from multiple statements, some given under oath, to police, the Crown, the court and media outlets.

In a case where there was no physical evidence, no photos, no video, the trial rested entirely on the testimony of the three women and there were glaring problems with each of their statements. The courts understand that victims can be a little foggy about the details of something traumatic that occurred over a decade before, but the problems with the testimony went beyond that.  

In our court system, it’s all or nothing; no judge can say that while a witness lied about A, B, and C, they were surely telling the truth about D. In the eyes of the courts, the witnesses were untrustworthy and when a case is built entirely on the testimony of witnesses deemed untrustworthy, regardless of how you feel about this particular case, no other outcome is right. 

Without a doubt, our justice system is biased against sexual assault victims, because our legal system is based on the presumption of innocence. While it results in the denial of justice for many victims, it’s the system we have.

While the judge may have delivered a verdict of not guilty, that doesn’t mean he thought Ghomeshi was innocent. Justice William B. Horkins’ decision, which can be read online, notes, “My conclusion that the evidence in this case raises a reasonable doubt is not the same as deciding in any positive way that these events never happened.”

You will find few people who think that Ghomeshi is innocent and to me, the irony is that while justice wasn’t served in the court room, I think it has, to a certain extent, been served. Ghomeshi was a truly skilled interviewer, but I would be shocked if he ever works again and it won’t be in Canada if he does. Ghomeshi may not have his name on a sex offender list, but any media organization would be out of their mind to hire him.  Not just because it would be met with protests and boycotts from viewers and advertisers who object to his widely reported attitudes towards women, but also, the toxic work environment he appeared to foster. No business wants to blatantly alienate both their customers and staff.  

In many ways, Ghomeshi would have been better to serve some time, admit guilt and make amends.  With a second trial coming up later this year, he might yet have that chance.