The Justice presiding over the retrial of a Cochrane man charged with sexual assault involving minors has reserved making decision until after the New Year.
Allan Dean Griffin is being retried on a number of charges involving three minors – including his daughter and two stepdaughters – who were all between five and nine years old when the alleged abuse started. They are each now in their 20s.
The charges include three counts of sexual assault, one count of sexual contact and two counts of breach of trust.
“It probably won’t be until the new year,” Justice J.T. McCarthy said, regarding his decision after the closing arguments on Tuesday.
The retrial was ordered after the Alberta Court of Appeals ruled that Justice K. Yamauchi, who found Griffin not guilty in 2013, relied on “discredited myths and stereotypes” about how victims react in such circumstances to form his decision.
Yamauchi is one of four Alberta judges who are under scrutiny for controversial rulings and comments regarding sexual assault cases.
In the 2013 trial, Yamauchi questioned why the daughter and stepdaughters had taken so many years to come forward with the accusation and why they couldn’t remember “innocuous things” such as where they were going to school at the time.
Griffin pleaded not guilty on all charges and when asked if there was any truth to any allegations, he said “absolutely not.”
The retrial began Dec, 5 with Griffin’s daughter and two stepdaughters testifying from Dec. 5 to Dec. 7 and Griffin taking the stand Dec. 9.
During Griffin’s daughter’s testimony, she said her “dreams got so bad,” she knew she had to tell someone about the alleged abuse that she claims began when she was five-years-old. When Defence lawyer Paul Brunnen tried to suggest that all of the alleged incidents were “just dreams” or that her mother and stepmother pressured the now 20-year-old into making the allegations, the daughter disagreed.
The first stepdaughter, 21, testified on Dec. 6 alleging she remembered three different incidents of assault that started when she was eight-years-old. She said those memories eventually led to her decision to move in with her father in Airdrie.
The second stepdaughter, 22, also took the stand Dec. 6, She alleges her abuse started when she was six-years-old and testified to a number of incidents.
“I honestly didn’t want anyone knowing – I didn’t want to talk about it,” the second stepdaughter said.
The mothers the now women both said they had no knowledge of the alleged abuse.
When Griffin took the stand on Friday, he said he did not touch any of the girls.
When asked about his stepdaughters he said, “I had no interest in those kids – I could care less.”
“I didn’t think I was great with the kids,” Griffin said, referring to his stepdaughters.
Griffin also denied ever being alone with any of the three girls.
During the Defence’s closing statements, Brunnen reminded the judge “this is the testimony of three women, not the evidence of the child.”
“The accused is innocent until proven guilty,” he added.
“Eventually if you tell yourself something long enough, you believe it to be true … is it true or do they believe it to be true?”
During the Crown’s closing argument, prosecutor Ron Simenik said the trial differed from other cases such as “drunk driving charges” where there would be a way to have concrete proof.
“I mean, who would want to go through all of this,” Simenik said.
“Mr. Griffin’s evidence is fabricated and misleading … it is overstated, embellished and overall lacks credibility.”
The retrial was originally scheduled to be tried by judge and jury but was altered to judge alone days before proceedings began.
This is the third time the women have testified in this matter, including the Cochrane preliminary trial three years ago, and the trial in the Alberta Court of Queens Bench in 2013.
