Our little girl was victim of a sexual assault. An interview with the RCMP was conducted and a letter from a social worker from the Child Protection Unit (Department of Social Development) has indicated that the sexual abuse was substantiated. Yet, the crown prosecutor is not going forward due to the result of a polygraph taken by the abuser. The 1st polygraph had been inconclusive and the 2nd one was taken months later. How a polygraph can have more weight than the testimony of a little girl and the report of a social worker. Additional information such as a report from a psychologist will soon join the file but at this point, we are under the impression that no matter what additional information is added to the file, only the result from the polygraph will prevail. We would love to get some answers. Thanks!

Canada doesn't give weight to polygraphs at trial, but they can be used as an investigative tool. This is at the discretion of the prosecutor. You may have to hire a lawyer to help you if the case is dropped.
We can't possibly know if what seems to be going on is really going on. I find it hard to believe that two polygraphs are the only factors in their decision. You could go demand clear explanations from the prosecutor.

Thanks for your answer. We did try to get answers from the prosecutor and he is not answering our questions. We are only trying to find out what was put in the file (documents) when he reviewed the case (if he only had the polygraphs and nothing else, he couldn't do miracles). We assumed before that the report from the social worker and interview (CD) had been included in the file for review but we are not so sure anymore. We talked to the RCMP officer who took the case and he refused to give us answers. We were even told that no report was written at one point and the officer was really condescending. We had to go higher and talked to the chief sergeant but still, he didn't want to answer our questions. As parents/legal guardians, we are entitled to have a copy of the report. We have recently found out that the abuser might be protected by the RCMP (as informer for drug dealers). We have no way to officially confirm that but it is highly possible given the abuser's position. That would perhaps explain why the RCMP is so hush-hush about the whole case. I would believe though that it would be illegal to withhold important documents in cases like this, informer or not. We talked to someone from the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP and we seem to have enough evidence that something is not being done right on the RCMP side but before going ahead with an official complain, we want to see what else can be done to make sure that our case is being taken seriously. We just want to make sure that our case was thoroughly documented for the prosecutor and that everything was done to obtain proofs of the abuse. To us, it seems to be a case of "he said she said" and if this is the case, why the "he said" (polygraph only) would prevail over the "she said" (interview, reports from 2 professionals)? Thanks!


I forgot to mention that unfortunately, we cannot afford a lawyer!

Hi,
Our little girl was abused by the boyfriend of our little girl's aunt. The aunt has denied everything and went as far as accusing the little girl of lying (she was 5 at the time of the abuse and was temporarily living at the aunt's house). The aunt was interviewed by the RCMP and denied everything. However, in an affidavit, the aunt has stated that the little girl might have been abused although the name of the abuser was not mentioned. Can something be done about this? Can the aunt be accused of protecting the abuser, of lying to the RCMP? Can the affidavit be used? The abuse was substantiated. Thanks!

To be charged for lying, the lie will have to be proved, it appears no proof has happened.

The issue, here is that a 5 year old child's memory is one of the worst witness. A child can easily confuse fact with dreams, confuse facts with warnings given.

Was physical evidence done the day or two after the abuse happened ?

If the physical evidence is also old from
Abuse months ago, putting an exact person to the abuse may be almost impossible.

Also now that the little girl has named the aunt, if anyone else is later named, then the girls confession of it being aunt will be used to show it was not the other person.

If the harm happened while in the aunts care, there are other lower laws of child protection and the such, that may be used to charge.

First, your two threads were merged. Please don't start new threads for essentially the same issue. Any further follow-up should be added to this thread.

Second, where did you get your info about the polygraphs?

But the bottom line here is that you feel the case is not being prosecuted properly. Whether you are entitled to see the investigation file or know the prosecutor's reasons for not prosecuting, I don't know as I'm not entirely familiar with Canadian rules in such a circumstance. I do know that the rights of the accused need to be taken into account as well as the victim's.

You also say the abuse was substantiated. But I don't see that either. All I see are opinions from people who spoke to your daughter that she was believable. Was there any physical evidence of abuse? Without that, I would be reluctant to prosecute as well based solely on a 5 yr old's testimony.

I do have some advice for you. 1) Cut off any communication with this aunt. 2) Get your daughter to a competent therapist. 3) Get an attorney to advise on how to push prosecution.

As to 3), do not be surprised if this gets nowhere. Like I said, with physical evidence that the abuse even occurred, this is not a case a prosecutor would like.

Also, if criminal case can not be done due various reasons, look into a civil suit where you sue the Aunt for monetary damages.

Chuck has a valid point. If the prosecutor refuses to prosecute, you can still file a civil suit against the aunt and the boyfriend for damages.

Thanks for you replies! I will try to address all messages:

1) I'm new to this site so since I had 2 separate types of questions, I thought it was OK to have 2 different threads... it's good to know.

2) A 5 year old child's memory might be bad but in our case, there is no way our little girl confuse fact with dreams as the abuse took place over several months.

3) Our little girls has named the aunt's boyfriend, not the aunt. However, she did try to tell the aunt about the abuse prior to telling us (we were away, caring for a sick relative) but the aunt said to her that she was lying.

4) The abuse did happen while in the aunt's care. We want to go ahead with the criminal accusation (rather than a civil suit) so this pedophile can be put behind bars or at least has his name in the sexual offender registry. There is no amount of money that can compensate for the psychological trauma of our little girl. She has been seeing a therapist for a year now. If there are lower laws of child protection concerning the aunt, please let me know what they are.

5) The information about the polygraphs were given to us by the crown prosecutor.

6) We do feel that our case is not being prosecuted properly but we think that the problem is not at the prosecution level (decision can only be taken with what is in the file) but rather at the investigation level. We are aware that the accuser's rights need to be taken into account as well as the victim's rights but we feel that the accuser's rights are taken a lot more seriously than the victim. The investigation has been butched since the beginning.

7) Abuse was substantiated based on professional interviews involving social worker and psychologist working for victim services. Physical evidence of abuse were minimal and were not taken into consideration by the RCMP. The abuse did not involve penetration but pretty much everything else.

8) Advise to cut off any communication with the aunt and get our daughter to a competent therapist have been already taking care of. We would love to get an attorney to advise us on how to push prosecution but unfortunately, we cannot afford it.

2 & 7. This is still hearsay evidence and not likely to present a strong case. This doesn't believe I don't believe it, but it may not be enough for a prosecutor.

6. You will need to take this up to a higher level. If you feel the prosecutor is not getting the full info then you need to provide that info via expert investigators.

Sorry I can't be more encouraging.