Crown:  R. Weinberg, Assistant Crown Attorney, Toronto
Defence:  Craig Penney, Sexual Assault Lawyer, Toronto

¶ 1   MR PENNEY:  Mr. S., come forward please.

¶ 2   CROWN:  Yes, so we may clarify that on the record. We still set up a Judicial pre-trial required while waiting, which was about two minutes. We had already had discussions before. We decided that I would withdraw, but we would like certain things on the record. If Your Honour would indulge us for a minute or two?

¶ 3   THE COURT:  Yes.

¶ 4   CROWN:  It won't take much longer.

¶ 5   MR PENNEY:  So, Mr. S., Ms Weinberg's going to speak to His Honour, but I'm going to ask you to listen to her and at the end we're going to ask you to comment and agree or not agree as the case may be.

¶ 6   CROWN:  Okay, so there's an allegation of sexual assault. These two had been sort of childhood sweethearts, but on the day of question there's an allegation of sexual assault.

¶ 7   The Crown's not in a position to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, but I'd like to indicate that the complainant is in fear of Mr. S. and she would like him to refrain from any contact or communication directly, physically, or electronically with her or any member of her family. In addition, to stay away from S*** Road, a hundred metres from S*** Road or anywhere that she is, lives, works, or is known to be and ditto for any member of her family. And I would like to know if Mr. S. is agreeable to permanently, unless he gets something in writing I suppose from her otherwise, just to stay away from her and other members of her family in the way that I've described?

¶ 8   P.S.:  I agree.

¶ 9   MR PENNEY:  And I've explained that to Mr. S., Your Honour, in some detail. The situation is that there's not a reasonable basis for her fear so there wouldn't be a section 810 peace bond. There's no anticipated breach of the peace, so there's no jurisdiction for a common law peace bond. He's had a long time relationship with her, a long time love relationship with this young woman and to bring her a measure of peace and to also let her know that he accepts that this relationship, be it friendship, or any romantic friendship, this is over. They really do not move within the same social circles or work circles. There's no reason for him to have any contact with her. There's nothing anticipated. It would be accidental and he's certainly not going to be initiating any contact.

¶ 10  CROWN:  And I want to add one thing. This is that when Mr. S. was released from bail Court, for whatever reason that I'm still trying to figure out, the stay away address was the wrong address. It was S*** Avenue instead of S*** Road, a completely different situation. Counsel had his client in and I phoned up counsel right away and he had his client in and voluntarily agreed to come in to Old City Hall from P*** with his surety to change the bail so that we wouldn't have to bring a bail review. So, that's why I think that Mr. S. listens to Mr. Penney and it stood him in good stead.

¶ 11   As a result, one thing that I agreed to do was to view the whole video, bring her in and have a discussion with her, and determine where we were going to go. This was supposed to be a set date and not a withdrawal, but having regard to everything we speeded up the process by I think about five months as a result of, I think Mr. Penney's goodwill and his client's and his surety's. So, I'm withdrawing this now, thank you.

¶ 12   THE COURT:  All right, the bottom line is this. The Crown has unfettered discretion to withdraw her charge. The Court is not seized with anything until the Crown decides to proceed with the matter. That said, the Crown has put its position on the record. Mr. Penney has put certain comments on the record on behalf of his client. The Crown is asking for the charge to be withdrawn. The charge will be withdrawn accordingly at the request of the Crown.

¶ 13   MR PENNEY:  Thank you, Your Honour.

¶ 14   THE COURT:  You are free to go, sir. I do not sign withdrawals.