Glace Bay man not guilty of sex offences

A Glace Bay man was found not guilty Friday on 13 sex offences.

Supreme Court Justice Robin Gogan said she was left with reasonable doubt after the alleged victim testified there were multiple occasions when she left her own daughter alone with the man she accused of sexually assaulting her for more than a decade.

Kenneth Francis MacKillop, 69, was charged with eight counts of indecent assault, two counts of sexual intercourse with a female who was not his wife, two counts of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 14 and a single count of buggery.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between 1993 and 2003 and MacKillop was charged under the sections contained in the Criminal Code at the time of the offences.

The only witness to testify in the case was the 49-yearold complainant and as Gogan noted in her oral decision, credibility was a key element in determining a verdict.

She said the woman gave a compelling account of continued sexual abuse and that the quality of evidence was consistent throughout her testimony.

However, Gogan said she was troubled by the evidence of the woman leaving her young daughter, sometimes alone, with the accused while she did errands or attended to other personal business.

There was also other voluntary contact the woman had with MacKillop including vacations and other events.

“I thought it had stopped with me. It’s not going to happen,” testified the woman, in explaining why she continued to have contact.

“I find this evidence troubling,” said Gogan, that after years of abuse, the woman possibly felt there was no risk to her own child.

The judge said while it was probable the abuse did occur that is not the standard test for a criminal conviction that needs to be beyond a reasonable doubt.

She said the tipping point was leaving the child with the accused that left her with reasonable doubt.

The woman testified the abuse began when she was either six or seven and ended when she was 18 or 19.

She testified there were multiple incidents of sexual touching, sexual intercourse (beginning at the age of 10) along with oral sex.