Couple’s charges for longtime sexual violence dismissed

Charges against a couple accused of sexual violence and other offences against children in St. John’s have been dismissed.

The man, 66, and woman, 68, were charged after the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary received a report in June 2021 about multiple sexual assaults that occurred in St. John’s between 1997 and 2009. After an investigation, the RNC arrested the couple in Quebec in August 2022 with the help of the Service de police de la ville de Montréal.

The names of the couple, who no longer live in this province, are banned from publication to protect the identity of the complainants.

The man was initially charged with 31 offences, including sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, exploitation, uttering threats, assault with a weapon, sexual interference and beastiality in the presence of a child. Two of those charges were dismissed last year while the remaining 29 were dismissed Monday at the suggestion of the Crown, which called no evidence when the man’s trial started in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court.

Prosecution of the woman, who had been charged with sexual assault, incest and criminal negligence causing bodily harm, was ended last summer after her preliminary hearing.