Trial begins for A. N. Myer students accused in attack

Four not guilty pleas in sexual assault case

The sobriety of a woman who says she was sexually assaulted by a group of Niagara Falls high school students in 2016 was called into question at the first day of the trial against the four young males.

The teens, each 17 when they were arrested in October 2016, pleaded not guilty Monday in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines to charges of sexual assault and being a party to the offence of sexual assault.

The defendants, students at A. N. Myer Secondary School at the time of their arrest, cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The name of the complainant, 18 at the time, is also protected under a court- imposed publication ban.

Brent Cahill, a forensic toxicologist at the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto, testified he analyzed blood and urine samples taken from the complainant the day after the alleged incident and determined there was no alcohol in the samples.

Court heard the young woman told medical personnel she had consumed a quantity of vodka the night before.

Based on information provided by Niagara Regional Police — such as estimated number of drinks consumed as well as a time frame — Cahill used a mathematical formula to calculate what the woman’s blood/ alcohol level may have been at a specific time.

He concluded she would have met the legal definition of being impaired.

Cahill conceded his calculation is only as accurate as the information he had to work with.

Under cross- examination by defence lawyer Michael Delgobbo, the forensic expert said he never interviewed the complainant or talked to witnesses who may have observed the woman’s behaviour that night.

The effects of alcohol consumption, Cahill explained, are different for different people.

“It depends on the individual’s tolerance,” he said.

Alcohol doesn’t create impulsivity, he added, but it does relax the cognitive faculties that normally controls behaviour.

According to a news releases issued by police in August 2016, the woman had gone to a party in St. Catharines and then accompanied a group of males to a location in Thorold, where according to police, she was sexually assaulted.

Police said at the time all of the males were known to the complainant.

The trial continues today before Judge Fergus O’Donnell.