The Star’s view: Consent is still the key,

Jian Ghomeshi has had his day in court, and it was a good one for him. After a celebrity sex-assault trial that had Canadians riveted with tales of creepy violence and fatal attractions, the former CBC Radio host has been judged and acquitted of all charges and is free to pick up the pieces of his life.

Predictably, the much-anticipated ruling by Ontario Court Judge William Horkins has been met with a barrage of protest from victims’ rights activists. But it hardly comes as a surprise, given how the Crown’s case unravelled during the trial. Nor was it a bad day for survivors of sexual assault. Far from it.

As the Star has written before, the Ghomeshi scandal, which involved the alleged sex assault and choking of three women, tapped into a national wellspring of angst and anger. It helped to spark unprecedented soul-searching about the ugly reality of violence against women, sexual harassment and victim-blaming. And about what needs to be done to combat these evils, which have no place in a modern, caring society.

While there is still a disturbingly high level of ignorance about sexual violence and a lack of support for victims, the public is much better sensitized to these realities today.

Across Canada, survivors of assault are being encouraged to come forward to expose their abusers and hold them accountable. And they are being taken seriously by the justice system, as they should be.

Here in Ontario, Premier Kathleen Wynne has launched a high-profile, well-funded campaign to counter sexual violence and harassment, to make workplaces safer, beef up the sex-education curriculum to stress healthy relationships and provide support for survivors.

At the end of the day, consent in sexual matters is still the key.

As reported by the Star’s Alyshah Hasham and Robin Levinson King, Judge Horkins wrestled with the credibility of the three women who accused Ghomeshi of forcefully punching one of them in the head and pulling her hair; of putting his hands on another’s throat, choking her and slapping her; and roughly squeezing a third woman’s neck. Ultimately, he found their credibility wanting.

Even so, their accusations, which dated to 2002 and 2003, were taken on board by police and the Crown and they were given every chance to make their case in open court.

If Horkins could not find Ghomeshi guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, it was because the accusers undermined their own cause by playing fast and loose with the truth.

Defence lawyer Marie Henein shredded their credibility on the stand, and the Crown’s flimsy case, as the public watched in astonishment.

The first complainant testified she was so traumatized that she broke off contact with Ghomeshi. But Heinen produced emails that she sent to him long after the incident including a photo of her in a bikini. Another complainant sent Ghomeshi multiple emails and a letter that suggested she continued to pursue a romantic relationship, contrary to her evidence in court. And the third woman belatedly disclosed that she and Ghomeshi had a sexual encounter after the incident, after first saying that she had kept her distance.

In the end, Horkins concluded, reasonably, that the accusers were not full, frank and forthcoming with the media, police, Crown or court. “Each complainant was confronted with a volume of evidence that was contrary to their prior sworn statements and their evidence in-chief,” he said. “Each complainant demonstrated, to some degree, a willingness to ignore their oath to tell the truth on more than one occasion . . . Put simply, the volume of serious deficiencies in the evidence leaves the court with a reasonable doubt.”

While Horkins cautioned that his ruling did not amount to saying that “these events never happened,” the Crown’s case was tainted. Tough as the ruling was, it was the right one in the circumstances. And importantly, the case turned on the complainants’ truthfulness and reliability in court. It did not become a coarse inquisition into their sex lives.

While some contend that the courts are poor instruments to get at the truth in these fraught cases, a better one hasn’t been found.

Discouraging as the outcome is for the three women directly involved, it should not deter future victims of sex assault from coming forward to seek redress. If there is a take-away from the Ghomeshi affair, it is that complainants cannot expect to get away with “carelessness with the truth,” as the judge put it. Any accuser needs to be truthful, forthcoming and consistent. That cannot be too much to ask when a person’s freedom hangs in the balance.

Trial sparked welcome soul-searching about sexual violence