Jian Ghomeshi arrives at a Toronto courthouse Thursday, March 24, 2016 for the verdict in his trial.

Jian Ghomeshi arrives at a Toronto courthouse Thursday, March 24, 2016 for the verdict in his trial.
Photo Credit: PC / Chris Young

Jian Ghomeshi not guilty on all charges

Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi has been found not guilty of all charges in the broadcaster’s sexual assault trial. Ghomeshi had been facing four counts of sexual assault, as well as one count of overcoming resistance by choking.

Judge William Horkins announced his ruling today in the Ontario Court of Justice. 

The 48-year-old Ghomeshi had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, related to three complainants, who alleged incidents occurred in 2002 and 2003.

The Ghomeshi trial, which began in Toronto on Feb. 1, 2016, and lasted eight days, garnered widespread media attention with hordes of reporters and spectators lining up at Toronto’s Old City Hall courthouse in the wee hours of the morning, hoping to snag one of the 100 seats available in the courtroom. An overflow room was set up, as more media and spectators squeezed in to watch the proceedings on the television provided.

Dramatic trial

The trial was full of dramatic moments, surprising twists, and unexpected evidence that would compare to some of the most intense television courtroom dramas.

The charges against Ghomeshi, formerly a rising star at the CBC and host of the popular radio show Q, relate to alleged assaults on three women from 2002 to 2003. The identities of two of the complainants in the case are protected under a publication ban, but actress Lucy DeCoutere, also an air force captain, went to court to lift the ban on her name.

 Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi leaves a Toronto courthouse with his lawyer Marie Henein, right, following day six of his trial on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016.
Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi leaves a Toronto courthouse with his lawyer Marie Henein, right, following day six of his trial on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. © PC/Chris Young

Ghomeshi remained quiet during his trial, never taking the witness box and saying nothing to the press as he entered and exited the courthouse every day. Always dressed in a suit, he would greet his mother in the courtroom every day and would occasionally scribble down notes during the trial that he would hand over to his counsel.

Numerous inconsistencies

During the trial, Ghomeshi’s defence lawyer Marie Henein uncovered numerous inconsistencies in the complainants’ testimony.

Crown attorney Michael Callaghan reminded Horkins in his closing arguments that the women never wavered in their descriptions of the allegations of punching, choking and slapping — and said the court should remember that when deciding how reliable and credible each of the witnesses appeared. 

But in an unusually harsh statement Horkins savaged the witness testimony saying it was “tainted by outright deception.”

He accused one of the witnesses of “clearly playing chicken” with the justice system.

The judge also noted that there were inconsistencies in DeCoutere’s sequence of events relating to the alleged assault.

“The inability to recall such a sequence of events from over a decade ago” would not normally be troubling, the judge said.

But what’s troubling is that this witness’s narrative shifted, the judge said, from what she told the media and from what she told the court.

“It suggests a degree of carelessness with the truth that diminishes the general reliability of the witness.”

Judge said it was clear that the third complainant had wilfully held back the truth about her conduct with Ghomeshi after the alleged assault and then, after listening to media, realized “she was about to run headfirst into the whole truth” at trial.

‘The whole truth and nothing but the truth’

Horkins said that the witness explained that the witness tried to explain her behaviour away, saying that she told the court “this was her first kick at the can” and she didn’t know how to navigate the court.

“Navigating this proceeding is really quite simple. Tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

 Protestors stand outside court in Toronto on Thursday, March 24, 2016.
Protestors stand outside court in Toronto on Thursday, March 24, 2016. © PC/Frank Gunn

A group of protesters rallied outside the courtroom, shouting: “We believe survivors! We believe survivors!”

Ghomeshi is facing a separate trial on sexual assault charges in June.

With files from CBC News and live blogging from the courtroom by Laura Fraser

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