CANADA
Nunatsiaq Online
DAVID MURPHY
At the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit on the afternoon of Jan. 20, Crown prosecutors opposed defence lawyer Malcolm Kempt’s motions for dismissal on seven of the dozens of charges against former priest Eric Dejaeger.
Kempt made 10 “non-suit applications” on the morning of Jan. 20, seeking dismissal of the charges because of a lack of evidence.
Justice Robert Kilpatrick quickly dismissed three of the 80 charges that Dejaeger faced prior to that morning because the witness who made the allegations did not appear in court to testify when the Crown was presenting its case.
Crown prosecutor Doug Curliss told Kilpatrick that for charges to be dismissed, there must be no evidence the alleged crimes could have happened, based on witness testimony.
To that end, in the context of the seven charges, Curliss, after reviewing transcripts of the witness testimony, argued that they still ring true
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