Domestic violence: He gets away with it thanks to the delays in Laval, to the great despair of the complainant who feels “abandoned”

The lack of resources in the justice system across Quebec has struck again, this time in Laval, where a man accused of domestic violence was able to get away with it due to delays, a situation that is likely to happen again, warned a judge.

• Read also: No trial due to delays: More work for specialized courts

“For me, it makes no sense, I was completely abandoned. The scars and the trauma that I experienced will stay with me for the rest of my life, but him, because the legal proceedings lasted 21 months [plutôt que 18], he gets away with it. It’s unfair, ”launched the Journal the woman who had filed a complaint against Joseph Tawil, but who saw the case fall through last Thursday at the Laval courthouse.

It is that in 2021, the woman had gathered all her courage to file a complaint against an ex-spouse who allegedly hit her and threatened her with death. The police believed her, as did the Crown, which had filed charges against the 28-year-old colossus residing in Bois-des-Filion.

Accumulated delays

However, the file has since dragged on and delays have accumulated. For example, the Crown delayed for months in transmitting all the evidence to the defence, which for its part avoided warning the prosecution that the delays were getting dangerously longer.

In the end, the complainant felt left on her own, she told the Newspaper.

“Often, the prosecutors thought they had sent me a document, when I had received nothing, she confided. And when the judgment was given, I knew it because [Tawil] published a story on Instagram with a photo of the judgment. The prosecutor called me 9 p.m. later to let me know.”

Laval, one of the worst

In addition to this accumulation of delays, when a trial date was finally set, the deadlines imposed by the Supreme Court in the Jordan decision had already passed.

“In 2019, our Court of Appeal recognized on two occasions that the judicial district of Laval was one of the worst places in Canada in terms of unreasonable delays,” commented Judge Serge Cimon, ruling that the The stay of proceedings had to be pronounced despite “the societal importance of this type of file and the courage necessary for the victims to denounce their attackers”.

He also suggested that this kind of problem could arise again if nothing is done to solve the glaring problem of lack of resources in justice. Because in Laval, there are only two trial rooms. As for domestic or sexual violence trials, they can only be held one day a week.

“A city with a population of 446,000 people […] can expect to be better served, he said. Failing to receive the injection of new resources, the establishment of the Specialized Court risks being compromised, and difficult choices await the prosecutor.”

Called to comment on the decision, retired judge Nicole Gibeault for her part recalled the “fragility of the judicial system which has never been pampered” in terms of the budget, while affirming that the other districts in Quebec “should take note” of the decision, in order to ensure that it does not happen again.

“There, it’s in Laval, but afterwards, it will be other courthouses,” she concludes.

What Judge Serge Cimon said:

“Failing to receive the injection of new resources, the establishment of the Specialized Court risks being compromised, and difficult choices await the prosecutor.”

“It is recognized that any unreasonable delay in criminal proceedings tends to discredit the administration of justice and calls into question the credibility of the criminal justice system.”

“While it may seem counter-intuitive at the time, staying proceedings does more to shape a high-quality justice system in the long term.”

“In conclusion, just as society has no interest in leaving crimes unpunished, it has no interest in punishing an accused within a framework that does not respect the Charter.”