Historic Sex Assault Case

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAWSz0L8aKE&ab_channel=CastanetNews

 

Kelowna lawyer Stanley Tessmer says in his 45-year legal career, he's never seen a case like the one he's working on right now.

"It's a horrendous story of, I think, it's an attempt to be woke," Tessmer says.

The case in question dates back to 1977 when a 15-year-old Indigenous girl was sexually assaulted in Good Hope Lake B.C. When she reported it to RCMP, they did not respond.

Two years later, the victim, whom we will refer to as AP, was at the scene of a fire.

She spoke to another RCMP officer and told him about the sexual assault. She was again refused help and told by a Mountie that the RCMP wouldn't investigate because it was too late.

"Terrible case of mistaken identity, terrible case of refusing to investigate," Tessmer says.

"And then a tunnel vision investigation — I'm convinced, because of this lawsuit we filed... I'm convinced that this was not about justice. This case was about the government trying to make up for wrongs committed in the past against Indigenous women."

42 years go by

For the next 42 years AP lived her life thinking she was raped by Arnold Callbreath, Tessmer's client.

Then in 2019, AP saw a news story about another historic sex assault case. So she tried the RCMP again about her own sex assault. This time, the RCMP take on the investigation.

But by then, the local RCMP detachment had closed and records had been lost.

"It's impossible for us to track down. The Crown prosecutor has no records, the police have no records of it. It's a dead end," Tessmer says.

Callbreath was then charged with sexual assault, based on AP's historic allegation.

"AP makes her statement to the police officer in 2019 — and that investigation was what I will call a tunnel vision investigation — because it was not designed to find out who the perpetrator was," Tessmer says.

"As far as the police were concerned, she knew who sexually assaulted her, but if you looked at her statement carefully, she didn't know who sexually assaulted her."

"The question arises, why does she attach that name to this perpetrator. We have a whole bunch of people, (who say) 'yeah she told me that Arnold did it.' She told me Arnold did it, but they didn't see anything."

Tessmer tried to have the case dismissed for a lack of evidence, but the Crown disagreed and the case proceeded.

Callbreath was forced to mortgage his home in order to pay Tessmer and keep his defence going.

Bombshell on the stand

During Callbreath's criminal trial before a judge and jury, it was revealed that AP never actually knew the name of the man who sexually assaulted her.

"In the middle of the trial, it comes out," Tessmer says.

Tessmer says his client's sister took the stand, and while the Crown was questioning her, it was revealed that Callbreath wasn't living in Good Hope Lake at the time of the incident. The sister's common-law partner at the time also not only fit the description of the suspect, but drove a truck that matched the victim's description.

"Now in 1979, if they had investigated, I'm confident they would have found out that my guy was living in Fort Nelson (and) couldn't have done it," Tessmer says.

"When this police officer failed to investigate, he breached his duty, not only to the public, but his duty to my client, because for the next 40 years, [the victim] is telling people he's a rapist."

Tessmer says the jury in the criminal case last month was only out for an hour-and-a-half before they returned a not guilty verdict.

The civil suit

Tessmer has now filed a civil lawsuit against the province, members of the BC Attorney General's office and the RCMP, asking for compensation for abuse of process, malicious prosecution and failure to investigate.

"This case was about the government trying to make up for wrongs committed in the past against Indigenous women. And no doubt, many, many wrongs have been committed against women in the past, and in particular, First Nations women," Tessmer says, explaining that they believe the real sex assault suspect, a white man, is dead. His client is Indigenous.

The lawsuit alleges the Crown prosecutor and Attorney General's office was motivated by "malice or a primary purpose other than that of carrying the law into effect."

The civil claim alleges Callbreath suffered loss of work, health impacts, loss of reputation, legal fees, suicidal ideation and more. In addition to monetary damages, the lawsuit is seeking an apology.

A response to Tessmer's lawsuit has not yet been filed by the police or Crown prosecutors.

RCMP say they are aware of the claim, but declined to comment as the matter is before the courts.