N.S. man's sexual assault conviction overturned because case took too long

A Nova Scotia man's sexual assault conviction has been overturned because his case took too long to go through the justice system.

Jamal Zaki was charged with sexual assault on April 13, 2022. After a provincial court trial concluded 22½ months later, he was convicted of the charge on March 25, 2024.

The Supreme Court of Canada has set strict timelines for the completion of criminal matters in lower courts. In provincial courts, the so-called Jordan timeline calls for cases to be done in 18 months. Zaki's lawyer argued his conviction violated his client's rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because the case exceeded the 18-month mark.

But Judge Gregory Lenehan dismissed Zaki's application, saying much of the delay in the case was due to the defendant's actions. The judge specifically singled out a defence request to obtain notes from a therapist who treated the complainant and for a delayed start to the trial because of double booking in the courts.

However, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal disagreed with Lenehan's calculation. A three-member panel said the trial judge should have been paying more attention to the looming deadline.

"There was no trial management undertaken to clear an earlier half-day of trial time, nor any consideration of breaking the trial time down into shorter segments in order to conclude sooner than February 26, 2024," the Appeal Court wrote.

"Had any inquiry been made, the urgency of the situation would have been apparent."

Once the Appeal Court determined that a large part of the delay could not be attributed to Zaki, it issued a stay of proceedings on the sexual assault charge.