Woman's sexual assault case going to trial 4½ years after complaint

A woman who alleges she was raped when she was 17 in Lower Sackville, N.S., is questioning why it has taken four and a half years for the case to go to court. 

The accused, Marshall Vaughn Lucas, has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault. His trial is scheduled to begin Monday morning in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. 

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The victim expects to testify and says she's dreading facing her alleged attacker. Now 21, her identity is protected by a publication ban.

She says she thought the case had been dropped until she was served with a subpoena earlier this year to testify. 

"I'm honestly left at a loss for words. It's more like I was moving on and then for it to be brought up three years later, it's like reopened a wound," she said. 

The victim and her mother say for three years they were never contacted by Victim Services, the Crown or police. 

"We never heard of anything. Nobody ever contacted us. My daughter thought that he had gotten away with it. We thought he had gotten away with it," the victim's mother said. 

Trying to numb pain

The victim says her life had already started to spiral when she was assaulted and in the years that followed, things got much worse. 

She began drinking heavily almost every day and doing cocaine. 

"I got pulled into a trafficking ring and they threatened to kill my family. You know I pretty much had all of my freedom taken away from me," she said. 

The young woman says she bears responsibility for her choices, but was also trying to numb the pain.

"I feel like maybe hadn't this happened to me, or I thought that maybe people actually cared that it happened; you know maybe that I would've you know been a happier person in life and not felt as lost."

The assault happened in June 2011, the victim says. Lucas, an acquaintance who was 49 at the time, invited her up to his apartment for a cigarette and forced himself on her, she claims.

She reported the alleged assault to police and went to the hospital to get a sexual assault test.

Lucas was charged in the fall of 2011 and within a year, a date was set for the preliminary inquiry, which is a normal time frame, according to the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service. 

Court documents show the case started to drag out when the preliminary inquiry, held to determine if there's enough evidence to warrant a trial, was postponed seven different times between June 2013 to April 2014.

'Every bump in the road'

The Crown says the case was adjourned repeatedly because the lawyer representing Lucas was sick and the accused eventually sought a new lawyer. 

"Every once in awhile a case comes along that hits every bump in the road," said Chris Hansen, a spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service. 

"It is unusual, but sometimes it simply can't be helped." 

The average criminal case in this province, according to Statistics Canada, takes 155 days from start to finish — a month longer than the national average. 

"Cases that take several years to complete are uncommon, and frankly, unacceptable," Nova Scotia's Department of Justice said in a statement.

The province is working to reduce timelines and the department hopes video court will help, the department said. 

Peter Mancini, the director of service delivery for Nova Scotia Legal Aid, says heavy caseloads can contribute to delays and have always been an issue. 

"Our criminal lawyers carry 150 files. The Crown walks into the courtroom with a banker's box full of files," he said. 

"Everybody in the justice system — the Crown, the defence, the court clerks, the sheriffs — everybody has a fairly heavy case load."

Keeping victims informed

The victim's mother says regardless of what caused the delays, her daughter should have been updated on the case.

"I just don't know where she would be today if none of that happened. And nobody seems to give a crap."

The Department of Justice does offer services for victims, including counselling, trial preparations and in some cases, financial assistance. 

Hansen says it's usually up to the Crown and Victim Services to keep the victim informed. 

She says in this case, it appears the victim was out of province and difficult to reach. 

"If we're unable to contact someone, it isn't for lack of trying," she said. 

The victim says the system should have contingency plans in place to assist people, even if their phone numbers change — for instance, by contacting family. 

The victim's mother says she found it strange that Victim Services called her in the spring, the day after police inquired about delivering a subpoena, when she hadn't heard from them in years. 

She says something needs to change to ensure this situation doesn't happen to anyone else. She says four and a half years is far too long to wait to testify.  

"Because where it is the burden on the victim — you're expecting them to remember details and sometimes there's a big fallout from that."

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