VANCOUVER — The lawyer of a man wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years says her client's 1983 sexual-assault trial is Canada's most egregious example of the Crown withholding evidence.
Marilyn Sandford describes the reams of witness statements, forensic reports, surveillance details and police notes kept from Ivan Henry as breathtaking.
Henry was acquitted by the B.C. Court of Appeal in 2010 on 10 counts of sexual assault and is suing the province for compensation.
The federal government and the City of Vancouver have since settled with Henry, leaving B.C. as the only remaining defendant.
Sandford says the trial would likely have gone very differently had the Crown released more than just 66 disclosure documents to Henry.
Her statements mark the start of closing arguments in the B.C. Supreme Court case.
