Regina man denies all allegations of sexual assault against 12-year-old
The sixth day of trial for a man accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old continued at Court of Queen’s Bench Monday.
Christopher Cameron Duke is accused of sexually assaulting the child, who was known to him, on July 31, 2019.
Any information about the alleged victim and witnesses that would identify them is subject to a publication ban.
Duke took the stand for the first time in court Monday morning. When asked about the sexual assault allegations the alleged victim talked about in their testimony, Duke maintained his innocence.
Duke spoke of the timeline of events during the night of the alleged assault, telling a very different story than those presented by the crown’s witnesses.
He alleged he was playing with the alleged victim the night of the incident, saying the alleged victim voluntarily went into the room he was in and was laughing with him.
During the alleged victim's testimony last week, they said Duke threw them on a bed and assaulted them while he was standing up. Duke refuted this in his testimony saying on the night of the incident he was standing and tickling the complainant and when the other sibling came into the room and began tickling them as well.
During cross-examination, crown prosecutor Leona Andrews argued Duke had sexually assaulted the alleged victim on July 31, 2019, and countless other times
Duke has pleaded not guilty.
Monday afternoon, defence attorney Chris MacLeod called Forensic DNA consultant, Lisa Mokleby to the stand.
Mokleby went over the lab results from the alleged victims sexual assault kit.
She agreed with those who examined the lab results but cautioned the Y-STR test, which ignores the presence of female DNA and focuses entirely on male DNA. The test doesn’t prove that the male DNA found was Dukes.
The crown argued that Duke couldn’t be eliminated as a suspected match for the test either.
The case has now been adjourned until April 4, when both the crown and defence will give their final arguments to the judge
