CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A 70-year-old P.E.I. man has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a young man who is intellectually challenged.
Supreme Court Justice Nancy Key ruled Tuesday that the Crown had not proven “essential evidence’’ in the case against Donald Robert Derry.
Key found the Crown’s evidence both unreliable and lacking credibility. She also said she believed the evidence of Derry.
The Crown called five witnesses, including the complainant, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban.
Derry’s lawyer called both Derry and Derry’s son to testify.
Derry, who was facing one count of sexual assault that was alleged to have taken place in 2018, said while on the stand “that is not true’’ to one claim after another of sexual contact between him and the complainant.
The complainant, who has cognitive impairment and was described in court as operating at the intellectual level of a boy of 10 or under, testified Derry performed oral sex on him and had him to the same to Derry.
Derry testified that he was hired to help the complainant find work and to work on his hygiene and life skills.
He told the court he was unable to find employment for the young man, who found excuses for not wanting to do one potential job after another. He said the complainant became upset when Derry told him that he wanted to stop working with him.
Derry also told the court the complainant was obsessed with sex and often touched himself while around Derry.
Derry testified that he repeatedly told the complainant to stop playing with himself, which Derry said was a common occurrence while he was driving the complainant around.
