‘Exonerated’ Ont. man, 81, acquitted of historical sexual assault charges

Pefferlaw man Harvey Jackson, 81, acquitted of historical sex crime charges comes to a close during day two of trial.

The Crown abandoned its prosecution of a Pefferlaw, Ont. man midway through his sexual assault trial in a Newmarket courtroom Tuesday.

Harvey Kenneth Jackson, 81, left the courthouse after being accused of historical sexual assaults dating back 42 years. Initial allegations, police said, involved three girls accusing Jackson of touching them sexually decades ago.

“He’s 81 years old. His life has been essentially ruined,” said defence lawyer Chris Murphy following the dismissal. “He’s an innocent man.”

Jackson was on trial charged with five counts of sexual assault, all the charges were dismissed at the request of the Crown. Murphy said, despite the decision, the damage to Jackson’s reputation had already been done following the release of his name and photos by York Regional police in 2023 when investigators announced the charges and appealed for further witnesses to come forward.

“His pictures from each decade were shown on the media and it’s a devastating circumstance for anybody but if you’re an 81-year-old man with no criminal record and this is how your life essentially ends it’s just a tragedy,” said Murphy.

The dismissal came midway through the second day of testimony from the complainant who admitted she had trouble remembering dates, times and places, and referred to her memory as “foggy” when pressed by Jackson’s lawyer during more than three hours of cross examination.

The woman’s testimony was inconsistent and on several occasions while giving evidence Tuesday morning, could not explain why her testimony did not match prior statements to police or her testimony in court on Monday.

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Shortly after the court’s lunch recess, the Crown conceded it could not meet its onus and prove Jackson’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Justice John McCarthy accepted the request and dismissed the case against Jackson.

Murphy described his ‘exonerated’ client as “factually innocent.”

“I just would ask members of the public to keep an open mind that you’re talking about a person who is presumed innocent,” said Murphy.

“I’m not suggesting that you don’t want to believe a victim but the whole premise of Canadian jurisprudence is that a person is innocent until proven guilty so there is no presumption that the complainant is correct, it’s actually the other way around.”

The witness, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, told the court Jackson touched her under her nightgown when she was about eight or nine years old. She testified the other complainant revealed Jackson touched her as well but the two women never specifically discussed the nature of the allegations.

The court heard she came forward to police two years ago when investigators revealed the historical allegations from three women and possibility of further complainants.

Charges from one of the complainants were withdrawn prior to trial. The defence suggested the complainant colluded with the other complainant in the case against Jackson.

“All it takes is to come forward to the police and say something happened to you and then your life is ruined and that’s what has happened to Mr. Jackson,” he said. “Just be careful about casting judgement and throwing stones because this could happen to anybody at any time.”

The trial was initially scheduled for two weeks before a judge and jury until the defence re-elected to stand trial by judge alone last week.

Jackson did not wish to provide comment to CTV News besides stating he will now have to spend his remaining years trying to repair his damaged reputation as a result of the allegations.