Judge acquits Newfoundland lawyer on sexual assault, interference charges

Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court building in St. John's is shown on March 29, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A judge dismissed all sexual misconduct charges against a Newfoundland lawyer Thursday, saying repeated inconsistencies and falsehoods in the complainant's accounts eroded her credibility and left him unable to believe her allegations.

Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Vikas Khaladkar delivered his lengthy verdict in a St. John's courtroom, carefully outlining his reasoning for dismissing each of the five charges against Robert Regular: four of sexual assault and one of sexual interference.

Khaladkar pointed to evidence and testimony from other witnesses he deemed credible that contradicted the complainant's testimony. At one point he said she was "prone to pivoting when confronted by an inconsistency."

"I am not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed the offences he is accused of," the judge concluded, referring to Regular.

The 72-year-old accused bowed his head and cried when Khaladkar acquitted him, and he was soon embraced by a succession of supporters, some of whom were also crying.

Regular was accused of sexually assaulting the woman on four occasions between 2001 and 2013. The woman said she was between the ages of 12 and 15 when the first alleged incident occurred. In the others, she claimed Regular was trading his legal services for sexual favours.

While reading his decision, Khaladkar went over the evidence presented throughout the trial showing that Regular's office tried to obtain payment from the woman for legal services for more than a year.

"I do not accept that the accused attempted to curry sexual favours," the judge said. "The evidence is in the contrary."

He also had blunt words for her claim that Regular groped her in her mother's car in a MacDonald's parking lot when she was a youth: "I'm concerned about the lack of cohesion in the complainant's testimony."

The judge said inconsistencies are to be expected in cases involving children, but Khaladkar said the complainant's inconsistencies went beyond reasonable expectation, veering into "evidences of carelessness with the truth."

The woman's identity is protected by a publication ban, as is standard in sexual assault cases. Regular had tried to have his name shielded from publication, but a judge refused his application for a ban in 2022.

His lawyer, Jerome Kennedy, told reporters that the verdict vindicated their argument that "an innocent man's name was going to be dragged through the mud."

"This should never have happened. And it happened only because of the misbehaviour of the Crown and police," Regular told reporters.

He said he'd be back at work on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2024.