Crown, defence present closing arguments for N.L. lawyer accused of sexual assault

Newfoundland lawyer Robert Regular appears in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St.John's on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Sarah Smellie/The Canadian Press)

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -

The trial of a Newfoundland lawyer accused of sexual assault ended Tuesday with his defence team alleging the complainant lied under oath, while the prosecution said her memory lapses were understandable.

Defence lawyer Rosellen Sullivan used her closing argument to try to undermine the complainant's credibility, saying the woman's flawed recollection of dates and details about the alleged assaults by Robert Regular made her unreliable.

But Crown prosecutor Deidre Badcock noted that Regular, charged in relation to four alleged incidents with the complainant, said he could only recall dates accurately because he had records of his meetings. Without them, he too would have been left struggling to recall specifics in court, Badcock said.

• Canada This Month newsletter: Sign up to read the best our local outlets have to offer

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

“They have to be held to the same standard," Badcock told Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court Justice Vikas Khaladkar. Sullivan shot back, saying Regular's records contradicted much of the complainant's testimony.

Regular is charged with one count of sexual interference and four counts of sexual assault, all involving the same complainant in incidents alleged to have occurred between 2001 and 2013 — including one when she was aged between 12 and 14. The incidents are alleged to have occurred in or near his law firm's office building in Conception Bay South, which is about 30 kilometres west of St. John's.

Regular pleaded not guilty to the charges, and in testimony during the trial, he denied all the allegations.

One charge involves the groping of the complainant when she was a child and alone with Regular in her mother's car. Sullivan questioned the plausibility of a well-established lawyer sexually assaulting a child he'd never met, in a car parked next to a busy restaurant parking lot in broad daylight. 

"Why is that implausible?" Badcock countered. "Isn't it implausible that anyone would sexually assault anyone?"

The complainant has said the last three alleged assaults occurred while she was seeking Regular's legal services. Sullivan said the woman's testimony that the final two assaults took just minutes and involved penetrative sex was undermined by evidence that Regular had erectile dysfunction.

Regular testified that he suffered from heart problems as well as erectile dysfunction, Sullivan recalled. A doctor testifying for the defence said that if someone with his condition took Viagra hours before, they may be able to have sex in such a short time in "optimal conditions," she said.

“A busy office during the day with an unwilling participant is not optimal," Sullivan said.

She accused the woman of lying on the stand when she was questioned about being arrested at a gas station and about turning to someone who she says had sexually assaulted her for legal services. Lying under oath should be “fatal” to her allegations, Sullivan told the judge.

• Sign up for breaking news alerts from CTV News, right at your fingertips

Badcock said that while Regular had access to all of the files and evidence that would be presented during the trial, the woman did not, and she was not able to "refresh her memory" the same way Regular was.

She said she agreed the woman confused the sequence of events at times, and that she sometimes did not remember things correctly, even while on the stand. But when she was arrested at the gas station, she was intoxicated, Badcock noted, so it makes sense she could not accurately recall what happened.

As for why the woman went back to Regular, Badcock said the main reason was the woman knew she would not have to pay because Regular was trading his services for sexual favours.

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

Khaladkar said he will deliver his decision on June 27.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2024