Teen victim of horrible sex abuse a courageous witness: Lawyers
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The central witness in a nightmarish sexual abuse case has suffered greatly and should be commended for her courage in bringing her abusers to justice, court heard.
The witness, identified only as DB, now 30, has secured convictions against her mom, stepfather and Jason Byrd Dickens, 48, a former Degrass High actor who pleaded guilty in 2018.
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But Crown attorney Jennifer Strasberg and defence lawyer Daniel Brown disagree whether DB’s evidence is potent enough to convict London photographer Martin “Scotdom” Galloway of sex crimes against her between 2001 and 2003.
Galloway, now 60, was one of DB’s mom’s former BDSM sex partners almost 20 years ago. He was allegedly invited to sexually abuse the girl and have sex with her mom and stepdad.
DB’s younger sister and brother were also subjected to degrading sexual abuse by their parents, court heard.
Strasberg said DB’s evidence is “compelling and corroborated by her mom’s and other independent evidence, that Galloway came to her house and sexually abused her.”
“There’s no evidence that Galloway is a pedophile or a rapist, but this was a crime of opportunity,” said Strasberg.
The victim knew details about Scotdom that he has a large, uncircumsized penis and was a dominant but gentle lover because of these experiences with him, Strasberg told Justice Louise Botham in her closing.
Brown said DB’s evidence “is simply wrong about her accusations against Mr. Galloway.”
“He is completely innocent and you must acquit him of this heinous allegation,” argued Brown.
“Regardless of the sympathy we all feel for her and for the endless trauma she has endured, we can’t lose sight of the burden of proof or the problems with this evidence,” said Brown.
“You can have no confidence she has told you the truth. And her mom’s evidence, rather than corroborating her daughter’s story, actually undermines it,” said Brown.
Botham will release her judgment on Feb 25.
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