A man who spent 27 years in prison before he was found wrongfully convicted has been ordered by a British Columbia Supreme Court judge to pay $375,000 each to five women who sued him for sexual assault.
Ivan Henry was convicted of 10 counts of sexual assault in 1983, but he was released after the B.C. Court of Appeal determined he was wrongfully convicted and acquitted him in 2010.
Five women filed a civil lawsuit against Henry alleging he sexually assaulted them in their Vancouver homes in the early 1980s.
The plaintiffs are identified in the ruling by their initials, with descriptions of their sexual assaults in their ground-floor or basement suites between May 1981 and June 1982.
Henry represented himself at his criminal trial in 1983, and he was given an indefinite sentence as a dangerous offender, but he was released and later awarded $8 million in his own civil lawsuit against the City of Vancouver and the provincial and federal governments.
Justice Miriam Gropper鈥檚 ruling released Wednesday says the court in Henry鈥檚 wrongful conviction lawsuit found Crown prosecutors had 鈥渟eriously infringed鈥� on his right to a fair trial, demonstrating a 鈥渟hocking disregard鈥� for his Charter rights.
Gropper鈥檚 ruling says evidence that wasn鈥檛 disclosed to Henry 鈥渨ould have likely resulted in his acquittal at his 1983 criminal trial, and the avoidance of sentencing as a dangerous offender.鈥�
Some of that evidence 鈥渋ncluded the large volume of material statements made by the various complainants, including the five plaintiffs,鈥� Gropper鈥檚 ruling says.
Gropper, however, found Henry liable in the civil lawsuit, saying in her ruling 鈥渋t is more likely than not that he was their attacker and performed the sexual assaults 鈥� on a balance of probabilities.鈥�
Civil cases and criminal cases have 鈥渄ifferent standards of proof,鈥� the ruling says, and acquittals in crimes that weren鈥檛 proven beyond a reasonable doubt do not prevent alleged victims from filing lawsuits.
鈥淎n acquittal is not a bar to a civil suit,鈥� the ruling says.
Gropper ruled that she doesn鈥檛 disagree with the findings of the court that acquitted Henry, saying he should not have been convicted or spent any time in jail.
鈥淎lthough I have found Mr. Henry to be liable for his sexual assaults of the plaintiffs, he was acquitted of the criminal charges after he served 27 years in federal custody,鈥� the ruling says. 鈥淗e has not gone unpunished.鈥�
