Former CBC Radio host will stand trial in 2016 on five other counts of sexual assault and one of choking. Dropped charges involve 2002 and 2003 incidents.
Darren Calabrese / THE CANADIAN PRESS Jian Ghomeshi is escorted by police out of court on Nov 26, 2014. On Tuesday, the Crown withdrew two charges against the former CBC Radio host.
By: Alyshah Hasham, Toronto Star Staff Reporter, Published on Tue May 12 2015
The Crown has dropped two sex assault charges against Jian Ghomeshi, leaving the disgraced former CBC Radio host to stand trial on five charges of sex assault and one charge of choking.
Crown prosecutor Mike Callaghan told the court there is no reasonable prospect of conviction on the two dropped charges, and that he has spoken to the two complainants involved.
One of the dropped sexual assault incidents was alleged to have occurred at the Owen Sound Summerfolk music festival in August 2002.
The woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, told the Star in a previous interview that Ghomeshi kissed her, squeezed her neck, slapped her and roughly forced his fingers into her mouth while in his hotel room.
The other sexual assault charge dropped was alleged to have occurred in May 2003 in Toronto.
The remaining charges are linked to alleged incidents between December 2002 and February 2008.
Ghomeshi will face trial on four charges of sexual assault and one charge of choking before a judge at Old City Hall in February.
He will face a separate trial on the remaining count of sexual assault at a trial in June.
The one count of sexual assault would be tried separately because it occurred in a “different factual context,” Callaghan said.
Ghomeshi, 47 and once the host of the highly popular radio program Q, faces sexual assault charges and one of overcoming resistance by choking for incidents alleged to have occurred in 2002, 2003 and 2008.
Lead defence lawyer Marie Henein has said he will plead not guilty to all charges.
CBC fired Ghomeshi in October after executives saw what they described as graphic evidence that he had physically injured a woman.
Ghomeshi’s $100,000 bail conditions require him to remain in Ontario and live with his mother.
Ghomeshi’s legal team has appeared in court without him a few times in the last few months for procedural matters. Henein had told the court at a Feb. 4 hearing that they have received more than 1,000 documents related to the Crown’s allegations, but were seeking more.
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http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/05/12/two-sexual-assault-charges-dropped-against-jian-ghomeshi.html
