A B.C. Supreme Court judge stayed charges against a man accused of sexually assaulting his ex-wife more than three weeks before his trial due to violation of his right to a timely trial.

In an Oct. 3 Fort St. John ruling, Justice David Crerar said the time between the original single-count charge and anticipated end of trial was 39.6 months — almost 10 months longer than the 30-month limit set in 2016 by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The man, whose name is protected by a ban on publication, was originally charged in August 2022 for incidents alleged to have occurred over a 27-month period between December 2019 and February 2022. A Provincial Court trial had been scheduled in January 2024, but the case was transferred in June 2025 to BC Supreme Court and a trial scheduled for Oct. 27.

The

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