Alberta Justice says there is no way to revive a controversial case against an Airdrie man accused of sexually assaulting a young girl for years.
The case was dropped earlier this month after a judge said it had dragged on for too long.
Arizona says she was sexually assaulted by a relative from the time she was nine until she was 17.
When she told her mom, they went to police and charges were laid against an Airdrie man.
“I was happy that I had stepped up and did something and that the ball was gonna start rolling and that he was actually going to have to answer to what he had done,” said Arizona.
It took over three years to get to trial and then on October 3rd the justice threw out the case because it had dragged on too long.
“It feels more like he got away with so much more and it feels like I got a slap on the wrist for coming forward and that's not how it should be,” said Arizona.
Wild Rose Justice Critic, Rob Anderson, says the case points to a breakdown in the system.
“The government needs to fully investigate this, figure out what happened here and figure out how many more crown prosecutors we need to hire how much more staff we need to hire in order to ensure this does not happen again,” said Anderson.
The government is investigating.
“We do our best, and I think we do a very good job, to prioritize our cases to ensure that the serious ones like this get the attention that they deserve and this case was not stayed because it didn’t get the attention because of a lack of crown resources,” said Gregg Lepp, Alberta Justice Assistant Deputy Minister.
When the case was dropped a restraining order against the man was also removed and Arizona says now she feels like the system is abusing her. “There's absolutely nothing I can do and nobody can fix it or to make right what happened to me.”
Because the crown didn't oppose the defence’s motion to drop the charges, there is no opportunity for an appeal.
