The second trial for Pemberton’s Roger Molinaro, related to child sexual assault charges, adjourned last Friday, Oct. 25.
It will resume Dec. 11, with closing arguments slated until Dec. 13 in Pemberton Provincial Court.
Molinaro was originally found guilty in November 2021 on several charges related to the abuse of minors and was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail in August 2022.
In December 2023, Molinaro successfully appealed the conviction and, earlier this year, was granted a new trial, which began Oct. 15. His legal team argued on appeal the trial judge’s approach to the evidence was irreparably flawed and enabled guilty verdicts that overlooked serious credibility and reliability concerns regarding the testimony of witnesses.
The defence argued at trial the complainants’ evidence lacked specificity, involved material inconsistencies and claims or descriptions of what occurred that were “implausible,” Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten said in the Dec. 11, 2023 decision.
The Court of Appeal ordered the convictions on all counts be set aside, with an acquittal entered on one of them, and a new trial ordered for the rest.
Over eight days this month, the Pemberton court heard at times difficult testimony from the alleged victims and their family members, frequently a retreading of the original 2021 trial.
The Crown’s case, led by lawyer Jason Krupa, who also served as Crown counsel three years ago, centred on establishing the main witnesses’ credibility as well as the tightknit relationship they and their families had to the Molinaros for years before the allegations came to light, highlighting the potential risk of ruining their respective families’ close ties to the Molinaros by coming forward.
The defence’s case, led by Tony Paisana, questioned the main witnesses’ credibility, and specifically their ability to recall purported incidents of abuse, and their frequency, that took place years prior. The alleged victims were between the ages of nine and 12 or 13, and six and 12, respectively, in the periods when the alleged conduct was said to have taken place. Paisana’s meticulous cross-examination relied on the main witnesses’ original statements to police, testimony from the first trial, and, in the case of one of the alleged victims, a civil suit initiated against Molinaro.
Molinaro did not take the witness stand.
The longtime Pembertonian and businessman was arrested in April 2020 after police launched an investigation into historical allegations of abuse.
