The trial of Pemberton man Roger Molinaro, who is facing charges related to child sexual assault for the second time, has been postponed until March.
Closing arguments were originally slated for Dec. 11 to 13, but are now scheduled to begin March 17 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. He successfully appealed the conviction last December, and was subsequently granted a new trial, which began Oct. 15.
Molinaro's 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 in October, the Pemberton court heard at times difficult testimony from the alleged victims and their family members, frequently a retreading of the original 2021 trial.
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.
