Canada: Ex-soldier acquitted of rape

Canada: Ex-soldier acquitted of rape

The Manitoba Court of Appeal reserved its decision in the case of Roger Borsch after hearing Crown and defense submissions yesterday morning.

Borsch was a prison guard in The Pas when, in 2004, he broke into the home of a fellow guard and sexually assaulted her daughter at knifepoint in her bedroom. Borsch taped the girl's mouth shut and threatened to kill her if she screamed.

At his trial last spring, Borsch claimed he had no memory of the attack and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after a six-month tour of duty in Bosnia in 1994.

Borsch claimed he was traumatized by his experiences in Bosnia, which he said included killing a Serbian soldier he caught raping a young girl and seeing another young girl killed after she dropped a landmine.

In appealing the verdict, Crown attorney Don Knight argued Justice Nathan Nurgitz erred in accepting the testimony of defense psychiatrists without evaluating the credibility of Borsch's wartime claims.

No records kept

No one corroborated Borsch's war stories and no records were kept of the incidents, Knight said.

"All we have, in effect, are opinions that are worthless because they are not based on findings of fact," Knight said.

Knight also argued Nurgitz should have agreed to hear the testimony of a last minute Crown witness who served in Bosnia with Borsch.

If he had been allowed to testify, Cpl. Craig Price was expected to say his tour of duty was a quiet one and that he was unaware of several acts of violence Borsch claims to have witnessed or participated in.

Borsch's lawyer Mark Wasyliw said the Crown had plenty of time to come up with rebuttal witnesses before the trial started.

"They clearly couldn't," Wasyliw said outside court. "You can be believed on your own evidence and acquitted on your own evidence, which (Borsch) obviously was."