The Queen v. W.(D.) 2021

   The client was originally “charged” with a peace bond allegation after his ex wife complained to the police that he had sent her text messages that suggested he had been watching her in the hot tub with another man.  A very aggressive Crown prosecutor took over the file and soon after she decided to drop the peace bond allegation and instead indict the client for criminal harassment for virtually every rude comment he had ever made to his ex over the past year.  Mr. van der Walle tried to settle the file reasonably with the Crown by pointing out that none of what the client did could possibly amount to criminal harassment but there was no getting through to this prosecutor and the case proceeded to trial.  At trial, the ex wife ended up being caught out in numerous exaggerations, half truths and even a  few outright lies during cross examination that lasted for almost four full days.  In the end , the trial judge agreed with Mr. van der Walle that none of what the client had done could possibly be viewed as criminal harassment and on that basis he dismissed the charge.  Not guilty.  Client did not testify.