A man who moved from Ireland to Saskatchewan with his wife has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting her and threatening to kill her.
Court had been told the couple argued over her wanting to go back to Ireland, where they emigrated from in 2012.
The wife had alleged he drugged her and filmed her during sex, and also told her she would disappear just like an old girlfriend back in Ireland who the woman said has been missing for almost 20 years.
She also said her husband told her that the only way she would be leaving Canada would be "in a box."
But Justice Marty Popescul wrote in his decision that her evidence was vague and could have been influenced by the fact that she did not like the accused.
Popescul wrote that he was left with a reasonable doubt on the threat charges because the husband denied the accusations and the testimony from his wife and her daughter from a previous marriage was not credible.
"It appears to be an attempt to cause legal trouble for the accused so as to assist in her quest to return to Ireland," he wrote.
The woman went to police in 2014 after discovering that her and her children's passports were missing. That's when she reported that her husband had threatened her.
The investigation led to a search of the couple's home in rural Saskatchewan.
It uncovered numerous video recordings depicting the couple engaging in sex acts that the woman testified she did not consent to because she appeared either intoxicated by drugs or alcohol, sometimes to the point of passing out.
The woman said that she did not know about the recordings but her husband testified that the tapes were a part of the couple's sex life.
A large portion of the trial focused on the makeup his wife was wearing in the videos, including blue eye shadow, red lipstick, fake nails and fake eyelashes. The accused said it was their "sex makeup," but the complainant said she had never seen it before.
The Crown argued that the accused would put the makeup on his wife without her knowledge after she had consumed alcohol. He would then film them having non-consensual sex and remove the woman's makeup before she woke up.
"Such a theory is not only improbable, it borders on the impossible," Popescul wrote.
Some of the videos showed the woman applying her own lipstick. The step-daughter also testified that her mother had purchased blue eye shadow online.
(CKOM)
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