REGINA — The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has rejected the Crown’s attempt to challenge a lower-court ruling that overturned the conviction of Geoffrey McFarlan, a former Neilburg school principal originally sentenced to six months in jail for sexually interfering with a 12-year-old student.
The case has been winding through the courts since 2023, when McFarlan was convicted in North Battleford Provincial court after the complainant reported that someone grabbed her buttocks in a crowded school hallway. Two students testified they saw the touch, and the provincial court trial judge found identity proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
But in November 2024, the Battleford Court of King’s Bench set aside the conviction, finding the trial judge had misapprehended key evidence and failed to provide legally sufficient reasons for the verdict. Criticizing the provincial court trial judge’s handling of the evidence, Justice Brenda Hildebrandt found that the trial judge’s conclusion that no one else could have committed the act was a misapprehension of the evidence, given what was known about the hallway and student behaviour at the time.
She pointed out two major pieces of evidence the trial judge failed to address.
First, the hallway was extremely crowded, with about 40 students from multiple grades present during the five-minute class break.
Secondly, members of the Grade 7 class had been engaged in a “butt-grabbing game,” a behaviour the complainant herself described.
Justice Hildebrandt wrote that the trial judge’s assertion that no one else was in a position to commit the act “constitutes a misapprehension of the evidence.” Failing to address the crowded hallway and the students’ behaviour, she said was a “clearly identifiable, or palpable, error.”
These omissions, the judge found, created the real possibility that someone other than McFarlan committed the act.
In overturning McFarlan's conviction, the Battleford Court of King’s Bench decision ordered a new trial, not an acquittal.
Crown sought permission to appeal
Because the Crown doesn’t have an automatic right to appeal a summary-conviction appeal decision, prosecutors first had to ask the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal for permission, a step called seeking "leave to appeal."This is a gatekeeping process that ensures only cases raising important legal questions or showing compelling errors proceed to a full appeal.
And, on Dec. 8, the province’s top court declined to grant the Crown that permission.
Justice Jillyne M. Drennan, writing for a three-judge panel, said the Crown had not shown that the Battleford Court of King’s Bench ruling raised a legal question of general importance or that refusing permission to appeal would cause an injustice.
The Crown argued that the summary conviction appeal judge in Battleford Court of King’s Bench misapplied the standards of review and misunderstood parts of the evidence.
But the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal found that the legal principles, such as how courts assess sufficiency of reasons or misapprehension of evidence, are already well established.
“There is no indication that this is a systemic issue which would have import beyond the confines of this case,” wrote Justice Drennan, in concurrence with Justices Georgina Jackson and Neal Caldwel.
New trial still available
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal pointed out that McFarlan wasn’t acquitted by the Battleford Court of King's Bench and the Crown still has the option to retry the case in North Battleford Provincial Court.
"From a remedy standpoint, I am also mindful that as Mr. McFarlan was not acquitted by the summary conviction appeal judge, the Crown may retry its case," said Justice Drennan. "The important point in declining to grant leave in this matter is that the Crown’s proposed appeal would not be significant to the administration of justice generally."
Crown’s application dismissed
“For all these reasons, the Crown’s application for leave to appeal the decision is denied,” ruled Justice Drennan in her December decision.
The matter now returns to the provincial court trial level if the Crown decides to retry McFarlan.
-With files by Miguel Fenrich
ljoy@sasktoday.ca
