Decision adjourned in sexual assault case

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on February 11, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge man whose first of three sexual assault trials concluded in December, is still waiting for the judge to give his decision.
A date to receive the judge’s decision was expected to be set Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court, but Calgary lawyer Andre Ouellette noted the date had not yet been scheduled, and the Crown prosecutor, who has been ill with COVID, had not yet submitted to the judge her written final argument.
The matter is now set to return Feb. 23, to schedule a day when the judge will be available to give his decision.
Bindra, 35, is accused of sexually assaulting four women on separate occasions between 2018 and 2020. The accused denied the allegations, and testified during his trial that all the women consented to the liaisons.
During the trial, which began in November, one woman testified Bindra assaulted her in his vehicle in the Spring of 2018. Bindra is charged with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance in relation to the assault against the woman.
Another woman testified Bindra sexually assaulted her after he gave her and a friend a ride home from a bar in February of 2020. He is charged with housebreaking and commit sexual assault, sexual assault, and administering a noxious substance in relation to that woman. He also faces sexual assault in relation to the woman’s friend whom he gave a ride home.
A fourth woman told court she was too drunk to drive home to Taber following a work Christmas party in December of 2018, and was sexually assaulted after Bindra allowed her to stay the night at his westside home. Although Bindra said she was coming onto him, she testified she did not consent and told him no.
Bindra is also scheduled to stand trial on similar charges against a fifth woman. That trial was scheduled to run last month but was cancelled and is yet to be rescheduled. A third trial in relation to a sixth woman is set to run in June.

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