9 hours ago
Man acquitted after B.C. judge rules he ‘likely' slashed woman but Crown couldn't prove it
A man accused of slashing a woman in the face in an apparent stranger attack in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside has been acquitted, even though the judge ruled it was 'more likely than not' that he was the accused.
In a ruling delivered Thursday, Provincial Court Judge G.M. Rideout concluded that while it was possible Shone Robert Selbie was the attacker caught on CCTV, the evidence wasn't good enough to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
'It wasn't me,' Selbie told Global News outside the court. 'That's why the judge found me innocent.'
'I look like the person in the video,' he added.
Selibe, who turns 52 this year, had been charged with a single count of aggravated assault in Aug. 11, 2024 attack in the 400 block of Cordova Street that left a woman with a serious laceration on her cheek.
Story continues below advertisement
1:53
Vancouver machete attacker sentenced
CCTV footage captured from two social housing buildings on the block depicts a man hunched over and swaying and holding a box cutter in his hand. In the video, he can be seen putting a woman into a headlock, appearing to slash her face, and then casually walking away.
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
The case hinged on the identity of the accused, and the Crown's ability to prove it.
At trial, the Crown pointed to the CCTV images themselves, along with testimony from a Vancouver police officer who had interacted with Selbie twice that summer and identified him in court from the images.
At trial, prosecutors argued Selbie had a distinctive face with prominent features, including crooked and pointy nose, high cheekbones, and sunken cheeks with deep-set eyes.
On the stand, the officer further testified he was '100 per cent certain' Selbie was the person depicted in the CCTV images that had been compiled into a police information bulletin.
Story continues below advertisement
Selbie's defence argued the CCTV footage was of average quality, and never caught a clear full facial image of the attacker.
It also noted that the officer had pointed to the attacker's Nike shoes as a distinctive identifying characteristic, but had incorrectly described the logo on them as black when it was actually white.
0:54
Vancouver police safety trailer vandalized in Downtown Eastside
In acquitting Selbie, Rideout agreed the CCTV footage shows someone with a pointed nose, but acknowledged it never caught a full facial view of the suspect.
'Clearly there are some physical characteristics of the suspect in the CCTV footage consistent with the accused's appearance in court,' he ruled.
'I am unable to say with any confidence that the suspect in the CCTV footage is the accused before this court.'
Story continues below advertisement
The identifying officer, he added, does not have any special training in identification, and 'agreed in cross-examination that some of the characteristics he identifies as distinctive to the accused can also apply to other individuals.'
Rideout noticed that in the CCTV footage, the suspect had a distinctive walk, a 'physical hunch-like walk consistent with drug addicts' known in the Downtown Eastside as the 'benzo gait.'
The identifying officer, he said, never noticed anything distinctive about Selbie's gait in the two interactions he had with the accused that summer.
0:30
Vancouver police officer slashed with knife in Downtown Eastside
Those interactions, together, lasted for about 45 minutes — not enough for his level of familiarity with Selbie to rise to the level of being 'so well acquainted' with him to make his identification 'certain and safe,' Rideout said.
'His recognition evidence is insufficiently reliable to assist the court in identifying the accused as the suspect in the identification bulletin,' Rideout ruled.
Story continues below advertisement
That led the judge to conclude that while Selbie was more likely than not the attacker, the Crown hadn't met the threshold of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
'The inherent frailties of identification evidence are well known to the law and have been the subject of frequent judicial consideration and comment,' he said, quoting a legal precedent.
'We must, however, never regard these principles as trite. They are fundamental.'
