Jian Ghomeshi leaves court in Toronto on Thursday, March 24, 2016.Christopher Katsarov/The Associated Press
Jian Ghomeshi is expected to sign a peace bond on Wednesday that could preclude him going to trial a second time for sexual assault, The Globe and Mail has learned.
The former radio host will appear in court on Wednesday, almost one month earlier than he was slated to go to trial on a single charge of sexual assault, a source with knowledge of the case confirmed on Monday night. At that time, Mr. Ghomeshi is expected to sign a peace bond that would prompt the Crown to withdraw the charge.
A peace bond is an order, made by a judge or justice of the peace in the criminal court system, that acts as a promise by the accused to remain on good behaviour and refrain from being charged with a further crime. The accused must agree to the bond. It can be in force for up to one year, and may include conditions such as limitations on contact with the complainant. It is often used as a tool to ensure former domestic partners accused of assault do not contact their complainants.
Mr. Ghomeshi was expected to stand trial beginning June 6 on a single charge of sexual assault, stemming from an alleged workplace incident in 2008 when he was the host of Q, CBC Radio One's flagship arts show. Though the incident was widely reported when allegations first surfaced in the fall of 2014, the complainant's identity is currently subject to a publication ban.
The Crown had elected to try the case separately from the five charges it took to trial in February, because those stemmed from incidents alleged to have occurred during intimate encounters. Mr. Ghomeshi was acquitted on those charges, spurring protests among supporters of sexual assault victims who claimed the criminal justice system had failed the three complainants.
The coming trial was expected to be potentially damaging to Mr. Ghomeshi's former managers at CBC, whose lax supervision of their star had already come in for sharp criticism from a third-party report issued last year. After that report, CBC let go two senior managers who were among the first to hear allegations of Mr. Ghomeshi's abusive behaviour.
Simon Houpt