VANCOUVER — A sexual-assault conviction that prosecutors in British Columbia have acknowledged was a "miscarriage of justice" has been overturned by the province's highest court.
Gurdev Singh Dhillon was imprisoned in 2005 for four years and deported back to India for the sexual assault and assault on a woman in a basement suite in the Metro Vancouver city of Surrey.
After his deportation, forensic reports were discovered, including two that were not given to the defence before the trial, showing DNA profiles that did not match Dhillon.
Crown prosecutors called it a miscarriage of justice, the RCMP apologized and the case ended up in the Supreme Court of Canada, which sent it back to the B.C. Court of Appeal.
There, Justice Anne MacKenzie has considered the new evidence, overturned the conviction, and stayed the proceedings against Dhillon, saying another trial would "perpetuate an injustice and undermine the integrity of our judicial system."
Two other men are awaiting trial accused of the same sexual assault.
