South Okanagan pedophile acquitted of sexually abusing disabled senior

An Oliver man jailed for 10 years for sexually abusing a friend’s son has been acquitted of raping a developmentally delayed senior.

Regis Patrick Palmer was on bail when he was charged with sexually abusing a 67-year-old friend who has brain damage.

However, according to a recently published March 6 BC Supreme Court decision, Justice Maegen Giltrow found the disabled man, referred to as D.L., was inconsistent in his testimony.

“While D.L.’s steadfast evidence that sexual touching occurred is compelling,” the Justice said.” I cannot say that it leaves me with no reasonable doubt.”

The Justice said she didn’t believe Palmer’s evidence, but the “shortcomings and the reliability” of D.L.’s evidence left her with reasonable doubt.

“Accordingly, I must acquit Mr. Palmer of the charge upon which he stands before the court,” the Justice said.

In 2023, Palmer was sentenced to 10 years jail for repeatedly sexually abusing a friend’s son over a six year period starting in 2009. The victim’s father had been good friends with Palmer and allowed him to regularly stay over.

The sentencing judge said Palmer had “manipulated, exploited, and preyed upon the victim for years,” describing his behaviour as “depraved and deceitful.”

The alleged abuse against D.L. appears to have taken place while Palmer was on bail.

The decision says D.L. had meningitis when he was a child, which left him brain-damaged.

“I observed him to be affable, cooperative and polite. He has evident difficulty in communicating,” the Justice said.

D.L. was allowed to testify outside the courtroom due to his “mental disability.”

“Throughout his video statement and testimony, D.L. never resiled from his core allegation of numerous instances of sexual touching by the accused,” the Justice said.

However, the Justice also pointed out that D.L. was not always responsive to the questions asked, which led to unclear evidence.

The Justice said some of this evidence left ambiguity.

“D.L. testified that he had been in the accused’s apartment four, six and 16 times. This was unresolved,” the Justice said.

“He testified that the accused had sexually assaulted him four times at the accused’s apartment. He testified that he had been raped by the accused three or four times,” the Justice said.

However, the Crown said D.L. was not reliable with respect to numbers and that he struggled with big words, but his memory was clear.

The Justice highlighted numerous discrepancies in this testimony.

“I am unable from D.L.’s evidence to determine with any accuracy what he says happened and where,” the Justice said. “I am concerned that D.L.’s difficulty in recalling and recounting the detail of any of these incidents impugns the reliability of this evidence.” 

The Justice said she kept in mind the 67-year-old challenges in communicating, but ultimately found D.L.’s evidence wasn’t reliable and acquitted Palmer.