A Canadian federal judge is facing possible removal after using the words “Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?” to the accuser during a 2014 rape trial.
The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) is determining the fate of justice Robin Camp, 64, who apologized on Friday for his questioning of the 19-year-old woman.
Camp, who was born in South Africa and moved to Calgary in 1998, was a provincial court judge at the time of the rape trial. He acquitted the man accused in the case after deciding his testimony was more credible.
Court transcripts show Camp also told the woman “pain and sex sometimes go together” and referred to her as “the accused” throughout the trial.
Camp’s verdict was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered. Camp attributed his remarks to a lack of knowledge regarding Canada’s sexual assault law.
He said he had been in South Africa during the 1960s through the 1980s and had not understood the changes to Canadian sexual assault law intended to protect women from discriminatory attitudes.
“I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” he told two panel members who asked why he hadn’t used the legal education funds he receives as a judge to improve his knowledge of Canadian sexual assault law.
Closing arguments in the judicial review will take place on Monday. The CJC will then forward its final recommendation to the federal justice minister.
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