Calgary man acquitted in controversial case now facing new charges

CALGARY — A Calgary man who was acquitted of sexual assault by a controversial judge is now facing seven new charges.

Alexander Wagar has been charged with assaulting and choking a man, and breaking into a shop.

He is scheduled to appear in court on the new charges next week.

Wagar was acquitted in 2014 by Robin Camp, who was then a provincial court judge, and then acquitted again after a retrial.

During the first trial, Camp asked the teenage complainant why she couldn’t keep her knees together, called her “the accused” numerous times and told her “pain and sex sometimes go together.”

The Canadian Judicial Council recommended that Camp be removed from the bench, and he later quit as a member of the Federal Court and apologized for his comments.

Federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said the government planned to have Camp removed had he not quit.

The complainant, who was 19 at the time of the first trial, told the disciplinary hearing that Camp’s comments had made her hate herself. She said she had contemplated suicide as a result of her experience.

“He made me feel like I should have done something … that I was some kind of slut,” she said.