On consent and capacity: ‘We actually don’t know where the legal line is’
HALIFAX — At first glance, Canada’s sexual assault law appears to offer judges clear guidance on how to decide whether an alleged victim of sexual assault, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, could be capable of granting consent to sexual activity.
“The law says you cannot obtain valid consent from someone who is incapable of consent,” says Elizabeth Sheehy, a law professor at University of Ottawa and an expert in sexual assault law.
But that’s where many experts say the clarity ends — and the debate begins over the complex issue of intoxication and consent.
Sheehy was responding to the many thorny questions of law — and howls of public outrage — that have arisen since a Halifax taxi driver was found not guilty Wednesday of sexually assaulting a young woman found drunk, unconscious and partially naked in his cab.