Derek Neary
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 05/99) - Last Wednesday, a Supreme Court jury acquitted Fort Liard Chief Harry Deneron of a rape charge dating back to April, 1964.

Deneron's lawyer, Robert Gorin, noted that there is no limitation within which to file criminal charges for indictable crimes in Canada.

In this case the complainant had accused Deneron of forcing her into his bedroom and having unconsenting sex with her when she was 18 years old and he was 22. At the time, he was an interpreter for the RCMP in Fort Liard. She claimed that he asked her to clean his room on the RCMP compound. He said he didn't remember asking her to do any such thing.

The complainant's lawyer, Dennis Claxton, suggested to Deneron that he was in a position of power. Deneron dissented, contending that he was merely an interpreter, a grass cutter and a dog feeder for the RCMP.

During the alleged incident, the complainant further testified that she didn't resist or yell for help when Deneron reportedly pushed or pulled her into the bedroom because there was nobody around. In response to a question from defence lawyer Gorin, the complainant admitted the incident was neither "rough" nor "violent."

She said she subsequently became pregnant, and, being ashamed, told others Deneron was the father, but didn't tell anybody about the alleged rape until 1996.

Through questioning, Gorin ascertained that the impetus for the complainant to file charges was a rumour that her daughter was also raped by Deneron. She said she was angry and didn't want her daughter to go through what she said she went through.

Under oath, Deneron, 57, admitted that the child was his and that was confirmed a few years ago through DNA testing. However, he refuted the complainant's version of the 1964 encounter.

Under questioning from Gorin, Deneron was asked, "Did you ever rape her?"

"Never," he replied.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Deneron said.

He added that he had been in a sexual relationship with the complainant for a year prior to the incident, and they'd had sexual relations many times prior to and after April. The complainant denied ever having any sort of relationship with Deneron.

A friend of Deneron's, the only other person to take the stand in the case, said he remembered seeing Deneron and the complainant together at social functions.

The jury, selected in Fort Simpson, deliberated a little over two hours before coming to the verdict of not guilty.