A North Vancouver man who was wrongfully convicted of a series of sexual assaults and spent more than 26 years in jail has cleared one major hurdle on his way to compensation.
Midway through his trial suing the attorneys general of B.C. and Canada and the City of Vancouver, Ivan Henry and the city reached an out-of-court settlement.
The actual terms of the settlement are confidential, as are the circumstances that led to it, although the city’s lawyers had previously argued that Henry never actually was wrongfully convicted.
“He’s pleased this part of the case is behind him but he appreciates that he still has quite a battle ahead for the rest of the trial,” said Marilyn Sandford, one of the lawyers representing Henry.
Henry was convicted of 10 sexual offences in 1983 and declared a dangerous offender, thanks in part to the prosecutor failing to disclose a number of victim statements that revealed inconsistencies in the Crown’s case.
Another suspect was later convicted of the crimes through DNA evidence. Henry had to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to win the right to sue the prosecutors.
