What is the test for reasonable and probable cause in a sexual assault case?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Arsenovski v. Bodin, 2016 BCSC 359 (CanLII):

Reasonable and probable cause contains subjective and objective elements, as explained in Nelles at 193: … Reasonable and probable cause has been defined as “an honest belief in the guilt of the accused based upon a full conviction, founded on reasonable grounds, of the existence of a state of circumstances, which, assuming them to be true, would reasonably lead any ordinarily prudent and cautious man, placed in the position of the accuser, to the conclusion that the person charged was probably guilty of the crime imputed” (Hicks v. Faulkner (1878), 8 Q.B.D. 167, at p. 171, Hawkins J.) This test contains both a subjective and objective element. There must be both actual belief on the part of the prosecutor and that belief must be reasonable in the circumstances. The existence of reasonable and probable cause is a matter for the judge to decide as opposed to the jury.

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