What is the test for credibility at a preliminary hearing?

The trouble with this submission is that credibility is not actually in issue at a preliminary hearing. Providing the evidence meets the test in United States of America v. Sheppard, 1976 CanLII 8 (SCC), [1977] 2 S.C.R. 1067, the justice is required to commit. What defence counsel really mean when they speak of testing credibility at the preliminary hearing is that they want a chance to have a free run at the complainant. At its most benign, the intent will be to develop a record of the complainant’s story at the preliminary hearing that, with luck, the complainant will contradict at trial. At the other end of the spectrum, the purpose is to intimidate the witness, making her less willing or less able to undergo the ordeal a second time at trial.