Excessive drinking reduces complainant’s credibility

Sexual assault charges were dismissed against a former Jasper hotel employee in Jasper Provincial Court last Thursday.

Jan Philipp Zumkeller’s trial got off to a shaky start on Jan. 22. Zumkeller, a German national with a weak grasp of the English language, is a former employee of Jasper Park Lodge, where the assault was alleged to have taken place.

Zumkeller’s lawyer claimed to have secured a translator, but due to a mixup, a translator was not present. Instead, an employee of JPL who was present in court and spoke fluent German served as a translator. 

The complainant claimed that after a night of heavy drinking in celebration of her birthday, she passed out in Zumkeller’s room in the old staff accommodation at JPL, and awoke to Zumkeller engaging in sexual intercourse with her. 

Zumkeller, in his testimony, claimed the sex was consensual, stating that “it was basically a one-night stand” and that they had “had regular drunken sex.” 

The incident was reported to JPL security where the complainant wrote out a statement and was given a bus voucher to go to the hospital for an examination. However, she waited four days after the incident to launch a formal complaint with the police. 

Crown witnesses claimed that the complainant was “extremely distraught” immediately following the incident. The complainant showed anguish during her testimony, and she was tearful at times.

The defense argued that the complainant was so intoxicated that she couldn’t remember what she said or did and she only went to the police because she became ashamed of her actions the next morning. 

In the end, Judge D.C. Norheim dismissed the charges against Zumkeller, essentially due to the fact that the complainant’s testimony was less credible than Zumkeller’s, given the large amount of alcohol she consumed and because she could not remember parts of the night.