WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
A Manitoba priest accused of sexually assaulting a now-nine-year-old girl in Little Grand Rapids First Nation last year has had all charges against him stayed, a day after the girl at the centre of the case testified against him.
Arul Savari sat silently behind his lawyers in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday afternoon on what was supposed to be the second day of his judge-alone trial as Crown attorney Danielle Simard told Court of King’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg prosecutors made the decision after taking a careful look at the evidence following the girl’s testimony.
“As the court is aware, the process is very difficult for any witness, but even more so for a child. Best efforts are always put forth by prosecutions to ensure that a witness is well-prepared to testify, and this case is no different,” Simard said.
“Furthermore, it doesn’t matter whether the Crown prosecutors believe that a criminal offence occurred or the impact of such allegations on an isolated community. While weighing heavily, it’s not the deciding factor.”
Simard pointed to the Crown’s “ongoing and overarching legal and ethical responsibility” to ensure the cases they prosecute have a reasonable likelihood of ending in conviction as the reasoning behind the decision.
“It is not sufficient that something probably happened but rather, ‘Can the evidence reasonably meet the test beyond a reasonable doubt?'” Simard said.
“It is in keeping with our solemn obligation to deliver justice in a responsible and thoughtful manner that we must direct a stay of proceedings on all charges before this honourable court in relation to Mr. Arul Savari.”
The girl, who cannot be identified because of a publication ban and who clutched a stuffed animal as she spoke in court Tuesday, said she remembered feeling scared that day as the priest allegedly walked her to his bedroom inside the church in the remote First Nation, about 265 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
WATCH | Charges stayed against Manitoba priest accused of sexually assaulting girl:
A Manitoba priest accused of sexually assaulting a now-nine-year-old girl in Little Grand Rapids First Nation last year has had all charges against him stayed, a day after the girl at the centre of the case testified against him.
The allegations she made against Savari, whom she called “Father Arul,” included that he took his clothes off, told her he loved her, touched her legs and her belly and kissed her.
Savari had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, sexual interference and forcible confinement. He sat behind a screen in court Tuesday that prevented the girl from seeing him as she testified.
‘He did something gross to me’
Court heard both direct testimony from the girl and a video recording of the statement she gave after the alleged assault in 2023.
“When I was at the church, I guess, that priest — you know that priest who works at the church?” she said to the person taking her statement in the video played in court. “Father Arul. He did something gross to me.”
The girl said as she left the church that day, Savari told her not to tell her mom what happened. But she said she did anyway, which led to police being contacted about the alleged incident in her home community, a remote First Nation about 265 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
Court heard the girl also alleged that the same day, Savari asked her to shower with him, held her hand so tightly she worried he would break it, threatened to cut her finger with a knife and tried to make her sniff gas.
She also alleged she was able to briefly lock Savari in a room by putting a chair under a door handle before he broke out.
Savari’s lawyers raised questions about some of the girl’s allegations, saying she didn’t share all the details that were eventually reported when she initially told her mother what she said happened.
Defence lawyer Tom Rees on Tuesday also noted inconsistencies in the account the girl gave in her statement, including about whether Savari’s underwear had been removed.
Rees instead suggested none of the things the girl alleged actually happened, in a line of questioning the child repeatedly responded to with a soft “yes.”
“I say that while you were at the church that nobody tried to touch you on your belly and kiss you. That’s what I say really happened. Is that right?” Rees asked in one of the last of those questions, before Justice Greenberg suggested the girl was getting confused by the way the questions were worded.
“It would be odd that she would be agreeing to all of these propositions,” the judge said.
That led to the girl being asked to leave the courtroom as the lawyers and judge discussed the best way to phrase the questions in a way the girl could understand.
Defence questions girl’s account
When the girl returned, Rees asked her a few more questions that included a suggestion about what the defence says really happened at the church that day.
He alleged the girl and her sister were supposed to get paid to help clean the church — but when the girl’s sister didn’t show up, Savari told the girl to go home and come back when her sister was with her.
“So when he told you to go home, you felt upset about that. And that’s because you were there and you wanted to do the cleaning and then have the money,” Rees said.
Manitoba RCMP announced the charges against Savari in May 2023 and said they’d identified other possible victims.
Mounties spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre said in an email Tuesday that the investigation into Savari “is still very much ongoing at this time.”
Savari was also the priest at the nearby Pauingassi First Nation, RCMP said at the time of his arrest. He’s originally from India and lived in Winnipeg and had been in Canada for six years at the time of his arrest, and had served in Little Grand Rapids for the same amount of time, Mounties said.
Following his arrest, Savari was suspended from all ministerial duties and “forbidden to have anything to do with former parishioners and children,” according to a 2023 news release from the Archdiocese of St. Boniface.
For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.