Canadian committee calls for dismissal of judge who told rape victim to 'keep your knees together'

A judicial committee is calling for the removal of a Canadian judge who asked an alleged rape victim why she could not “keep her knees together”

Judge Robin Camp said he had not understood the changes made to Canadian laws aimed at sheltering sexual assault complainants from discriminatory attitudes
Judge Robin Camp said he had not understood the changes made to Canadian laws aimed at sheltering sexual assault complainants from discriminatory attitudes

A judge who asked a complainant in a sexual assault trial why she “couldn’t just keep your knees together” should be removed from the bench, an inquiry tasked with probing the matter has concluded.

In a unanimous recommendation released on Wednesday, the five-person inquiry committee of the Canadian Judicial Council said Robin Camp “committed misconduct” while presiding over a 2014 trial into allegations of sexual assault.

The Calgary trial made headlines around the world after it emerged that Camp had repeatedly asked the 19-year-old complainant why she hadn’t done more to prevent the alleged rape. “Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?” Camp asked her. Later he told her that “sex and pain sometimes go together”.

His comments were strongly condemned by sexual assault victims and advocates, leading Alberta’s minister of justice to complain to the national judicial council.

Furthermore, throughout the trial, Camp erroneously referred to the complainant as “the accused”. At one point he asked the complainant – who said the alleged assault took place on a bathroom sink – why she hadn’t sunk her “bottom down into the basin so he couldn’t penetrate you”.

Camp went on to acquit the man accused in the case, but the Alberta court of appeal later ordered a new trial.  The verdict is expected in January.

The committee said in its report that the judge’s conduct, “was so manifestly and profoundly destructive of the concept of the impartiality, integrity and independence of the judicial role that public confidence is sufficiently undermined to render the judge incapable of executing the judicial office”.

The inquiry heard a remorseful Camp apologise for his remarks. “I was not the good judge I thought I was,” said the 64-year-old. Camp said he had not understood the changes made to Canadian laws aimed at sheltering sexual assault complainants from discriminatory attitudes.

On Wednesday, the inquiry committee said Camp’s questions showed “an antipathy towards laws designed to protect vulnerable witnesses, promote equality and bring integrity to sexual assault trials.” The judge, they added, also relied on “discredited myths and stereotypes about women and victim-blaming during the trial and in his reasons for judgment.”

"Accordingly, the inquiry committee expresses the unanimous view that a recommendation by council for Justice Camp’s removal is warranted."

The recommendation will now be considered by the Canadian Judicial Council. Camp will be invited to make written submissions before the council issues a formal recommendation on his fate to Canada’s justice minister.