Mistake of Fact
The trial judge found that the appellant was not guilty of rape as defined in (then) s.143(a). Following the decision in R v. Pappajohn 2 S.C.R. 120 a mistake of fact defense would be allowed for rape when there was an honest belief in that fact, regardless of the reasonableness of that belief. In this case, even though the trial judge did not believe that the appellants belief in consent was even remotely reasonable, she did find that it was honest: "As I said, no rational person could have been under any honest mistake of fact. However, people have an uncanny ability to blind themselves to much that they do not want to see, and to believe in the existence of facts as they would wish them to be."
Read more about this topic: R. V. Sansregret
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