Canadian Soldier up a river without a paddle on PTSD excuse

New trial ordered for ex-soldier
Sep 27, 2007 06:29 PM
THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINNIPEG – A groundbreaking ruling that found a former soldier not criminally responsible for a sex assault he admitted to committing was overturned by the Manitoba Court of Appeal today.

The Appeal Court ordered a new trial for Roger Borsch, who did not face criminal penalties for breaking into a colleague's home in The Pas, Man., in 2004 and attacking her 13-year-old daughter.

Borsch argued that his mind was affected by atrocities he witnessed on a six-month tour of duty in Bosnia a decade earlier.

The original decision by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Nathan Nurgitz marked the first time a Canadian soldier successfully used post-traumatic stress disorder as a defence.

Borsch, 35, appeared tense – his brow furrowed, his head down – at today's court appearance at which the three-judge appeal panel released its reasons in a written report.

The panel said Nurgitz had to determine Borsch's state of mind at the time of the offences before he could find the accused not criminally responsible, the decision states.

"He failed to do this," it says.

Crown prosecutor Don Knight applauded the ruling.

"I guess you could say mission accomplished," Knight said outside court.

"The Crown's position at trial was he didn't suffer from (post-traumatic stress disorder) and even if he did, it's still not an excuse for committing crimes."

Borsch, who was working as a jail guard at the time of the assault, admitted to breaking into a co-worker's home, taping her 13-year-old daughter's mouth shut and then sexually assaulting her.

Borsch testified he only remembered waking up hours later in a canoe with no paddles on the Saskatchewan River.

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