Lawyers for spiritual leader who had sexual assault charges stayed say prosecutors manipulated witness evidence

New details emerged about why charges against a self-proclaimed spiritual leader were stayed. CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson reports.

More details about what led to a stay of proceedings in a sexual assault case against the leader of a spiritual group and his wife have emerged.

John and Leigh Ann de Ruiter’s lawyers allege the Crown prosecutor in the case manipulated evidence from two expert witnesses.

The lawyers were in court Friday to get clarification from a justice about what information about their client’s sexual assault case can be publicly released.

“We are no longer bound by any restrictions concerning the proceedings that occurred in January and February,” defence lawyer Dino Bottos said.

The de Ruiters were charged in 2023 after allegations made by several female members of the group that John manipulated them into having sex.

The charges were stayed last week after senior Crown prosecutors reviewed the case.

“When there’s Crown interference with evidence, we can’t trust evidence anymore,” defence lawyer Zachary Al-Khatib said.

“And what was demonstrated in this case was that there was Crown interference with proposed witness evidence.”

Defence counsel alleges the Crown prosecutor manipulated evidence of two expert witnesses they wanted to call during the trial: one that would testify Oasis Group was a cult, the second a forensic psychologist.

“This included concerning both experts that the Crown made significant edits and suggestions for edits to these expert reports, which in turn charged their opinions or made their opinions more damning against the de Ruiters,” Bottos said.

“The public should be asking that this doesn’t happen in any other cases and asking for reviews to ensure it hasn’t happened in other cases,” Al-Khatib said.

The Alberta Crown prosecution service would not discuss specifics, saying only an internal review is underway to make sure this situation doesn’t happen in the future.

“But for the prosecutors intervening, this matter would have continued and could very well have resulted in miscarriage of justice against our clients,” Bottos said.

The defence intends to file complaints with the Law Society and College of Alberta Psychologists. An application to recover court costs will also be filed.