Former EPS civilian acquitted in teen sexual assault case after judge finds Crown lacked evidence
Justice Kent Teskey granted a directed verdict Thursday after determining circumstantial evidence couldn't establish identity of the man who met the boy.
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Yasin Cetin, a 34-year-old former civilian member of Edmonton Police Service, was acquitted Thursday of luring a child under 16 and sexual assault after a judge determined the Crown's evidence was insufficient to prove his identity as the man involved.
Justice Kent Teskey granted a directed verdict of acquittal, ending the retrial without requiring the defence to call evidence. The case centred entirely on whether prosecutors could connect Cetin to an encounter that occurred December 3, 2023, in a vehicle with a 14-year-old boy.
The boy, whose identity is protected by publication ban, testified he met a man on a dating app, moved the conversation to Snapchat, and met in person that night. He recorded a video of the sexual encounter and sent it to the man through Snapchat. Investigators obtained a still image from that video, but the image was dark and of poor quality. Police enhanced it and ran it through facial-recognition software against police databases and civilian driver's licence records. The searches returned no match.
The Crown's case relied on that unreliable identification, poor-quality image, and Snapchat communications investigators could not link to Cetin. The defence argued there was no connection between Cetin and either the Snapchat account containing the conversations about meeting up or the video of the encounter itself.
Cetin's defence lawyer Zachary Al-Khatib said the case was "entirely circumstantial" and that "the judge listened very carefully to the evidence" in reaching what Al-Khatib called a "fair and impartial decision."
A mistrial was declared in May after Crown prosecutor David Gault requested one. The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service said the case remained active and new dates would be set by Court of King's Bench. Gault told the retrial court the Crown had changed its theory of the case during the second proceeding.
Will the Crown appeal the acquittal decision?
What prompted the Crown to change its theory between the first and second trial?
We'll update this story as answers emerge.
The facts
Who was acquitted in this case?
Yasin Cetin, a 34-year-old former civilian member of Edmonton Police Service, was acquitted of luring a child under 16 and sexual assault.
When did the encounter at the centre of the case occur?
The encounter took place on December 3, 2023, in a vehicle between a man and a 14-year-old boy.
Why did the judge acquit Cetin?
Justice Kent Teskey determined the Crown's evidence was insufficient to prove Cetin's identity as the man involved in the encounter. The identification relied on a dark, poor-quality image and Snapchat communications investigators could not link to Cetin.
