Christopher Colborne found not guilty in dayhome child molestation trial

Christopher Colbornehuggedhis wife and other supporters in the courtroom Wednesdayas he was found not guilty of molesting a four-year-old girl.

"I'm relieved," he said on his way out of court."My whole family is.This past year has been really hard on us and we're just glad that it's over."

The 42-year-old Calgary manwas acquitted on charges ofsexualinterference and sexualtouching with a child under 16.

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The charges were laid afterthe girl, who attended a dayhome operated by Colborne'swife,told police he had let her "touch his private parts."

The incident wasalleged to have occurred sometime between September 2014 andFebruary 2015 inCoventry Hills.

Colbornetestifiedin his own defence at his trial, which wrapped up in January, and denied all the allegations.

Reliability of testimony at issue

His defence lawyer,Pawel Milczarek, said the acquittal was the "right decision" given inconsistencies in the child's statements and the "inevitable" difficulties when it comes to a case relying on thetestimony of a four-year-old child.

"It's difficult to deal with it because everyone always assumes that a child tells the truth. The problem with that, of course, is reliability," Milczarek said.

"The statement was taken a long time after the alleged incident, not through any fault of the police, but because the revelation didn't come from the child for some time. And, for a child of that young age, a number of months is a long time. So, it's difficult to assess it in any way."

Colbornesaid his life has been "turned upside down" for the past year andafter the acquittal, he felt like a giant weight hadbeen lifted off his shoulders.

"I knew from the start that I had done nothing wrong."