Appeal Court overturns acquittal of Newfoundland lawyer charged with sexual assault

ST. JOHN’S – Newfoundland and Labrador’s Court of Appeal has overturned a lawyer’s acquittal on sexual assault charges and called for a new trial.

In a written ruling this week, two of three appeal court judges said provincial Supreme Court Justice Vikas Khaladkar made mistakes in the trial of lawyer Robert Regular that ultimately affected the verdict.

In particular, they said Khaladkar was wrong to allow Regular’s defence team to cross-examine the complainant about sexual activity in an unrelated matter. Khaladkar used an incorrect legal analysis when he considered whether the evidence was relevant to the trial, wrote Justices Frances Knickle and Lois Hoegg.

This subjected the complainant to a trial within a trial, which clouded the judge’s assessment of her credibility, permitting a “wide-ranging attack” on her character, Knickle and Hoegg said.

“Allowing such an adjudication within Mr. Regular’s trial was an affront to (her) privacy and dignity, and improperly coloured the trial judge’s assessment of her credibility,” they wrote.

Khaladkar found Regular not guilty in 2024 of four counts of sexual assault and one count of interference involving the complainant, citing concerns about her credibility. The Crown appealed the decision and made its case for an appeal in May 2025.

The Court of Appeal’s written decision is dated Monday.

Regular was accused of sexually assaulting the woman on four occasions, the first when she was between the ages of 12 and 14. She alleged the other incidents occurred when she was an adult, and that he traded legal services for sexual favours.

The woman’s identity is protected by a publication ban, as is standard in sexual assault cases.

In his ruling, Khaladkar said there were inconsistencies in the women’s testimony, and that her evidence, “overall, (was) troubling.”

Justice Glen Noel, the third judge in the Court of Appeal decision, agreed that Khaladkar made mistakes. However, he said the errors did not have a “material impact” on Khaladkar’s verdict.

“I would dismiss the Crown’s appeal and uphold the acquittal,” Noel wrote.

In an email, Crown prosecutor Dana Sullivan said Regular can apply to the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge the provincial Court of Appeal’s ruling. He has 30 days from the decision date to do so.

Regular had tried to have his name shielded from publication, taking the fight all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. However, the court dismissed his application to be heard in 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2026.