A judge who asked a woman in a rape trial why she couldn’t keep her knees together has resigned.
Justice Robin Camp said in a statement released by his lawyer that he was sorry for the hurt that he had caused.
It came after a review of a trial in which Camp acquitted Alexander Wagar of raping a 19-year-old girl over a sink at a party in Alberta, Canada, in 2014.
Court transcripts from the trial in Calgary show that Camp, who was a provincial court judge at the time, called the complainant “the accused” numerous times and told her “pain and sex sometimes go together.”
He also asked: “Why didn’t you just sink your bottom down into the basin so he couldn’t penetrate you?”
Camp found Wagar not guilty, but the Appeal Court ordered a new trial. Last month, Wagar was acquitted again.
The Judicial Council said that Canadians expect their judges to know the law, have empathy and to recognise and question any past personal attitudes that might prevent them from acting fairly.
Four of the council’s 23 members did not support the decision, saying they agreed that Camp’s comments amounted to judicial misconduct, but were in favor of recommending a sanction short of removal.
Camp’s lawyer, Frank Addario, had previously argued that his client should be allowed to keep his current job as a federal court judge.
“Removal is not necessary to preserve public confidence in this case. Justice Camp’s misconduct was the product of ignorance, not animus. He has worked hard to correct his knowledge deficit,” Addario wrote in a rebuttal submission to the council.