BATTLEFORD – On Thursday, a judge in Battleford Court of King’s Bench acquitted Travis Levitsky on a sexual assault charge.
Justice Colin D. Clakson’s verdict was scheduled to be handed down on May 17, but it was moved to May 16 without explanation.
A trial for Levitsky, now 40, was held in March. His legal name is Kevin Travis Levitsky but he goes by his middle name, Travis.
Justice Clakson said the prosecutor had not proven the Crown’s case beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore he must acquit, adding that if there is any doubt of the accused’s guilt then the court must acquit. He said the complainant who had testified against Levitsky in the non-jury trial had trouble with memory recall and the timeline of events.
Justice Clakson said he didn’t believe Travis Levitsky’s testimony in his own defence, calling it inconsistent, adding that he questioned Levitsky’s voracity. He said he found Levitsky's testimony "troubling."
The judge, however, said Lorraine Griffin's testimony on behalf of her son Travis Levitsky was more believable. He pointed out that she is a registered nurse.
Clakson also pointed out that Griffin couldn’t explain the formatting difference in the screenshots of texts she had provided to the court. The texts were between herself and the complainant against Levitsky.
During the trial, defence counsel Logan Marchand and Meagan Ward entered texts supplied by Griffin. Defence said the texts helped provide a timeline of how the events unfolded. There were discrepancies between the time stamp on the texts and the testimony of the complainant.
The text conversations revealed Griffin regretted calling the police on her son reporting that he was suicidal.
Griffin took the stand and testified that the text conversation between her and the complainant wasn’t altered. She said she took screenshots of the April 2022 text conversation a couple of weeks before her son’s trial to provide to Levitsky’s defence counsel. She also admitted that she got a new phone days ahead of the trial, after taking screenshots of texts on the old cell phone.
Other charges
At the time of Levitsky’s trial earlier this year, he was under a 12-month peace bond stemming from assault charges against two people. Those charges were withdrawn in August 2023 in Meadow Lake Provincial Court and resolved by way of peace bond.
May 2023 charges against Levitsky were also withdrawn. Pierceland RCMP had charged him with refusing to comply with a demand to provide his breath sample, driving while impaired by alcohol, driving while being pursued by a police officer and failing to stop for officers. He was fined $2,600 on charges of resisting two police officers by running away and failing to comply with an appearance notice.
In December 2022, the City of Lloydminster had recognized Levitsky for alerting two families of a fire that broke out next door to their homes on Oct. 28, 2022.
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