Canada’s military appeals court has ordered a new trial in the case of a former master corporal who was found guilty of sexually assaulting his then-partner and fellow soldier.

In June 2022, a court martial found Claude Houde, an aircraft structural technician, guilty of two charges of sexual assault. He was sentenced to two years less a day in prison and was discharged from the Canadian Armed Forces in 2023.

The alleged assaults took place while the couple lived together in Canadian Forces Base Bagotville between 2013 and 2018. Houde was acquitted of a third charge, sexual assault causing bodily harm. Houde allegedly engaged in acts of unsolicited sexual contact with his partner between 2015 and 2017, in the bathroom and in the bedroom of their shared home.

Houde’s appeal centred on th

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