The provincial children's watchdog is calling on B.C. to rethink its priorities after translation delays led to charges being stayed for a refugee accused of sexually assaulting his teen daughter.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.'s independent representative for children and youth, released a heartrending review of the 2010 court case on Wednesday, lamenting the fact that the alleged victim and her immigrant family were "effectively denied access to justice."

"What message does this outcome give to a vulnerable youth who disclosed repeated physical and sexual abuse? Undeniably, it tells her that her allegations had insufficient priority for police and the Crown," Turpel-Lafond wrote.

"It tells her that she didn't matter enough. And it must leave her confused about her safety in her new homeland."

Thirteen charges against the father, who is referred to by the initials HSO in the provincial court decision, were stayed on Jan. 13, 2010 after a two-year delay in seeing the case brought to trial. Allegations of incest, sex assault, sexual touching, assault with a weapon, assault and uttering threats would never be tested in court.

The delay was largely attributed to problems with translation; the refugee father and daughter spoke to police in their native languages of Russian and Dari, a version of Persian spoken in Afghanistan.

The original cost to translate the statements was estimated at $40,000, but senior police managers did not give their approval to pay for that. The lead investigator came up with a cheaper method for translation, but it was far too slow to be completed in time for trial.

When Judge Marion Buller Bennett ruled that the father's Charter right to a speedy trial had been infringed because of the delay, she described the decision as tragic.

"It is very disturbing that the value of the complainants' sexual, physical and emotional integrity is less than the cost of translation and transcription. HSO has been publicly charged with very serious offences and he now has no ability to clear his name. The investigator has put in time and effort and will see no resolution for the work that he has done. Regardless of what happens today in this courtroom, there is a tragedy," she wrote.

Turpel-Lafond agreed with that assessment in her report, writing that while she understands the budget constraints in the justice system, the case should have been a top priority.

"Allowing budgetary considerations to outweigh the plight of the vulnerable children involved in this case is shocking, unacceptable and should never happen again," the report reads.

Disturbing allegations of abuse

The case first came to the attention of the authorities in 2008, when the teen girl spoke to a counsellor at her school and said that she had been raped and beaten by her father and assaulted by her brother. She said that the abuse lasted for about eight months, and only ended when her father returned to his home country to visit his sick mother.

The girl said that he forced her to say that she was being beaten and bullied by a teen gang in an effort to explain away her injuries. He also allegedly told her that the rapes were her fault and he had to be sure she wasn't sexually involved with anyone else.

The girl's mother corroborated the story, saying she had witnessed several sexual assaults, and alleging that her husband frequently beat her and once even stabbed her when she was pregnant and trying to protect her daughter. She claimed he threatened to move on to assaulting a younger daughter once he was done with the eldest.

The father was arrested on his return to Canada in January 2008, but released on $5,000 bail two months later.

After the charges were stayed, the lead investigator was forced to meet with the family and tell them their father and husband was now free from prosecution. According to Turpel-Lafond, they asked him if a judge had been bribed.

"This was a common occurrence in their former homeland and a telling commentary on their own experiences within the Canadian justice system," Turpel-Lafond wrote.

The father was placed on a recognizance that prevented him from having any contact with his wife and seven children and prohibited him from approaching the family home and three schools attended by his children.

Changes need to protect immigrant family, watchdog says

Turpel-Lafond warned that as B.C. becomes increasingly multicultural, the danger of a similar situation popping up is high.

Her report ends with three recommendations: that senior prosecutors review all cases where child safety could be compromised by barriers in the justice system; that the Ministry of Justice ensure reliable and fully funded translation services; and that the ministry produce an annual report on all prosecutions involving children who are victims of violence.

The ministry says it has taken immediate action on each of the recommendations and that prosecutors are working with police to come up with a better system for providing translations.

Similar court delays became a hot-button issue last month, after NDP leader Adrian Dix pointed to the case of a man accused of luring a child over the internet whose charges were stayed because he waited too long to get to trial.

Provincial court judges tossed out 109 cases last year because of court delays, doubling the number of cases stayed in 2010. An estimated 2,500 cases are currently in danger of being tossed -- about 18 per cent of all cases in the system.

Judges and lawyers across the province have blamed the systemic delays on chronic underfunding, but Premier Christy Clark has said she is reluctant to toss more money at the problem.

Earlier this year, she appointed lawyer Geoffrey Cowper to perform a review of the justice system in an attempt to address the court delays and find ways to streamline the process.

Turpel-Lafond told CTV News Thursday that she was "devastated" to learn that there would be no new funding for the justice system in this year's provincial budget. She said more resources are necessary to fix the problems that are currently plaguing the system and setting suspected criminals free.