There are five female survivors from Sudbury involved in the case, all between the ages of 16 and 25 at the time when they were victimized. Three were underage when they were being trafficked, OPP said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FEXYLKEKPZHRA7IXAITTRHOJ7I.jpg\")
human-trafficking-poster There are five female survivors from Sudbury involved in the case, all between the ages of 16 and 25 at the time when they were victimized. Three were underage when they were being trafficked. (File) <\/p>\n
The six suspects range in age from 34 to 45, including one woman. They were arrested in Burlington, Missisauga, Ottawa, Penetanguishene and St. Catharines. Four of the accused are from Brampton while two others are from unknown addresses.<\/p>\n
Two of the victims said travelling to southern Ontario for the trial of three of the accused — Francis Antoine, Jeffery Cheddesingh and someone identified only as H.K. — would be a significant burden.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth have asserted that they have moved on with their lives in Sudbury and that returning to this jurisdiction would be extremely hard for them,\u201d said the decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.<\/p>\n
Only the lawyer for Cheddesingh opposed the request.<\/p>\n
One of the victims said she has an autistic child who would require care for as long as she was away at the trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe asserts that this would be a real hardship on her child,\u201d the court said. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe is a single parent, her child is only seven years old, and she has no personal support that could help her with child care.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3Q47QT5VAK4KHN2N7V52YD5HMI.jpg\")
CKTB News- Human Trafficking-1.3365565 The two victims from Sudbury say they are dealing with PTSD as a result of what they endured. (File) <\/p>\n
She is also dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of what happened to her and being forced to return to southern Ontario \u201cwould be very triggering for her PTSD.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second victim also struggles with PTSD. She has dealt with drug addiction for several years, but has been clean for the past seven months.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe advised that it would be very difficult for her to come to Brampton to testify because she has no one who could support her while in this jurisdiction and she is concerned that she may relapse in those circumstances,\u201d the decision said. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe advised that she has stayed out of this region since the time of the allegations because of her trauma, and given that the offences occurred in hotels, she now cannot stay in hotels because of her past experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is also afraid of the accused — in particular of being in the same room.<\/p>\n
Justice Michael Derstine ruled that since the trial is by judge only, allowing both women to testify via video wouldn\u2019t impact how a jury views the accused.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe advised that she has stayed out of this region since the time of the allegations because of her trauma, and given that the offences occurred in hotels, she now cannot stay in hotels because of her past experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u00a0 Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision<\/p>\n
\u201cVideo technology has come a long way, and it is normal for uninterrupted, high-quality video appearances to happen in our courts,\u201d Derstine wrote. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey happen that way every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that appearing in person would make it harder for the women to \u201cgive their evidence easily or at all\u201d is another relevant consideration, he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take into account that both witnesses have expressed their fear and anxiety about coming to this jurisdiction and testifying before the accused. I find on this evidence that they would be more likely to give their evidence in a calm and dispassionate manner by videoconference, and that doing so may assist them in giving a full and candid account of the acts complained of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since both women have valid reasons for wanting to testify remotely, and since there is no prejudice to the accused, Derstine approved their request.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile saying this, I wish to also assert that these applications cannot become rote or the norm. Each case must be assessed carefully on its own merits,\u201d the judge added. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo doubt every witness would like to testify at a place that is more convenient to them and that is certainly not the test under this section.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warning: Graphic content Two human trafficking survivors will be permitted to testify from Sudbury, even though the trial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[90,36262,36263,36258,36259,20442,36260,36261,36264],"class_list":["post-99049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brampton","tag-brampton","tag-brampton-accused","tag-brampton-news","tag-francis-antoine","tag-hk","tag-human-trafficking","tag-jeffery-cheddesingh","tag-sudbury-victims","tag-toronto-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}