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It was with a blessed minimum of horse manure and obeisance to cultural politics that Ontario Court Judge William Horkins Thursday acquitted former CBC golden boy Jian Ghomeshi of a raft of historic sexual assault charges.

And Horkins, properly but nonetheless bravely in the current climate, placed the responsibility for the collapse of the case squarely where it belongs – with the three women who were Ghomeshi’s accusers.

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As soon as the judge left the courtroom, the 48-year-old former host of Q on CBC radio – it was his firing from that show in October of 2014 which, as Horkins noted, was the background to these women and others coming forward — turned to hug his mother and sister, then wordlessly shook hands one by one with a full row of family and friends.

The sister, Jila, later read a brief statement outside the courthouse before being driven back in by a crush of reporters.

“We are relieved, but not surprised, by the court’s decision today,” she said. “It can only be surprising to those who rushed to judgment before the trial even started and before a single word of evidence (had) been heard.”