A 22-year-old woman from Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley who waited in vain for six hours to testify in court against her ex-partner says the justice system is failing victims of domestic violence.

Danielle Lee was subpoenaed on Monday as a witness in the trial of her ex-partner, who was charged with uttering death threats last spring. She arrived at the victim services area of the Kentville courthouse at 9:30 a.m. and waited until after 3 p.m. before she was told the case had been dismissed hours earlier because court officials couldn't find her.

"It was very nerve-wracking. I have anxiety to begin with, and ... when I got home [Monday] night I just threw up and threw up. I was so upset about it all," said Lee, who's 13 weeks pregnant with her second child.

Ready to testify

In Kentville, victim services is in a separate building next to the main courthouse. Lee said she'd waited there before, but this time as she sat in a small office, no one checked on her and her husband, who was also there to testify.

Lee said victim services emailed the Crown attorney's office in the morning, saying she'd arrived, and someone went to retrieve her statement, so she could listen to it before the trial. It wasn't until someone from victim services went to check on the court's progress around 3 p.m. that Lee learned the case had been dismissed that morning.

In Kentville, victim services is in a building next to the main courthouse. (Jean LaRoche/CBC)

"I was dumbfounded. I still don't understand why knowing now that we were there and it was their mistake, I don't understand why they would dismiss it," she said.

Crown attorney Bob Morrison said court officials looked for Lee, but nobody told him she was in the victim services building. He said the courthouse set up in Kentville is far from ideal, but it's unusual for someone to wait at victims services when they've been told to show up at the courthouse.

Unfortunate circumstance

Morrison said Lee's experience is an "anomaly," and that he's always been notified by victim services if a witness is waiting there.

"It's unfortunate that Danielle had to experience this, you know, and there was some sort of breakdown in communication. But the bottom line is the subpoena tells you go to the courthouse, and that's what people should do is go to the courthouse," he said.

While Morrison said he's going to look into whether anything can be done given the "unique circumstances," he added that the law clearly states once a case is dismissed, an accused can't be tried again on the same charges.

What's more, the case had already been delayed and Morrison said he wasn't confident he'd get an adjournment from the judge even if he asked.

'Happens all the time'

Morrison said the Kentville courthouse has many services in place to help witnesses and victims navigate the system.

But when Lee shared what happened to her on social media, she said there was an outpouring of response from women who said they'd had similar experiences.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I figured this would be something that was isolated but it's not. It's something that happens all the time, and it's not right."