ATHABASCA — A unnamed man received a jail sentence of seven days for a conviction of sexual assault after he rubbed his genitals on a woman’s face and threatened her with sexual assault while high on meth.
The man, who cannot be named under publication ban, appeared in person in Athabasca Court of Justice Mar. 24, and was handed a sentence of time-served, plus seven days custody to wait for the return of a family member who volunteered the house him after release.
Following his release, the man will be subject to two years of probation, a 10-year firearms ban, and will have to submit a DNA sample to police, but is not required to be listed under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA).
Justice Rosanna Saccomani ruled in favour of the defence’s suggested sentence of 494 days over the Crown’s ask for the maximum available penalty, 540 days, or 18 months in jail. The convicted was given credit for 494 enhanced days of custody.
While the facts of the incident were not read into court for sentencing, Crown prosecutor Taylor Noble described the event briefly, and spoke to a number of aggravating factors in the case.
“The gravity here is quite high,” said Noble. “The court found (the man) had rubbed his penis on (the victim’s) face and threatened anal sex. The accused completed violated (the victim’s) bodily integrity.”
“(The convicted) does not take responsibility for the offence, and blames the complainant,” said Noble, adding the man did acknowledge he smoked a half gram of meth per day for the last 13 years, but indicated no desire to pursue any treatment for the addiction.
Noble also read from a 2022 ruling from the Ontario Court of Appeal categorizing sexual assault as “serious acts of violence, and they require the exploitation of the victim, whose personal autonomy, sexual integrity, and dignity was harmfully impacted, while being treated as nothing more than an object.”
Defense counsel countered with a suggestion of 494 days, noting the man’s personal history drug of addiction, starting in adolescence and continuing for decades.
“At the end of the day, is the public going to be more protected with those extra days? Is (the man) going to be more rehabilitated with those extra days? I don’t think so, I think (he’s) served his sentence.”
Noble’s submission sought registry with SOIRA, which defence opposed due to reporting conditions the lawyer deemed “extremely rigorous,” and Saccomani pushed the defence to provide examples of what he called arduous conditions.
“He must report where he’s going, what he’s doing; for the next ten years of his life, he’s subject to conditions from the RCMP that are strenuous,” said the defence, who went on to list examples such as providing telephone numbers, most used vehicle description and licence plate, and height and weight to police.
The man’s lawyer also argued his client didn’t have a previous relationship with his victim, and wasn’t at more risk of re-offending than any individual from the general public; Saccomani ultimately sided with the latter exception, pointing to drug use as the driving factor for the assault.
“You were high, you didn’t know what you were saying, maybe you don’t even remember doing it. I don’t think you’d deliberately lie on the stand,” said Saccomani. “Your reliability was a huge issue.”
“I’m satisfied, listening to the evidence, reviewing the evidence, by the amount of detail that the victim gave on things that weren’t that necessary, that she was telling the truth,” she added.
She imposed treatment and counselling conditions on the man, who is facing an ultimatum from family members hinging on his sobriety.
“If he doesn’t follow through with the counselling, then we have a problem.”
