SELECTED CASE LAW
ONTARIO:
In 2016 ONSC 7062, Mr. M had been convicted of intimidation, two counts of assault and two counts of sexual assault. He had also been acquitted of a third count of sexual assault. He appealed the conviction.
Mr. M, a 20-year-old man, met Ms. B, an 18-year-old woman, while at a party while they were in college. Ms. B told Mr. M she could connect him with a drug dealer who could sell him fentanyl patches. The drug deal went wrong and Ms. B was robbed of all but $200 of Mr. M’s $1,800. Upon learning this Mr. M physically assaulted Ms. B and demanded that she sell sexual services to earn money to pay him back. She was reluctant to do this, but Mr. M was angry and demanded that she do it. An online sexual services ad was created and Ms. B began giving the money she was paid for those services to Mr. M.
Ms. B was late in meeting Mr. M on one occasion. He had been texting her demanding that she meet with him. He threatened to tell her boyfriend and brother that she was working as a prostituted and threatened to show them the pictures of the online ad. He physically assaulted her again and told her that when he tells her to be somewhere “she’d better be there, he’s not fucking around”. During this period the two engaged in an intimate relationship, but on three occasions Ms. B stated that she asked him to stop their sexual interaction and he refused to. The court found that two of the sexual interactions were sexual assault, but acquitted Mr. M of the third count.
He was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment, 18 months’ probation and to pay a $2,000 fine.
On appeal, Mr. M argued that the trial judge had misapprehended evidence and that by convicting him of two sexual assaults, but not the third, the decision was inconsistent. The court disagreed and his appeal was dismissed.
Also see: 2016 ONCJ 512 (Sentencing).
Criminal Offence(s): Intimidation, Sexual Assault