SELECTED CASE LAW
MANITOBA:
In 2014 MBPC 31, 27-year-old year old Mr. A and a co-accused pled guilty to sexually assaulting an unconscious teenage girl in a schoolyard. A had been drinking with the 17-year-old victim before the offence. He raped her while she was unconscious. Another man, whom A did not know, arrived shortly after and A “took a condom from his pocket and threw it at him.” The men filmed the assault using A’s cell phone camera. The Court held that A’s actions showed a “callous disrespect for the sexual integrity of his victim” and noted that he produced a “trophy video which, although cinematically deficient, was in an easily reproducible format.”[1]
While Crown and defence counsel submitted a joint recommendation for a 2-year sentence, the Court rejected this as insufficiently denunciatory. The Court noted that during the hearings, defence counsel filed a letter from the victim stating,
It is very stressful, [A] is always supportive of me, he gives me the strength I need I believe that this Sexual Assault changed my life around for the best. I choose to start going to Sexual Assault Therapy, and get counselling for my addiction of Alcoholism, I do believe he should be released out of this place I care about this man a lot even though he did do this to me but he did admit to have sex with me, I do remember giving my consent to him and he asked me repeatedly over and over are you sure, and I said yes, I am more than sure he was just worried about me just because we were both very intoxicated that night. I do know that I did get Sexually Assaulted, and even though this happened to me I do want these two suspects to get back in the community, because I want to find a way to cancel these charges. I am 100% sure about that choice that I am about to do. No more changing my mind.[2]
Although A was an Indigenous man, no Gladue Report was filed at the time of sentencing, although the Court noted that it took into account “the circumstances of this aboriginal offender”. The Court found that the joint sentence proposed by the Crown and defence counsel was unfit and imposed a sentence of 3-years-less-a-day imprisonment, with credit for pretrial custody and 3-years probation, along with several ancillary orders to provide a DNA sample, and to comply with the Sexual Offender Information Registry Act.
[1] 2014 MBPC 31 at 15.
Criminal Offence(s): Sexual Assault