Note: Some of the details in this story are upsetting and deal with sexual assault.
A Sudbury, Ont., man who went to Blind River -- 165 kilometres west -- to spend a night with a girl he had been chatting with online was later raped, court documents of the criminal trial show.
The attack took place Boxing Day in 2018, when the victim headed to Blind River to meet a woman he had been corresponding with online for a few months. This was the first time they met in person.
He brought beer and liquor with him, and the girl and a group of her friends all played cards for a few hours. The plan was to attend a bonspiel later in the evening.
But the victim was a self-admitted “lightweight” and quickly became extremely drunk. As the group listened to music and socialized, the victim passed out at a table, with his head on his arm.
When the time came to leave for the bonspiel, the victim was in no state to go with them.
“He believed a liquor control officer would have been at the door of the curling club based on the others’ comments related to attending the event in the past, and that he would not have been able to get in,” the court transcript said.
So the woman he came to visit left with her friends, leaving him at her home to sleep it off. After they left, the victim testified he vomited, “cleaned it up as best he could,” and then went to sleep, fully clothed, in the girl’s bed.
The accused lived next door. He testified that he had been invited to come over and was friends with the woman who lived there.
“The accused testified that he went over to the … residence after having watched a movie with family because he saw lights on at the home through the living room and entrance door windows,” the transcript said.
“He was outside having a cigarette. It was around midnight. He just walked into (the) residence. He did not knock. He testified that he never knocks.”
The accused testified that he entered the residence and didn’t see anyone. It later emerged he had seen the woman and her friends leave, that he knew she had a man visiting her from Sudbury and that the visitor had been left behind because he was too drunk.
“The door was not locked. He entered unannounced,” the transcript said.
“He did not call out to see if anyone was home. He heard no noises before he decided to go upstairs. He saw the complainant when he went upstairs.”
He entered the bedroom where the victim was laying down. He recognized him because he had seen his face when the woman had a Skype call with him before.
The accused testified that he and the victim chatted about each other’s tattoos.
“There was nothing in my view about this portion of the conversation or the showing of tattoos on the evidence that presented as sexual in nature or conduct suggestive of consent to sexual activity, nor was same interpreted to be such by the accused on his evidence,” the trial judge wrote.
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They continued chatting and at one point, the accused said he complimented the victim’s physique. He also testified the victim showed no signs of being drunk.
The accused said he noticed the victim had an erection at that point, so he put his hands on the victim’s crotch “without further conversation.”
“He stated that the (victim) did not say anything and just looked at him right away,” the transcript said.
“He reiterated that he interpreted his comment to the complainant as arousing him and that he was interested in what was happening. He interpreted the arousal as the complainant’s interest in other genders.”
Under oath, the accused first said he didn’t verbally ask the victim whether he was interested in men sexually. Then he changed that, saying that actually, he had asked the victim whether he had sex with a man before.
“He went on to state that he asked this because he wanted to know if that was something that interested the (victim),” the transcript said.
WAS ON TOP OF THE VICTIM
“The accused stated that the (victim) responded that he had never done anything with a guy before but had slept in the same bed with one, but nothing happened.”
The accused testified the victim “smiled” when he put his hand on his penis. At that point, the accused was on top of him, with his face close to the victim’s face, and then he began performing fellatio on the victim.
He testified that as he was giving the victim oral sex, the victim was sending text messages – and the accused could read what the messages were. He testified that the victim was texting the woman on Facebook to find out what time she was coming back home.
The judge found this testimony difficult to accept. Firstly, it’s hard to understand how he could read the text messages and perform oral sex at the same time.
Secondly, the victim and the girl were not friends on Facebook, which meant he would have to search her out separately on the platform, find her profile and then send a message.
That he would do this while receiving oral sex and extremely drunk is hard to accept, the judge wrote. Plus the messages the victim did send the woman were sent long after the incident took place, so the timelines didn’t match up.
The victim later testified he had sent the woman messages after he had been raped, pleading with her to come back and help him. Eventually, he was able to contact an ex-girlfriend in Blind River.
Even though they had no contact for two years, she realized he was in trouble and needed help.
So she picked him up and took him to the hospital in Blind River, where police were contacted. She later testified that her ex-boyfriend was a “lightweight” when it came to drinking.
He eventually went to the hospital in Sault Ste. Marie for a sexual assault kit.
In the end, the judge ruled that there were many inconsistencies in the accused’s testimony, but by comparison, the victim overall was credible.
Further, there was significant evidence that the victim was too drunk to be able to consent to sex.
“I accepted the (victim’s) evidence of his level of intoxication based on the descriptions he provided as to his state and evidence as to what he ingested,” the judge wrote.
“On the whole of the evidence, I accepted that he was going in and out of consciousness/sleep during his encounter with the accused based on a combination of tiredness and the significant alcohol consumption he engaged in that evening, and as such, that he was in a state that deprived him of the ability to formulate subjective consent at the material time, the time of the sexual activity.”
He found the accused guilty of sexual assault, in a judgment released Dec. 6.
RESOURCES FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS
If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety, you should call 911.
A full list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling can be found at ReeseCommunity.com. Resources in your community can be found by entering your postal code.
Helplines, legal services and locations that offer sexual assault kits in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia can be found here.
National Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
24-hour crisis line: 1-416-597-8808
Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-833-900-1010
Trans Lifeline: 1-877-330-6366
Sexual misconduct support for current or former members of the Armed Forces: 1-844-750-1648
