A man convicted of sexually assaulting a teen in a Greater Victoria parking lot will spend one year in jail.
In August 2017, the complainant, who was 16 at the time, went out with friends and consumed a small amount of MDMA. According to a summary of the evidence, the drugs had a negative effect on her and she became anxious, emotional and upset.
The complainant returned to a friend’s house and eventually decided it would be best if she went home. She lived about 45 minutes away and decided it was too far and unsafe to walk, so she reached out to friends in hopes of finding a ride.
She was eventually directed to a Greater Victoria man, then 20 years old, as a possible ride home. Black Press Media will not name the offender to protect the identity of the victim, according to a court-ordered publication ban. She had met him once or twice at other gatherings. Via texting, the man agreed to pick her up. Court documents indicate that the victim was in distress and crying loudly at the time he picked her up.
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Shortly into the drive, the man turned into a deserted parking lot. The judge’s summary of facts state that he did so “in order to engage the complainant in sexual activity and for no other reason.”
The victim began to gather her things to exit the vehicle but he told her “getting out was not an option” and that if she left “it would not be in this condition.”
When the girl again tried to leave, the man locked the door. He eventually grabbed her hair and forced her to perform oral sex. Afterwards, he told her to get out of the car, but she pleaded for him to drive her home and he relented.
The next day he sent her a text message to say he would see her soon, but she responded that she never wanted to see him again.
The offender was convicted of sexual assault in Western Communities Court on Sept. 3, 2020. In his sentencing decision, Provincial Court Judge Evan Blake said the man’s mental health was a matter of serious consideration in sentencing.
After the sexual assault, several incidents of criminal and violent behaviour eventually led to his being involuntarily admitted to hospital in 2019, where he remained for two months and was diagnosed as schizophrenic.
Blake wrote there was no evidence that mental illness played a part in the sexual assault, but in light of the insight into his mental health history, concluded that his “deteriorating mental health in 2017 likely played some part in his aggressive sexual misbehaviour on the night that the present offence occurred.”
The judge sentenced him to one year in prison followed by 18 months of probation.
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