Canadian man sentenced to five years for 'horrific' rape of unconscious girlfriend

A B.C. man who raped his unconscious girlfriend has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexual assault and failure to provide the necessaries of life. The judge said the incident, “beyond being criminal, was horrific.” “We do not know what (she) experienced,” said B.C. Supreme Court Justice Andrew Mayer in sentencing the man. “We can only speculate that she had some awareness of what was going on. Regardless of the degree of her awareness of what was going on at the relevant time, the community is outraged by your actions. They were shocking. They were disturbing. They were so disrespectful of a young lovely woman’s personal integrity with … a life to live.” Court heard that shortly after midnight on Sept. 20, 2021, the 58-year-old resident of Burnaby, B.C., drove to his girlfriend’s apartment after she failed to return his texts or calls. (Names have been omitted to protect the identity of the victim.) He stacked tires outside her open bedroom window, stood on them to see inside, saw that she was unconscious, entered through the window, removed her top, carried her naked and unconscious to his vehicle and drove home, placing her in his bed at about 1:30 a.m. “Over the next several hours, he repeatedly sexually assaulted her while she remained unconscious and naked in his bed,” according to Mayer’s ruling. “He did so by manipulating her unconscious body, including, for example, lifting and holding her leg up, pulling her on top of him, and rolling her from side to side and moving his naked body around and in contact with hers.” The ruling adds: “On numerous occasions, (the man) told (his girlfriend) to be quiet or ‘shut up,’ seemingly because he was annoyed by the loud volume of her unconscious moans. At one point, (he) placed duct tape over (her) mouth in an effort to quiet her. During the relevant time, (she) was in obvious distress, at times appearing to have difficulty breathing.” Police came to the man’s home several hours later, responding to a 911 call from the woman’s landlord, who had seen her being carried away from her apartment. “At around 5:07 a.m. when police entered the residence, they found (her) in (his) bed, naked, unresponsive and gasping for air and called an ambulance,” court documents said. “First responders arrived and found (her) in medical distress.” She was later diagnosed with a brain dysfunction and alteration of neuronal function with underlying sepsis. In his judgement, Mayer said: “I make no finding of responsibility on the part of (the man) for (the woman’s) current medical condition. His culpability in respect of her medical status arises from his failure to seek medical attention for her on (the night of the offence).” The woman was not able to deliver a victim impact statement; however, one was provided by her cousin. “In her heartfelt statement, (her) cousin described the emotional, social, and financial toll of caring for (her) after her admission to hospital in September 2021,” court documents read. “In addition, (her) cousin expressed her understandable outrage at the way (she) was treated by (the man) in the early morning of September 20, 2021.” The maximum penalty for sexual assault is 10 years’ imprisonment; however, Mayer noted in his decision that sentences generally range between three and six years. “So the proposed sentence of five years is closer to the higher end of that typical range,” he wrote. The man said he accepted that he violated his girlfriend’s sexual integrity by carrying her naked from her home and taking her to his, but he denied that he touched her for sexual gratification. He also claimed he could not entirely remember the details of what happened after he brought her home, and that he believed he blacked out and only recalled flashbacks due to being intoxicated from alcohol at the time. Speaking to the court, he said he was “probably more shocked and upset than anyone else in this courtroom with … what I understand of things that happened, and I’m very, very sorry for any pain that I’ve caused (her) family and my inability to make the right decisions regardless of the — regardless of the excuse or regardless of the circumstances. I should have done better.”

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