Supreme Court of Canada. (Photo: Wikipedia.org)
A Picton man found guilty and sentenced for sexual interference on a young person well under the age of 16, has had his Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed and is now appealing the verdict to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The 42-year-old man whose name was recently placed under a publication ban to protect the identity of the victim, was sentenced at the Quinte Consolidated Courthouse in April 2016 by Justice Wolf Tausendfreund. The sentence included 20 months in jail and two years probation after being found guilty. Charges of sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching were stayed. The charges involved a young person well under the age of 16 and occurred three years prior.
His grounds for appeal were twofold: The judge allegedly misapplied burden of proof and he reportedly failed to consider innocent explanations for the complainant’s knowledge of a penis and sexual acts.
In May, Justices Eileen Gillese, Grant Huscroft and Gary Trotter heard the appeal in a Toronto courtroom.
On September 14, Justice Grant Huscroft ruled the appellant has shown no basis that would allow the court to interfere with Tausenfreund’s decision and dismissed the appeal. E.E. Gillese J.A agreed with Huscroft’s decision however Justice Gary Trotter dissented stating the appeal should be allowed and a new trial ordered.
The crown in the appeal case Rachel Young, told Quinte News the man filed his Notice of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada on September 20.
The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed they have received the notice of appeal however a hearing date hasn’t been set.
