Closing arguments are scheduled to get underway on Friday in the trial involving a former Belleville tattoo artist.
Defence attorney Mike Pretsell called one final witness on Thursday morning at the Quinte Consolidated Courthouse, who spoke to the character of Kenneth Wayne Melvin, now 49, the former owner/operator of Skin Graphix.
He is facing charges of sexual assault, criminal harassment and indecent acts.
The client stated she has multiple piercings and tattoos and never had an issue with Melvin, his behaviour, his work or with him taking pictures of his work. She then further stated she was never bothered by the dirty jokes and a deal was never offered to her in exchange for sex or cheaper work.
Hastings County Assistant Crown Attorney Lynn Ross through this trial has been trying to establish a pattern of behaviour by Melvin and discreditable conduct.
Melvin has pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of sexual assault and criminal harassment.
Ross asked Justice Patrick Hurley to consider her similar acts application, stating the similarities made by the witnesses are not a coincidence and the women who don’t know each other all have a variation of the same story.
She said Melvin would begin testing the waters by flirting with his clients, and if those actions weren’t rebuffed, Melvin would continue by making sexual jokes, or commenting on the attractiveness of the woman’s body.
From there, Melvin would progress to touching, asking the women to remove their clothes and taking pictures. Those pictures would not always be used to showcase his work.
Ross said there was a album entitled the “hot chicks folder” which Melvin would use for his own personal sexual enjoyment.
She said Melvin went as far as he thought the female clients would let him and he was callus and overly casual in his answers while being cross-examined during the trail.
Ross said his answers spoke to the way he behaved constantly and that he hadn’t thought about the impact of those women in his shop who were in various states of undress, midway through a tattoo and exerted control over those women while holding a needle that causes pain.
Pretsell argued the women have similar stories simply because some of those witnesses divulged their stories online and via social media. He told the court the evidence presented doesn’t establish a pattern the way the Crown Attorney says it does.
He stated by using the similar acts application, the Crown Attorney is using one weak, vague statement to prop up other weak, vague statements.
Pretsell said the court needs to take into consideration the proximity of these alleged offences with the first one beginning in 2006 and the last one happening in 2016/17.
He said in this case, the court can’t stigmatize Melvin just because he has been branded a bad character.
Pretsell used the example that many in the community called Melvin a ‘creep’, but many continued to have him as their tattoo artist because ‘he does good work’. He said the witnesses in this case all knew of his reputation, but being a bad character or a ‘creep’ is not illegal and does put Melvin at a bit of a disadvantage as it blackens his image.
Ross also argued there was no deliberate collusion because there is very little evidence the facts presented in the case were in the public sphere.
Pretsell used the social media posts to argue there was the potential for collusion, as well as the press release following Melvin’s arrest when charges were laid and police asked for other witnesses to come forward.
He said one Facebook post by a witness had seven shares and 113 comments, making it impossible to know what was read by the witnesses and what wasn’t.
The defence attorney argued that an innocent hug by Melvin, which may not have been seen as anything other than innocent, was now turned into a not so innocent hug once someone read a post or a media report.
Pretsell told the court that if they layer on the rumours circulating in the community about Melvin, it creates a perfect storm of character assignation.
The 10-day trial heard witness testimony from 10 complainants, two police officers and Melvin, with 35 exhibits entered into evidence.
A judgement from Hurley is expected at a later date.
Following the conclusion of this trial, a second trial is expected to begin involving the original complainant. This trial will focus on charges of unlawful confinement, sexual assault, touching for a sexual purpose, possession of child pornography and making child pornography.
Belleville Police Sgt. Brad Lentini also recently laid a new charge of possession of child pornography against Melvin, which doesn’t involve any of the witnesses involved in this current trial.
Melvin is expected to be arraigned on that charge on May 30.
