A former Belleville tattoo artist charged with multiple counts of criminal harassment and sexual assault has received his verdict.
On Friday in Superior Court at the Quinte Consolidated Courthouse, Justice Patrick Hurley found 49-year-old Kenneth Wayne Melvin guilty of six counts of sexual assault, two counts of indecent act and one count of criminal harassment.
The former owner/operator of Skin Graphix, located at 447 Dundas Street East and which has since closed, was found not guilty of five counts of criminal harassment and two counts of sexual assault.
Melvin pleaded not guilty to the 16 charges in relation to 10 women.
Justice Hurley took almost two hours to read his full decision, where he detailed background information, the facts and the testimony from the victims in chronological order.
He said there is a difference between credible and reliable when it came to the witness testimony and he needed to take that into consideration, along with the charges and how they’re related to the law.
Justice Hurley stated all the women were unknown to each other and the consistency over time allowed him to deal with the similar facts argument made by the Crown.
He said the victims were all female, the proximity aligns with the opening and closing of a business as well as the consistency over time, and the pattern of actions remained the same as Melvin began with lewd comments then escalated his behaviour.
Justice Hurley said the Crown was able to establish the feelings of fear, helplessness and intimidation by Melvin and the tattoo artist was “reckless or willfully blind as to whether she was harassed”.
Justice Hurley said he didn’t believe the evidence provided by Melvin on the stand because Melvin “in an apparent effort to distance himself from any possible culpability gave explanations for his conduct that were highly improbable and made categorical statements that defied belief.”
Hurley said, according to Melvin, only one woman, out of the thousands he had tattooed, ever expressed any objection and he felt much of Melvin’s testimony was contrived and so far fetched it could be grounds to reject all of his evidence.
He also said he didn’t believe there was deliberate collusion between the victims in this case.
In the cases where Melvin was found not guilty of criminal harassment, Justice Hurley said the comments may have been lewd or annoying but they didn’t rise to the level of threat under the law.
He also said the thousands of photos obtained by search warrants executed at Melvin’s place of work and at his home, were only marginal evidence and he didn’t give a lot of weight to them.
Melvin was first charged in April 2017 after a woman reported she had been sexually assaulted while at his shop. A police investigation led to a number of other complainants coming forward.
At one point, the then 47-year-old was facing over 30 charges, many of which were withdrawn months later because according to assistant Crown Attorney Lynn Ross “there was no reasonable prospect for conviction”.
Melvin will remain out of custody, while still required to follow his bail conditions, which sees him residing with his parents in the Toronto area.
Ross was comfortable with that decision as Melvin is no longer in that line of work.
She said after court was adjourned that Justice Hurley gave a detailed, well-reasoned and thoughtful decision.
When asked about how many years she will be seeking for Melvin to be in custody, she said she wasn’t sure as she wants to take a good look at case law and bring thorough thoughts forward at a future date.
Melvin is still facing another trial, set to proceed in February 2020, involving one of the original complainants. He is facing charges of unlawful confinement, sexual assault, touching for a sexual purpose, possessing child pornography and making child pornography.
The case was remanded until August 23 when a sentencing date will be set.
