Man charged in ‘despicable’ sex assault denied bail

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This article was published 01/03/2024 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man facing charges for a sexual assault in Brandon that a judge described as “among the most despicable events” he has heard in his decades of experience, was denied bail late Wednesday afternoon.

The accused, who cannot be named due to a publication ban intended to protect the identity of the victims, made an unsuccessful bid for bail after the Crown opposed his release on the ground that he was likely to reoffend.

The man is facing multiple sexual assault charges, including sexual assault causing bodily harm and sexual assault with a weapon, for two different incidents in 2021 — one in Brandon and one in Portage la Prairie.

Crown attorney Jonathan Mays detailed the most violent of the two incidents — the one that took place in Brandon — to the court. The charges against the accused have not been proven in court and he remains innocent until proven guilty.

On Aug. 1, 2021, the accused and his then-partner had been drinking at the accused’s cousin’s house when he thought that his partner had been looking at another man. When they returned to his partner’s Louise Avenue apartment, he began to violently attack her. He threw her against the cupboards and kicked her and punched her. When she fell down, he urinated on her.

Then he grabbed her, dragged her into the hallway, removed her underwear, and bound her wrists, ankles and arms with tape. The tape also covered her mouth.

He then anally raped her, punched her in the back of the head and whipped her with a belt. He attempted to put a wooden stick inside of her, but the woman was able to roll over and avoid it.

She managed to flee and multiple witnesses, noticing pieces of tape in her hair, bruises on her body, and her dress soaked with urine, called for help.

The man is also facing charges for an incident in August 2023 in Portage la Prairie, when he was drinking and doing drugs one evening with a different woman. She claimed that the man tried to kiss and touch her hips and buttocks inappropriately.

Mays said the accused has a criminal record of breaching court orders and an assault conviction for an incident in which the victim was the same woman who he was alleged to have violently assaulted in Brandon.

After being charged for the alleged Brandon assault in August 2021, the accused was released on bail. He was also granted bail in August 2023 after being charged in the alleged Portage la Prairie assault. But he was brought back into custody on Dec. 31, 2023 for allegedly breaching court-ordered conditions to follow a curfew and live at a specific address.

Mays said the Crown’s case against the man is strong, especially for the Brandon incident, in which there were witnesses and photos of the injuries of the victim that corroborate her claims.

“It’s abundantly clear that something horrific and absolutely grotesque happened to (the victim),” Mays said.

The accused’s defence lawyer, Jonathan Richert, focused his submissions on arguments about the Crown previously agreeing to release the man on bail and arguments that would be brought forward at trial.

“It’s giving the Crown attorney another kick at the can to revisit that consent release, which maybe they’re having buyer’s remorse about,” Richert said.

He also said the accused, who had been on an alcohol and drug binge that week, doesn’t remember the incident in Brandon. The lawyer also tried to advance a defence argument about the alleged sexual assault in Portage la Prairie, saying the accused had made a “clumsy pass at somebody who is driving and doing drugs,” which might not rise the level of sexual assault.

However, Judge Donovan Dvorak noted the Supreme Court has decided that consent must be obtained first.

“The idea is not to see what you can get away with and then advance that. The consent comes first,” he said.

Richert presented a bail plan that would have his client living at an address in St. Laurent.

Dovorak called the details of the sexual assault in Brandon among the worst that he had heard of.

“I have to say (the allegations) are among the most despicable events against a partner that I’ve heard of in 30 years in criminal justice,” the judge said.

The judge added that anyone facing such serious charges, who was then released on bail, should be “thanking their lucky stars” and “doing everything they can to not be back before the court to reconsider their release.”

Ultimately, Dovorak decided the risk of the accused reoffending was too high to be managed on the bail plan that was presented and denied the man bail.

The man’s matters will be spoken to in the Court of King’s Bench in Brandon on March 18.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @geena_mortfield