A B.C. Supreme Court Justice ordered a new trial Friday for a man accused of sexually assaulting his then-fiancé while she was in the psychiatric unit at University Hospital of Northern British Columbia.
Although he pleaded guilty to the count, the man, whose name cannot be published under a court-ordered publication ban against information that would identify the victim, maintained the woman consented and actually initiated the act.
In appealing a provincial court judge's decision to sentence him to 18 months in jail, defence counsel argued the decision, and the man's guilty plea, were based on a misapprehension that because the woman was in the psychiatric unit, she was incapable of giving consent.
Justice Lisa Warren agreed.
The two had been a couple for about two years and were planning to marry. But the relationship deteriorated and the woman was admitted to the ward because she was suffering from depression and anxiety to the point of being suicidal.
However, Warren noted nothing was said during hearings on the case about the woman's actual mental state and whether it rendered her incapable of consenting.
"There was no reference to any medical evidence to that effect," Warren said.
The man had pleaded guilty expecting he would receive three years probation under a joint submission from Crown and defence counsels. But the judge overruled and sentenced him to the term in jail, prompting the appeal.
The man is now back to facing two charges of sexually assaulting the woman - one was stayed as part of the plea bargain - and the Crown can also return to treating the case as an indictable offence, carrying a stiffer sentence if he's found guilty. Also as part of the plea bargain, the Crown had proceeded summarily.
