A Kamloops restaurant manager who raped a woman he met at a house party in 2021 has been ordered to spend two and a half years in federal prison.
The 37-year-old man cannot be named under a court-ordered publication ban put in place to protect the identity of the victim. He was convicted in May following a trial in B.C. Supreme Court.
Court heard the man and the victim met at a barbecue at a mutual friend’s house on May 22, 2021. They had both been drinking and decided to stay the night.
The victim said she rebuffed the man’s advances multiple times but agreed to cuddle with him on a couch. She woke up to find him raping her.
The man testified in his own defence and denied any non-consensual sex, but B.C. Supreme Court Justice Baljinder Kaur Girn dismissed his story as “self-serving” and nonsensical.
Girn found the man guilty of sexual assault.
Crown prosecutor Sarah Firestone was looking for a sentence in the three-year range, while defence lawyer Joe Killoran suggested a sentence of less than two years.
Girn cited the woman’s victim-impact statement in delivering her decision. She said her words were “difficult to hear."
“The impact on the victim is significant. It has profoundly affected her physical and psychological wellbeing,” she said, noting the victim might never recover.
“No matter what the sentence is, it will not turn back the clock for [her].”
In addition to the 30-month sentence in federal prison, Girn ordered the man to submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database and register as a sex offender for the next 20 years.
The man was also issued a 10-year firearms prohibition.
He had been free on bail. He was arrested at the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing to begin his sentence.
The man was acquitted on an unrelated rape allegation following a trial last year and still has two additional unrelated sexual assault charges outstanding.
