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The defendant was convicted of assault and breach of probation following a domestic altercation.
The defendant was charged with assault and breach of probation arising from an incident on January 22, 2014, involving his common law spouse.
The Crown alleged the defendant assaulted the complainant in the basement laundry room after she refused to return his car keys when he was intoxicated.
The defendant claimed the injuries resulted from a mutual struggle and accidental contact.
The court applied the R. v. W.D. test and found the complainant's evidence clear, reliable, and corroborated by physical evidence, while the defendant's evidence was evasive and self-serving.
The court convicted the defendant of both assault and breach of the probation order's term to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, though it found the choking allegation was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Crown appeal allowed; sentence for spousal sexual assault increased from nine months to two years less a day.
The Crown appealed a nine-month sentence imposed on the respondent for sexually assaulting his developmentally delayed wife.
The Court of Appeal found the trial judge erred in principle by treating the absence of extraneous violence as a mitigating factor and by failing to properly consider the respondent's history of prior sexual abuse against the victim.
The Court held the sentence was demonstrably unfit, allowed the appeal, and increased the sentence to two years less a day, while also correcting the SOIRA order to 20 years.
