The accused, a 29-year-old pizzeria owner, was charged with sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching involving a 13-year-old complainant.
The accused admitted to the sexual acts but raised a mistake of age defence, claiming he believed the complainant was 16.
The court rejected the accused's evidence as not credible and found that he failed to take all reasonable steps to ascertain the complainant's age, ignoring multiple 'red flags' such as her brother's age and her school grade.
The accused was found guilty on all counts.
