Warning and Non-Publication Order
The court hearing this matter directs that the following notice be attached to the file:
A non-publication and non-broadcast order in this proceeding has been issued under subsection 486.4(1) of the Criminal Code. This subsection and subsection 486.6(1) of the Criminal Code, which is concerned with the consequence of failure to comply with an order made under subsection 486.4(1), read as follows:
486.4 Order restricting publication — sexual offences. — (1) Subject to subsection (2), the presiding judge or justice may make an order directing that any information that could identify the victim or a witness shall not be published in any document or broadcast or transmitted in any way, in proceedings in respect of
(a) any of the following offences:
(i) an offence under section 151, 152, 153, 153.1, 155, 160, 162, 162.1, 163.1, 170, 171, 171.1, 172, 172.1, 172.2, 173, 213, 271, 272, 273, 279.01, 279.011, 279.02, 279.03, 280, 281, 286.1, 286.2, 286.3, 346 or 347, or
(ii) any offence under this Act, as it read from time to time before the day on which this subparagraph comes into force, if the conduct alleged would be an offence referred to in subparagraph (i) if it occurred on or after that day; or
(b) two or more offences being dealt with in the same proceeding, at least one of which is an offence referred to in paragraph (a).
(2) MANDATORY ORDER ON APPLICATION — In proceedings in respect of the offences referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or (b), the presiding judge or justice shall
(a) at the first reasonable opportunity, inform any witness under the age of eighteen years and the victim of the right to make an application for the order; and
(b) on application made by the victim, the prosecutor or any such witness, make the order.
486.6 OFFENCE — (1) Every person who fails to comply with an order made under any of subsections 486.4(1) to (3) or subsection 486.5(1) or (2) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Case Information
DATE: April 4, 2025
ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE, Toronto
BETWEEN:
HIS MAJESTY THE KING — AND — STELIOS STRATIGAKOS
For the Crown: D. Spence
For the Defendant: Y. Johri
Heard: July 22, 23; December 19, 20, 2024
REASONS for JUDGMENT
Russell Silverstein, J.:
A. INTRODUCTION
[1] In the early morning hours of January 1, 2023, the complainant, H.K., and her close friend, Darya Styczynsky-Rossy (hereinafter referred to as “Ms. Rossy”) arrived at the home of the accused with the intention of celebrating New Year’s. The three of them drank and partied together for a few hours. Ms. Rossy left around 4:51 am. Sometime between 4:51 am and 7:21 am, at which time H.K. left Mr. Stratigakos’s home, he had sexual intercourse with H.K.
[2] Three witnesses testified at trial: H.K., Ms. Rossy and Mr. Stratigakos. Electronic communications between Ms. Rossy and Mr. Stratigakos on January 1, 2023 were entered as exhibits.
[3] H.K. testified that she did not consent to the sexual intercourse. Mr. Stratigakos testified that he did indeed have sexual intercourse with H.K. and that the intercourse was consensual.
B. THE EVIDENCE
(a) Introduction
[4] I will summarize the salient aspects of the witnesses’ testimony. A full transcript of the evidence is available.
(b) H.K.’s version of events
[5] H.K. was 17 years old on the night in question - 18 years old when she testified, recently having graduated from high school. While she and Ms. Rossy were close friends that night, they had, as of two weeks after the incident, ceased to be friends.
[6] H.K. met Mr. Stratigakos through his best friend, Don Larusso, whom H.K. had been dating for some time prior to January 1, 2023. She had been to Mr. Stratigakos’s home on three or four prior occasions with Mr. Larusso.
[7] Prior to her arrival at Mr. Stratigakos’s home that night, H.K. had smoked a considerable amount of marijuana (which was not unusual for her). At Mr. Stratigakos’s home she smoked some more marijuana and had three or four shots of vodka (less than her usual intake) which had a heavier effect on her than usual.
[8] Mr. Stratigakos consumed about the same amount of alcohol as she did while Ms. Rossy consumed a bit more.
[9] When Ms. Rossy voiced an intention to leave the party H.K. tried to get Mr. Larusso to come over so she would not have to be alone with Mr. Stratigakos. It soon became clear that Mr. Larusso was with friends in Guelph and would not be coming.
[10] H.K. was wearing a short dress that night, but she had brought along a pair of sweatpants as well. After the drinking, while Ms. Rossy was in another room and while H.K. was still wearing her dress and seated in the kitchen with Mr. Stratigakos, he began to touch her thighs in a way that made her uncomfortable. She went into the guest room, put on her sweatpants, and lay on the bed with Ms. Rossy while telling her what had just occurred in the kitchen. Mr. Stratigakos soon came into the bedroom wearing only his boxer shorts asking the women if they wanted to cuddle with him. Ms. Rossy told him to go in the other room which he did. Ms. Rossy then told H.K. she was going to leave and that she would tell Mr. Stratigakos to leave H.K. alone. H.K. fell asleep.
[11] Sometime after falling asleep, she felt herself being lifted and carried to another room. She believed she was being carried by Mr. Stratigakos. She was scared and tried to tell him to stop but nothing came out of her mouth. Mr. Stratigakos placed her on the bed in his bedroom, took off her sweatpants and inserted his penis in her vagina without a condom. H.K. did not consent to this sexual activity but could not say anything because she was “passed out”, although she could tell what was being done to her. She felt “really heavy” and “couldn’t move”. She “lost consciousness” and when she later regained consciousness, he was still raping her. The sexual assault seemed to go on for hours.
[12] At one point she asked Mr. Stratigakos if he was Don. He said yes. She said this hoping that mentioning his best friend would scare him into stopping the rape.
[13] When the sexual assault was over H.K. went to the washroom where she realized that Mr. Stratigakos had ejaculated during his assault. She then put her sweatpants back on and placed her underwear in her pocket with the intention of eventually turning them over to the police.
[14] Mr. Stratigakos ordered a ride for her to Union Station. While in the car on the way to the station H.K. communicated with Ms. Rossy, and with Don Larusso, telling them both what had happened. She lost her copies of those text messages when she later reset her cell phone.
[15] She also confronted Mr. Stratigakos by electronic message a few days later. These messages between the two of them were also lost to her because of the cell phone reset.
[16] H.K. went to the police approximately one month later. She did not go to them immediately because she feared that her parents and peers would then learn about the incident. Ms. Rossy also advised her against reporting to the police.
(i) Cross-examination of H.K.
[17] H.K. understood Mr. Stratigakos’s relationship with Ms. Rossy to be one of “friends with benefits”.
[18] H.K. denied defence counsel’s suggestion that she had had consensual sex with Mr. Stratigakos and had then concocted her rape allegation to capture Mr. Larusso’s attention and so as not to reveal to Mr. Larusso, whom she saw as a boyfriend, that she had been unfaithful to him. She also denied the suggestion that she had lied to Ms. Rossy about the encounter so that she wouldn’t think H.K. had had consensual sex with Mr. Stratigakos which would have had serious consequences for her relationship with Ms. Rossy.
[19] After Mr. Stratigakos began raping her H.K. “passed out” or “lost her awareness” intermittently during the sexual assault. She also called that state of mind “semiconsciousness”.
[20] In June 2023, H.K. was telling her friend, Khabija about the sexual assault. Khabija wanted to know what Mr. Stratigakos looked like. H.K. showed her his Instagram account on her phone and Khabija accidentally sent him an Instagram request.
[21] When first asked, H.K. denied that she did this purposely to keep tabs on Mr. Stratigakos. She then said that she had indeed sent the request so that he would be reminded that he had done something wrong to her.
[22] When H.K. spoke to police, she provided them with portions of a Snapchat conversation between Ms. Rossy and Mr. Stratigakos that took place on January 1, 2023. She had originally received them from Ms. Rossy.[^1]
[23] H.K. was communicating by Snapchat with Ms. Rossy on January 1 at the same time as Ms. Rossy was communicating with Mr. Stratigakos on the same medium. H.K. was thus privy to the communications between the other two, although Mr. Stratigakos did not know this at the time. At the same time as H.K. was telling Ms. Rossy what had happened the night before, Ms. Rossy was confronting Mr. Stratigakos with the allegation of sexual assault.
[24] It was Ms. Rossy’s idea to try to get Mr. Stratigakos to send money to H.K.
[25] H.K. vehemently denied being attracted to Mr. Stratigakos.
(c) The testimony of Ms. Rossy
[26] Ms. Rossy was 20 years old when she testified, working at a Nike store.
[27] She and H.K. were friends on the night in question. She had met Mr. Stratigakos through H.K.’s boyfriend at the time, whom she thought was named “Dom”.[^2] She developed what she referred to as a purely physical relationship with Mr. Stratigakos, having seen him once or twice before the evening in question. She considered him a “one-night stand”.
[28] She and H.K. travelled together to Mr. Stratigakos’s apartment that night. H.K. consumed five or six drinks and some marijuana. Ms. Rossy and Mr. Stratigakos consumed three or four drinks.
[29] Shortly before Ms. Rossy left around 4 am Mr. Stratigakos was wearing his boxer shorts and was asking both women, who were on the bed in the living room, to cuddle with him. H.K. was wearing the dress she put on in the train, while travelling to the apartment that night. H.K. was very intoxicated at this time. Ms. Rossy asked H.K. if it was alright if she went home. H.K. said that that was fine. Before leaving, Ms. Rossy warned Mr. Stratigakos not to do anything to H.K. H.K. said nothing to Ms. Rossy about Mr. Stratigakos behaving inappropriately in the kitchen.
[30] H.K. messaged Ms. Rossy the next morning and told her she’d been sexually assaulted by Mr. Stratigakos. Ms. Rossy then (with H.K.’s consent) messaged Mr. Stratigakos on Snapchat and confronted him with H.K.’s allegations. According to her, he confessed and apologized. She took screenshots of this conversation and sent them to H.K. She and H.K. were essentially working together to coax a confession out of Mr. Stratigakos.
[31] H.K. told Ms. Rossy that she had a video of the sexual assault. Ms. Rossy reported this to Mr. Stratigakos. Mr. Stratigakos offered to pay money to H.K. and with H.K.’s consent Ms. Rossy encouraged Mr. Stratigakos to do so and gave him H.K.’s email address.
(i) Cross-examination of Ms. Rossy
[32] Ms. Rossy did not send H.K. the entire conversation she had with Mr. Stratigakos. She only sent the pages that would help H.K. if she went to the police. Ms. Rossy never discouraged H.K. from reporting the incident to the police.
[33] Ms. Rossy admitted on cross-examination that she was not sure if Mr. Stratigakos was in his boxer shorts when she left. When she did leave there was nothing about the environment that she thought was unsafe.
(d) Mr. Stratigakos’s version of events
[34] Mr. Stratigakos was 25 years old when he testified – 23 years old on the evening in question. He was working at completing his high school credits.
[35] Mr. Stratigakos met H.K. through his friend Don Larusso, who was dating H.K.
[36] H.K. introduced Mr. Stratigakos to her friend Ms. Rossy, whom Mr. Stratigakos referred to in his testimony as his “former girlfriend”. The four of them would often hang out together and became a close friendship group.
[37] Ms. Rossy and H.K. arrived at his home after 2 am on the night in question.
[38] All three drank at least three shots that night although Ms. Rossy drank more than the other two. He and H.K. also smoked some marijuana.
[39] Mr. Stratigakos mentioned that Don was with someone else, and this seemed to make H.K. upset.
[40] At one point Ms. Rossy left the other two alone in the kitchen and H.K. began flirting with Mr. Stratigakos. Mr. Stratigakos thought it was odd, but he flirted back in part because he knew that Don was no longer that interested in H.K.
[41] After Ms. Rossy returned to the kitchen, they all went into the living room, sat on the bed, and talked. Ms. Rossy announced that she was leaving, and that H.K. would be staying behind and sleeping at Mr. Stratigakos’s house. Mr. Stratigakos was upset. He expected that Ms. Rossy would be spending the night there.
[42] Ms. Rossy left at 4:51 am. Mr. Stratigakos then went to his bedroom after H.K. said she was fine where she was. He got into his pajamas and went to bed. H.K. then came into the room and initiated sexual intercourse with him. He reciprocated and they had consensual sex for about 20 minutes then they both fell asleep. He offered to wear a condom, but she said she didn’t care.
[43] H.K. left his home at 7:27 in a Lyft he had arranged for her.
[44] Later, on January 1, Mr. Stratigakos heard from Ms. Rossy via the social message app called Snapchat. Mr. Stratigakos engaged in a conversation with her via this app. She was accusing him of raping H.K. Mr. Stratigakos responded by saying that he had no memory of what had occurred between him and H.K. As he testified:
“Darya started confronting me about what took place between [H.K.] and myself. I realized that Darya found out that [H.K.] and I had sex and I was ashamed and scared that my girlfriend had caught me cheating so I thought it would be easier to blame my lack of memory and say that I didn’t remember anything, instead of accepting that [H.K.] and I had sex, and breaking her heart by doing so.
“So, I continued to blame my lack of memory to get out of trouble with her, and I thought she would forgive me for sleeping with [H.K.] if I blamed my memory instead of accepting that I had sex with [H.K.].
“I wasn’t apologizing for any rape. I was apologizing for being a part in putting us all in such an awkward position, because we were all close friends at one point, and now things were awkward, so I felt bad about that.
“As I said earlier I – Darya started saying that [H.K.] became suicidal and was not in a good state, so I felt bad about engaging with her and I– like I said I wasn’t apologizing for any rape. I was apologizing for us being apart and putting this whole friend group in the awkward position, because we were all like close friends and now things were awkward.
“Well like I said I was trying to defend myself, like against my girlfriend, like I wanted to try to make sure that Darya and I didn’t break up and also like basically like you know I was trying to, like just cool the situation down from it being as tense as it got.
“I was just trying to cool the situation down because it was – the conversation that was getting intense, and you know like I said I wanted to keep the relationship with Darya so I just wanted to cool the – try to cool the intense conversation down.
“Well, like at this point I was – like I said I knew that Darya had found out that I had cheated on her, so I was basically trying to defend myself with her and say that you know I’m upset with myself for cheating on her.”
[45] Mr. Stratigakos identified those portions of the Snapchat conversation that had been preserved by H.K. and Ms. Rossy and testified that there were parts of their conversation that were not preserved, particularly the parts where Ms. Rossy accused him of cheating on her, as opposed to accusing him of raping H.K.
[46] During the conversation Ms. Rossy asked him to send H.K. $600 for her car. Mr. Stratigakos didn’t know why but he offered to do this and send her a dab pen to “cool things down”. He never did send her either of these items.
[47] He also testified that what he meant when he told Ms. Rossy that H.K. wasn’t letting him do anything was that “when [H.K.] came to my bedroom and was being playful trying to take my phone from me to get my attention she wasn’t letting me do anything at that point.”
[48] H.K. sent him a request to follow him on Instagram in June 2023.
(i) Cross-examination of Mr. Stratigakos
[49] Mr. Stratigakos recalled that he had exactly three shots of alcohol that night. Likewise, H.K. had precisely three shots of alcohol.
[50] Mr. Stratigakos never touched H.K.’s leg in the kitchen. Nor did he ever take his pants off before Ms. Rossy left the apartment when he put his pajamas on. He never sought to cuddle or have sex with both women.
[51] He also denied that he and H.K. spoke about the awkwardness of having had sex given the relationships he described between him and Don, her and Don, or him and Ms. Rossy.
[52] He denied ever receiving text messages from H.K. alleging he had sexually assaulted her.
C. ANALYSIS
(a) Introduction
[53] This case turns principally on the credibility and reliability of the witnesses. Mr. Stratigakos testified that the sexual intercourse he had with H.K. was consensual – that she had initiated it. I must thus apply the rule in R. v. W.D., [1991] S.C.J. No. 26, which can be summarized as follows: if I believe the testimony of Mr. Stratigakos, I must of course find him not guilty. Even if I am not convinced by his testimony, it may nonetheless, when examined in the context of all the evidence, raise a reasonable doubt. If it does, I must also find him not guilty. If it does not raise a reasonable doubt, I must examine the evidence that I do accept to see if it proves the criminal allegation against him beyond a reasonable doubt. If it does not, the defendant must be acquitted. If it does, he must be found guilty.
(b) The credibility of the witnesses and their accounts
[54] Mr. Stratigakos’s responses to Ms. Rossy’s allegations on Snapchat are lies. He admitted as much in his testimony. According to him, when confronted with the rape allegation, instead of telling Ms. Rossy that he had had consensual sex with H.K., he lied and told her that he was so drunk and upset that night that he had no recollection of what had occurred between them. He testified that he told those lies so as not to upset Ms. Rossy. According to him, he and Ms. Rossy were, for want of a better term, boyfriend and girlfriend. Admitting to her that he had been unfaithful to her would have jeopardized their relationship.
[55] The credibility of Mr. Stratigakos’s testimony depends in large measure on what I find was the nature of his relationship with Ms. Rossy.
[56] Ms. Rossy testified that she considered Mr. Stratigakos to be no more than a one-night stand. H.K., who had spent considerable time in their company described their relationship as one of “friends with benefits”.[^3] I believe the women’s testimony and I do not believe Mr. Stratigakos’s characterization of the relationship. The fact that Ms. Rossy decided not to spend the night with him supports her description of the nature of the relationship.
[57] Mr. Stratigakos’s testimony overall was not convincing. In examination-in-chief he said that he had drunk at least three drinks that night. In cross-examination he insisted that he had consumed exactly three drinks.
[58] His willingness to pay money and supply food to H.K., as expressed in the Snapchat conversation suggests that he felt remorse towards her in particular, rather than the remorse he says he felt towards the entire group of friends.
[59] Mr. Stratigakos’s responses to Ms. Rossy’s allegations of rape, and his explanations therefor, defy common sense. I would expect any innocent person in his position, when accused of such a serious sexual assault to strongly, and repeatedly deny the allegation in a detailed fashion, rather than feign a lack of memory of the event.
[60] H.K.’s testimony as to Mr. Stratigakos coming into the room where she and Ms. Rossy were lying on the bed and asking them to be physical with him is supported by Ms. Rossy’s testimony. I found Ms. Rossy to be a forthright witness intent on telling the truth. While she was once H.K.’s close friend, she is no longer, and I consider her to be a relatively independent witness. She did not recall some of the details reported by H.K., but I do not find that these lacunae erode her credibility or the reliability of her testimony.
[61] I found H.K.’s testimony to be sincere, measured and largely consistent. It was, with only minor exceptions, corroborated by Ms. Rossy’s testimony. There were some inconsistencies in H.K.’s testimony concerning the June Instagram communication. There were also some inconsistencies between hers and Ms. Rossy’s accounts concerning the dynamics of the January 1 Snapchat conversation but I consider these inconsistencies to be minor. They do not detract from the credibility and reliability of her testimony concerning the sexual assault.
[62] H.K. admitted to being very intoxicated at the time she said she was raped. She was forthright about this. Despite her intoxication, I find her testimony to be credible and reliable.
[63] Ms. Johri postulated that H.K. had consensual sex with Mr. Stratigakos and then concocted her story to capture Mr. Larusso’s attention, and so as not to reveal to Mr. Larusso, whom she saw as a boyfriend, that she had been unfaithful to him. She also postulated that H.K. lied to Ms. Rossy about the encounter so that she wouldn’t think H.K. had had consensual sex with Mr. Stratigakos, which would have had serious consequences for her relationship with Ms. Rossy. H.K. denied this, and I accept her denial of this far-fetched alleged motive to fabricate. To achieve the result Ms. Johri suggested H.K. desired it would have been easier and less complicated for H.K. and Mr. Stratigakos to simply keep secret their alleged tryst.
D. CONCLUSION
[64] I reject Mr. Stratigakos’s testimony. It is not credible, nor does it raise a reasonable doubt.
[65] I accept the material aspects of H.K.’s testimony and am thus convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she did not consent to the sexual intercourse between her and Mr. Stratigakos on January 1, 2023.
[66] I find Mr. Stratigakos guilty as charged.
Released on April 4, 2025
Justice Russell Silverstein
Appendix A
Ms. Rossy:
But ur lucky for that
Shit could have gone bad
Mr. Stratigakos:
Im not right mentally rn
Ms. Rossy:
But damn man she’s been----so many times
And it breaks my heart to see
This
Happen again:,/like dam
U broke her again
Man
This is so wrong
I cried
Fuck man
Why
Mr. Stratigakos:
I was already in a shit time then my pup died on
Christmas n it really fucked me up
Ms. Rossy:
Your pup?
Dad?
Mr. Stratigakos:
Yea puppy got put to rest on Christmas morning
Ms. Rossy:
Ur fucked
Imma make sure shit is known ab you
I told you to let her sleep
Like don’t u understand u raped the 17 year old
girl
She gave u no permission
And u played like u was Don
Fuck outta here
Mr. Stratigakos:
Not even what happened wtf
How’s she gonna lie on my name like that
Ms. Rossy:
What happened then
Mr. Stratigakos:
She came to cuddle with me cuz she couldn’t
sleep and I crash right after that’s all I remember
Ms. Rossy:
So you didn’t carry he
To ur room
Mr. Stratigakos:
She wasn’t letting me do anything
Ms. Rossy:
So u didn’t fuck her?
Or u did
Of you
Mr. Stratigakos:
Of me doing why
What
Ms. Rossy:
When she was passed out she asked u if u were
don
U said yes
And she took a video of you low key and u was
doing her side way man
Like
Stop
Playng
Mr. Stratigakos:
Bro there’s no way
Ms. Rossy:
Right before you turned off the light
Man
Like I wouldn’t be accusing you
Mr. Stratigakos:
All I remember is crashing
Ms. Rossy:
But there’s literal proof of it
Ion know if u was just so fucked up
But dam
I didn’t know u was like that
Mr. Stratigakos:
I got too fucked up and don’t remember shit
after we crashed on my bed
Ms. Rossy:
Dam well ion know man, she’s scared of you
And
That’s another readon why she acted “sitting on
U
ur lap” before she left cuz she needed to get
away from you so u can Uber her home
Like no tryna sound like a bitch but dam man
she’s 17
Ur 23
Cmon
Like
I trusted you
Since when do u do this
Since when
Like
Smh
Mr. Stratigakos:
I don’t
Not even in my reckless days
Ms. Rossy:
I can’t fwu any more man, not after this bro. Yk
how fucked she is ab this
Like
U guys are delusional
You thin that cuz u had fun YOU HAD FUN
that shit won’t come out
Mr. Stratigakos:
lk and ik u didn’t fw me to begin with so it’s cool
I was honestly so fucked up last night
Tell her I’m really truly sorry for everything
U don’t owe me anything
I owe you guys
Tell her I’m really sorry for everything
Ms. Rossy:
And idk maybe it will let her breath
Thank you
I’m still upset with you
But at the end of the day
Mr. Stratigakos:
Ik
Ms. Rossy:
Things happen
But still omg
Mr. Stratigakos:
I’m more upset with myself trust me
Ms. Rossy:
Yes you should be man, 1 thing can change
Someone life
Mr. Stratigakos:
Send me her email for etransfer
And msg me if u want me to order some food
Ms. Rossy:
(H.K.’s email address)
It’s okay thank you for being honest that’s all I
wanted
Mr. Stratigakos:
I’ll order her a dab pen
Ms. Rossy:
And it’s all fully 100% cuz of you but man
heartbreaking I literally cry everyday for her, this
girl overdoses like crazy
It’s scary
She’s my little sister
It’s not fully*
Mr. Stratigakos:
I will do my part to make this better as best as I
can I promise
I don’t want her to hurt anyone especially herself
[^1]: The preserved portions of the Snapchat conversation were made an exhibit at trial and are reproduced in Appendix “A” to this judgment.
[^2]: There is no doubt that “Dom” is Don Larusso.
[^3]: I am not relying on anything H.K. said to Ms. Rossy as to the nature of the relationship, which would be an impermissible use of a prior consistent statement from Ms. Rossy. Rather I rely on the observations that H.K. would naturally have made when in the company of Mr. Stratigakos and Ms. Rossy.