Tech issues delay sex assault sentencing
EDMONTON Two additional days have been added to Matthew Mcknight’s sexual-assault sentencing hearing after repeated delays and technical difficulties.
Arguments in Mcknight’s sentencing were supposed to wrap up Friday after three days. Instead, they will spill over into next week, in part due to technology issues.
A jury convicted Mcknight of five counts of sexual assault, which occurred between 2010 and 2016, when Mcknight was a promoter for several Edmonton bars and nightclubs.
The victims were all young women aged 17 to 22.
The Crown is arguing Mcknight should serve 22½ years in prison. Defence lawyer Dino Bottos has yet to suggest a sentence.
The hearing is taking place in a large, rarely used basement courtroom specially built for a gang trial.
The room is the only one in the Edmonton courthouse that can accommodate the large number of victims, complainants and supporters under COVID -19 physical distancing measures.
The hearings have included videos of Mcknight being assaulted while in remand, and are also being streamed to members of the media via video conferencing software. The combination has caused several technical issues that required adjournments.
Four of Mcknight’s five victims presented impact statements this week, the last of whom spoke Friday.
Now a mother of young children, the woman said her rape at the hands of Mcknight completely changed who she is as a person. She said she is no longer carefree and that she is sometimes consumed by panic and anxiety.
“My family lost the girl they knew that night,” she said.
“My fiance and children never get to experience me the way they should everyday because of that night. That night has changed my entire world.”
The hearing is scheduled to continue Thursday and Friday, after which Justice Doreen Sulyma will give her decision.
Thursday’s hearing ended early when Mcknight complained of feeling ill, after testifying about an assault he suffered in the Edmonton Remand Centre.
The defence argues the attack was a result of negligence or wrongdoing on the part of corrections staff, and that it should be considered a mitigating factor in sentencing. The Crown said that while the assault was “unfortunate,” there is no evidence staff did anything wrong.
Prosecutor Mark Huyser-wierenga cross-examined Mcknight on the assault Friday. He questioned Mcknight’s decision not to notify correctional officers he was facing sexual-assault charges, and suggested Mcknight could have discreetly warned a guard he was in danger.
Mcknight said he had no opportunities to alert the guards to the threats without tipping off the cellmate.
“There are workarounds that would have been clearly obvious to you,” Huyser-wierenga suggested.
Mcknight disagreed, saying had he been able to covertly warn a guard, “I absolutely would have done that.”