Ex-SMU worker jailed
Former groundskeeper sentenced on sexual charges
HALIFAX — It wasn’t how Matthew Albert Percy planned on spending his 36th birthday.
Instead of celebrating with his family and friends, Percy was in Halifax provincial court Thursday for sentencing on charges of sexual assault and voyeurism from an encounter with a Saint Mary’s University student in her dorm room in September 2017.
Percy, who was a groundskeeper at SMU at the time of the incident, was found guilty last December of having intercourse with the young woman while she was unconscious and recording parts of the encounter on his cellphone without her consent.
Judge Elizabeth Buckle handed the Halifax man a 30-month sentence but deducted 768 days as credit for his time on remand, leaving him with 144 days to serve.
She also gave him three years probation, with a requirement that he take part in sexual offender programming and any other counselling deemed necessary by his probation officer.
“Mr. Percy’s conduct in having intercourse with a woman when she was unconscious must be strongly denounced,” Buckle said. “The sentence must reflect society’s intolerance for this kind of behaviour.”
The Crown had recommended a fouryear prison sentence and the defence 12-18 months in custody.
The incident happened Sept. 15, 2017, after Percy walked the complainant home from downtown Halifax.
Percy used his iPhone to record two videos of sexual activity with the woman, who was heavily intoxicated after a night out with friends and does not recall consenting to sex.
The second video shows Percy having intercourse with the woman while she is unresponsive. Her eyes are closed and her head is turned to the side, her arms hanging motionless.
The woman is silent for more than two minutes. After Percy sets the phone down on the bed, she can be heard moaning. He asks her several times if she’s OK or if she wants him to stop, and she gives an inaudible, one-word reply.
“For approximately 90 seconds to two minutes, (the woman) was unconscious while Mr. Percy had intercourse with her,” the judge said in her Dec. 14 decision.
“The law is absolutely clear that an unconscious person cannot consent to sexual activity.”
Buckle said Percy took no steps to ensure the woman was consenting to intercourse and recorded the videos without her knowledge.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said she stayed in her room for two weeks after the incident.
“The curtains remained closed so I wouldn’t have to see that stupid little (groundskeeper) tractor. To say I was tired and depressed wouldn’t describe it correctly. I was in shock, anxious to the point of getting sick.
“I eventually crawled out of my seclusion, only to replace the safety blanket of my locked room with that of drinking.”
She said she tried to keep up with her studies but missed classes because of bouts of depression and anxiety.
On Thursday, the judge said Percy’s actions demonstrated a sense of entitlement over the complainant’s body and a disregard for her right to make choices.