Patten faces new charge
Sexual assault complainant alleges she suffered a year of escalating harassment
An Ottawa courthouse supervisor is facing a new charge of criminal harassment as court heard an application Monday to move his upcoming sexual assault trial to an out-of-town venue.
Timothy Patten, 44, was formally charged on Feb. 7 with one count of sexual assault, alleged to have occurred at the Elgin Street courthouse between November 2016 and Nov. 10, 2017, according to court documents.
An additional charge of criminal harassment covering the same period, involving the same female employee at the courthouse, was sworn in court on March 20.
On Monday, court heard a joint request to move the trial to an out-of-town venue. A regional senior judge will assign a courtroom where the case will be tried outside the Ottawa jurisdiction.
Patten has not yet entered a plea, and none of the allegations has been tested in court.
Patten is the son of former Ottawa Centre MPP Richard Patten.
The alleged victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, alleges she endured a full year of workplace harassment from Patten, beginning with crass comments and explicit text messages, which escalated to sexual assault.
She alleges she was assaulted on Oct. 27, 2017, and said she reported the incident to her supervisor a week later. The supervisor immediately urged her to contact police, which she did in early November.
A week later, Patten was escorted from the building and has yet to return to work, according to the woman.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Patten began working as a courthouse client service representative in 2010. He was promoted to supervisor of court operations in June 2015, according to his profile.
As part of his conditions, Patten is forbidden from communicating with the woman either directly or indirectly, and is barred from going to “any place (the complainant) may be,” according to court documents, except during scheduled appearances before a judge.
Patten did not attend Monday’s hearing. Both defence and Crown counsel were represented by agents.
Patten’s lawyer, Yves Jubinville of L’Orignal, declined to comment on the case.
Crown attorney Sylvia Domaradzki will be brought in from Nova Scotia as prosecutor.
Domaradzki said Monday the Crown’s case will include evidence based on personal interactions and “electronic” communications between Patten and the alleged victim.
“The Crown will be relying on evidence the harassment took place in a personal manner, as in face to face, as well as in an electronic manner,” Domaradzki said.
The alleged victim described an extended campaign of workplace harassment she said began around January of last year.
“It wasn’t just ‘You look nice today’ comments. It was a lot more crass,” she said.
“I told him to lay off of me, like, ‘Where’s your wife? Where’s your daughter? What’s going on here?’ ”
The woman said Patten would make crude comments about her underwear. Soon, she says, “I was receiving text message after text message throughout the course of my working day.”
The woman says after she eventually went to police she turned her cellphone over to a detective and that forensic investigators were able to retrieve many of the text messages, which she said she believes will be among the Crown’s evidence.
The graphic sexual nature of the texts only escalated, she alleged, with invitations for sex and sexual favours. She said she then started receiving text messages inviting her to visit Patten in his office, in another section of the courthouse.
She visited him in his office twice and chatted, but on the third visit, on Oct. 27 at 3 p.m., she says, he locked her in his office and began sexually assaulting her, forcing himself upon her and groping her as she yelled for him to stop. “I stood up. He grabbed me, kissed me, and I unlocked the door and ran out of the office,” she alleges.
The woman said she told a supervisor about the incident on Nov. 3, and was encouraged to report everything to police.
She said she hesitated at first to come forward, saying she was “fearful” she wouldn’t be believed.
“I knew who Tim’s dad was,” said the woman, who said Patten’s lineage was common knowledge around the courthouse. “I knew he had strong political connections, and I’m just an average Joe. … Who’s going to believe me?”
The attorney general’s office, which oversees Ontario courthouse staff, would not comment on the case.
Spokesman Brian Gray cited “human resources matters, which must remain confidential … as there is a criminal matter currently before the courts.”
He said the ministry “takes its responsibilities towards its staff seriously.”
He cited a policy “designed to ensure all allegations of workplace harassment or discrimination are treated seriously and handled on a timely and confidential basis. … Under that policy, managers also have a general duty to take action as soon as possible after becoming aware of situations that endanger employee health and safety. Managers must also notify police and consult legal services, as required, when information is brought forward that may constitute criminal behaviour.”
The alleged victim said she has suffered since in her personal life and at her workplace at the courthouse.
“My personal life has been affected. Before I decided to come out, my anxiety was through the roof. I wasn’t sleeping, I wasn’t eating,” she said. “I didn’t want to go in to work. I was letting it take control of every part of my life — my personal life, my work life. Everything was being affected and finally, after what he did to me, I’ve had enough. I can’t let this control me.”