Court hears arguments in case of man accused of 2018 sexual assault
A Regina lawyer asked a judge to look past his client’s history of sexual offending while weighing whether the man is guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl two years ago.
Meanwhile, the Crown rebuked defence’s characterization of the complainant, urging the court to guard against giving way to rape myths.
Crown prosecutor Kelly Kaip asked Regina Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Graeme Mitchell to find 33-year-old Phillip Lionel Levac guilty of sexual assault and sexual interference for incidents alleged to have happened in April 2018.
The trial, which began in December, included testimony from both the girl and Levac as well as people who claimed to have seen the girl leaving Levac’s Regina home and the two together at a Regina athletic facility.
At the time of the alleged offence, Levac was 31, the girl 14.
Kaip recounted evidence of more than 400 texts between the two in the days leading to the alleged offence, and noted how the girl said the conversation moved to Snapchat. The girl said the messages
— which no longer exist — then became sexual and included the exchange of intimate photos and video.
The girl said she ended up at Levac’s house on two occasions where he sexually assaulted her — events Levac denied.
Kaip pointed not only to witness testimony but physical evidence, such as the fact the girl’s DNA was found on Levac’s bedding and two missing condoms from a concealed pack — the number of condoms the girl said Levac discarded during the first incident.
But defence lawyer Andrew Hitchcock said there are other explanations, ones that create a reasonable doubt. Hitchcock noted Levac had been training the girl at the gym. As he was said to have been in the habit of dropping his gym things on the bed, Hitchcock said it’s possible the girl’s sweat, present on Levac’s things, transferred to the bedding.
Hitchcock questioned why, if Levac had reason to be concerned, he didn’t toss the bedding in the wash when police turned up at his door. Hitchcock noted approximately 20 minutes passed before Levac let police in, giving him plenty of time to deal with potential evidence.
But Kaip surmised Levac might merely have been ridding himself of other evidence, such as his phone which was later found in his mother’s drawer. Police were never able to access the contents of the phone.
At the time, Levac was on a recognizance and, as he was considered a high-risk offender, was subject to a public advisory by police upon his move to Regina. Members of the public who saw Levac with the girl in April 2018 notified police when they recognized him from the advisory.
Hitchcock argued his client’s history of offending should not be allowed to feed into the current case.
“Mr. Levac, being who he is, colours the whole incident,” he said, adding it’s important for the public to see that even someone with Levac’s history can get a fair trial.
Hitchcock pointed to what he counted as problems with the girl’s testimony, such as the fact she continued contact with Levac despite having said she felt uncomfortable after the first sexual incident.
But Kaip reminded the court the girl was just 14 and argued she’d been subjected to grooming behaviour by Levac leading up to the alleged incident, leaving her uncertain about the situation afterward.
Kaip commented at length about the way sexual assault complainants are treated within the justice system, arguing no other type of complainant is subjected to the same level of scrutiny nor expected to present themselves as an “ideal victim.”
“After almost 25 years of practicing law, I don’t think I’ve ever met an ideal victim,” Kaip said. “Why? Because the standard is unfair and it’s impossible.”
Mitchell reserved decision to June 5.