Conditional discharge for indecent act
Incident happened on HMCS Toronto during 2020 deployment
A member of the Royal Canadian Navy who exposed his genitals to a female sailor during a deployment in 2020 has been handed a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to a charge of committing an indecent act.
Jake Milley, 29, entered the guilty plea in Halifax provincial court Monday, rather than go to trial on two charges involving the woman, including an allegation of sexual assault from the same mission.
Judge Ann Marie Simmons accepted a joint recommendation from lawyers for the discharge, accompanied by 18 months’ probation.
While on probation, the Halifax man cannot contact the victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, or be within five metres of her home, workplace or school. He must take part in counselling for alcohol abuse and any other issues as deemed necessary by his probation officer.
If Milley, an engineer with the rank of master sailor, successfully completes his probation term, he will not have a criminal record.
Crown attorney Sarah Kirby told the court the indecent act was committed between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020, while HMCS Toronto was on active duty overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kirby said Milley and the victim attended a social gathering in a common room on the ship. Milley was drinking alcohol, but the woman was not.
Later in the evening, as Milley and the victim were walking down a passageway toward the female quarters, he stopped and pulled his penis out of his pants.
“(She) looked at what he was showing her and turned around … and walked away,” Kirby said.
Military police laid charges against Milley in July 2022.
‘FOREVER CHANGED MY LIFE’
In an impact statement, the victim said Milley’s actions ruined her life and left her feeling powerless.
“There are no words to accurately explain … how this incident has forever changed my life,” she wrote. “I want nothing more than to just be normal.”
She said the damage Milley did to her “was internal, unseen, and I will carry it with me for the rest of my life. You took away my worth, my privacy, my time, my safety, my confidence and my voice. My independence, natural joy, gentleness and steady lifestyle I had been enjoying became distorted beyond recognition.
“I became closed off, angry, self-deprecating, tired, irritable, empty. The isolation at times was unbearable. You cannot give me back the life I had before that night.”
She said she was off work because of the incident but eventually had to go back after being told she would be released from the Armed Forces if she continued getting therapy through the military.
“I took it upon myself to seek therapy outside of my employment so I wouldn’t be released from my job,” she said.
She said she wants Milley to know that alcohol is not an excuse for his behaviour.
“This act was not an accident,” she said. “Alcohol was a factor for you, but alcohol was not the one who exposed themselves to me. Regretting drinking is not the same as regretting exposing themselves.
“I want you to take responsibility for your own conduct and not blame what alcohol made you do. But here we are, the damage is done, no one can undo it. I accept the hurt, the anger, and will do the best I can to move on.”
Kirby and defence lawyer James Giacomantonio both said the conditional discharge would obviously be in Milley’s best interest but would also not be contrary to the public interest.
CONSEQUENCES
Giacomantonio said his client has been in the military for nine years and is an “upstanding member of our community.”
He said Milley has been passed over for some positions in the military because of these matters.
“He has had, just by the nature of the allegations alone, consequences,” Giacomantonio said. “Obviously, people within the military are aware of this allegation.
“He is here accepting responsibility in front of this court and in public and in front of the complainant, who obviously has suffered significantly as a result of his actions.”
Milley has volunteered with a non-profit organization in his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador and hopes to one day have children and coach them in hockey, Giacomantonio said. “All of these things would be negatively affected by a conviction being entered.”
The judge said that after balancing the circumstances of the “short-lived” offence and the offender and the impact on the victim, she was satisfied it would be appropriate to grant the conditional discharge.
The charge of sexual assault was dismissed after the prosecutor said she was offering no evidence on that count.
She said the damage Milley did to her “was internal, unseen, and I will carry it with me for the rest of my life.