Jail time sought in St. Michael’s assault case

Crown seeks three months for teenager who was found guilty

Warning: Graphic content

The Crown is seeking a three-month jail sentence for a former St. Michael’s College School student who helped hold down a boy in a locker room so other students could sexually assault him with a broomstick.

The teen, whose identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is one of five teens, who were students at the private boys’ school, found guilty of gang sexual assault in November 2018. The others were sentenced to two years of probation after entering guilty pleas in 2019. They included two who admitted to further participating in another similar sexual assault and assault on another student.

The teen testified that he held down the arm of the victim, a fellow student, while other students pinned down his legs and sexually assaulted him with a broomstick. A group of students formed a circle around them and cheered on the sexual assault as another student filmed it with his cellphone. The video that was later circulated on social media and led to the police investigation.

The teen claimed he only took part because he was terrified he would be victimized next, but Ontario Court Justice Manjusha Pawagi concluded in her verdict earlier this year that this was not credible.

She found him guilty of gang sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon.

Crown prosecutor Sarah De Filippis said a short custodial sentence followed by 18 months of probation is appropriate given the violent, prolonged, humiliating assault of a vulnerable boy that was filmed and shared on social media.

She also noted that the teen violated his bail conditions set in November 2018 by moving to the U.S. for school last year. She said she had refused to agree to vary his bail conditions to allow the move and that a court application should be brought which it was not.

The teen’s lawyer Gary Tomlinson said the breach of conditions should not be seen as egregious given that it only amounted to the teen being able to attend school in another location.

Tomlinson urged the court to impose the same two-year probation sentence given to the other teens, who also showed a positive capacity for rehabilitation and had supportive families. He said that period should be reduced to account for COVID-19-related trial delays and the teen spending almost three years on bail.

Tomlinson asked the court to consider the impact of the school culture, including the normalization of bullying, on the offence, a factor considered in reducing the sentences of the other convicted students.

While the Crown argued the teen had not shown remorse for his actions, Tomlinson said the pre-sentence reports and text message apology he made to the victim for what happened does show genuine remorse.