Jail guard guilty of sexual assault
Ontario court justice found man’s account of incident with inmate ‘completely unbelievable’
An Ontario correctional officer has been convicted of sexual assault and breach of trust in an incident involving an inmate at the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton.
Guard Dwayne Jason Thomas was at times “completely unbelievable” and his evidence “intentionally vague,” while his victim, a female inmate, was “credible” in recounting what she said happened in the shower area of the provincial jail on March 5, 2021, Ontario Court Justice Jennifer Campitelli found.
The inmate, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified she refused to provide oral sex to Thomas in the shower area, where the two were alone, then “froze” and “did not say anything” before Thomas pulled down her pants and penetrated her vaginally, Campitelli wrote in a judgment delivered in Halton court last week.
At trial, Thomas pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations, arguing that the inmate wasn’t credible — though he did not dispute that semen found on the inmate’s pants was his.
Thomas, who had been a correctional officer with the Ministry of the Solicitor General since December 2016 and started working at Vanier in 2020, testified that the inmate was the initiator, that there was no penetration and that the sexual encounter was consensual.
He testified the inmate started “making out” with him in the shower area and that she wanted sex, to which he said, “not without a condom.”
In summarizing the case, Campitelli in her judgment wrote that Thomas contended the inmate “lured him into the shower area, and began touching him sexually” and Thomas “eventually allowed (the inmate) to masturbate him manually to ejaculation.”
Thomas’s account of what happened in the shower area, Campitelli found, was “inherently implausible,” and available video surveillance outside the shower supported the inmate’s version of events.
Court heard from a jail sergeant that is against policy for a correctional officer to enter a shower area while it is in use, unless there was a medical or other sort of emergency. The inmate told the sergeant about the incident with Thomas three days after it happened.
Initially, the inmate was an uncooperative witness on the stand, refusing to answer the Crown’s questions. But after getting legal advice, she was “responsive” and while the initial refusal to co-operate was “troubling,” Campitelli found it did not impact her credibility. Nor did a history of drug abuse and past crimes “which relate to dishonesty.”
The inmate testified she collected Thomas’ semen from the floor with her pants, feeling no one would believe her. Campitelli found that the sexual assault “represented a serious marked departure from the standards expected of an individual in (Thomas’s) position of public trust.”
The Ministry of the Solicitor General did not answer a question about how often correctional officers are accused and convicted of sexually assaulting inmates. A ministry spokesperson said Thomas had been fired prior to the guilty findings.
“Correctional officers are essential to community safety, law and order in our society, and the administration of justice. Incidents like this are completely unacceptable, and all corrections staff are expected to uphold the highest ethical standards both on and off duty,” ministry spokesperson Greg Flood said in an email.
Lawyer Selwyn Pieters, who represents Thomas, declined to comment on the case.
A date for sentencing has yet to be set, with Thomas due back in court on June 12.
Dwayne Jason Thomas had been a correctional officer with the Ministry of the Solicitor General since December 2016 and started working at Vanier Centre for Women in 2020