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Miscouche man guilty of sexual assault

ALISON JENKINS LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER alison.jenkins @theguardian.pe.ca @PEIGuardian

SUMMERSIDE — A provincial court judge in Summerside has found a Miscouche man guilty of sexual assault.

William Robert Companion, 62, was charged with sexual assault after an incident in June 2020. The victim is a 19-year-old man.

“In this case, the versions of what happened are very much in dispute. What we have here is a classic he said-he said situation,” said Judge Krista MacKay in her April 14, 2021, decision.

A trial in March called seven witnesses, including two police officers.

MacKay reviewed the alleged events in court before announcing her decision.

Companion was at a house party in Prince County on the afternoon and evening of the night in question, where he met the victim.

“He described himself as fine mentally, a little tipsy,” said MacKay in her decision.

Witnesses at the party testified Companion consumed most of a quart of rye.

Everyone at the party was consuming alcohol, except the host’s girlfriend, as she was the sober driver.

Near 9 p.m., Companion decided to go home. The sober driver asked two teenagers, one being the victim, to keep her company on the drive back.

They all got in an SUV, the driver and the second teen in the front seats and Companion and the victim in the back.

“The main issue in dispute is what happened during that car ride home,” said MacKay.

On the drive, Companion kissed the victim’s hand. The victim shrugged it off, said MacKay.

Then Companion touched the victim’s upper leg, moving his hand to his crotch. The victim pushed Companion’s hand away.

Companion touched the victim’s chest and moved to touch the victim’s crotch again, but the victim was holding his hands over the area. Companion tried to wiggle his hand underneath the victim’s hands but stopped when the victim held tight.

“By this time, (the victim) was pretty upset,” said MacKay.

The victim refused any more contact for the rest of the car ride. Then, when he left the vehicle, Companion leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

The driver and the second teen testified they had no idea anything was going on in the back seat.

The driver said if she had heard groping or something like that, she would have stopped the car and Companion would have been on the road walking.

The victim told the other teen what happened later the same night. The next day, he told his mother, as well. They decided to go to police.

MacKay said the victim was very credible and held up well under cross-examination.

“He appeared to have a consistent recollection of what happened at the party prior to getting in the vehicle,” said MacKay. “He provided detailed evidence of what happened in the car and this was not substantively challenged by defence, despite detailed cross-examination.”

MacKay did not find Companion’s testimony credible, in part because his testimony in court differed from his statement to police in August.

“I find it hard to believe that he now remembers things that he admitted numerous times to having no recollection of when he met with (police),” said MacKay. “He went from remembering nothing other than being in the back seat and arriving home — and in fact (the driver) had to announce to him, ‘We’re here’ — to alleging he could remember going over his to-do list in his head and that there was no music and no conversation in the vehicle.”

“Failing to recall something is not the same as it never having happened,” MacKay added later. “I find the only logical conclusion is that the accused did sexually assault (the victim) in the vehicle as alleged. I, therefore, find him guilty.”

The charge is liable to imprisonment of not more than 18 months.

Defence attorney Robert McNeill requested a pre-sentence report and sentencing is scheduled for June 9.

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2021-05-05T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-05T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281775632024845

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