DLM
03-12-2005, 10:04 AM
Fri Mar 11,2005
EDMONTON (CP) - A man at the centre of a high-profile sex assault case that went to the Supreme Court of Canada has been ordered to stand trial on a new charge.
Steven Ewanchuk, 55, of Edmonton, who previously was convicted in the notorious "no means no" case, was charged in July 2004 with sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl over several months.
The "no means no" case, which stemmed back to an assault in 1994, fuelled national debate over sexual consent and prompted the Supreme Court to clarify and strengthen the country's sexual assault law.
No date has been set for Ewanchuk's new trial.
He was arrested in Merritt, B.C., about 170 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, in July 2004 for violating a court order that he not leave Alberta.
He was returned to Edmonton and charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching.
In the earlier case, which garnered national headlines, Ewanchuk groped a 17-year-old woman applying for a job in 1994. She told him three times to stop before leaving 2½ hours later.
Ewanchuk was originally acquitted at trial and the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal in 1998.
In his ruling, Alberta Appeal Court Justice John McClung noted the victim, wearing a T-shirt and shorts on the hot June day, "did not present herself to Ewanchuk . . . in a bonnet and crinolines."
He called Ewanchuk's actions "far less criminal than hormonal."
However, the Supreme Court later ruled that implied consent is not a defence to sexual assault and convicted Ewanchuk.
In its decision, the high court clarified and strengthened the federal government's 1992 amendments to the Criminal Code.
Known as the "no means no" law, the changes put the onus on the initiator of sex to obtain consent.
Ewanchuk was sentenced to one year in jail but that was doubled to two years less a day in 2002.
At the time of his release, Edmonton police had issued a community warning classifying Ewanchuk as a high-risk sexual offender. His criminal record also includes a sexual assault in 1989 and three rapes in the early 1970s.
EDMONTON (CP) - A man at the centre of a high-profile sex assault case that went to the Supreme Court of Canada has been ordered to stand trial on a new charge.
Steven Ewanchuk, 55, of Edmonton, who previously was convicted in the notorious "no means no" case, was charged in July 2004 with sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl over several months.
The "no means no" case, which stemmed back to an assault in 1994, fuelled national debate over sexual consent and prompted the Supreme Court to clarify and strengthen the country's sexual assault law.
No date has been set for Ewanchuk's new trial.
He was arrested in Merritt, B.C., about 170 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, in July 2004 for violating a court order that he not leave Alberta.
He was returned to Edmonton and charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching.
In the earlier case, which garnered national headlines, Ewanchuk groped a 17-year-old woman applying for a job in 1994. She told him three times to stop before leaving 2½ hours later.
Ewanchuk was originally acquitted at trial and the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal in 1998.
In his ruling, Alberta Appeal Court Justice John McClung noted the victim, wearing a T-shirt and shorts on the hot June day, "did not present herself to Ewanchuk . . . in a bonnet and crinolines."
He called Ewanchuk's actions "far less criminal than hormonal."
However, the Supreme Court later ruled that implied consent is not a defence to sexual assault and convicted Ewanchuk.
In its decision, the high court clarified and strengthened the federal government's 1992 amendments to the Criminal Code.
Known as the "no means no" law, the changes put the onus on the initiator of sex to obtain consent.
Ewanchuk was sentenced to one year in jail but that was doubled to two years less a day in 2002.
At the time of his release, Edmonton police had issued a community warning classifying Ewanchuk as a high-risk sexual offender. His criminal record also includes a sexual assault in 1989 and three rapes in the early 1970s.