An Ontario judge has discounted the sentence for an Ecuadorian man convicted of violently sexually assaulting a woman because he’s likely going to be deported when he gets out of prison.
Sergio Reyes Loor was convicted of sexual assault causing bodily harm earlier this year in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. A ban has been placed on the publication of information that would identify the victim. The Crown argued that a five-year prison sentence was in order for Reyes Loor, who is a permanent resident of Canada.
“Defence counsel agreed that a five-year sentence would be fit and appropriate were the facts as I found them,” Justice Gillian Roberts wrote in her sentencing decision.
“However, he announced that the factual findings were unsafe. He declined to make submissions on sentence and instead used his time to gaslight me and embark on a shockingly sexist and misogynistic attack on the complainant. I will not dignify his submissions with a summary.”
The judge said she doesn’t hold the defence lawyer’s “offensive submissions” against Reyes Loor.
“I add that I stand by my factual findings. I made them after careful consideration of the entire record and the submissions of both counsel,” Roberts said.
Under Canadian immigration law, permanent residents sentenced to more than six months behind bars are inadmissible to Canada on grounds of serious criminality and face deportation.
While she said, “five years is a fit and appropriate sentence in the circumstances,” that’s not what the judge gave him.
“The conviction will have devastating immigration consequences, making any punishment I impose more severe than it otherwise would be. As a result, I decrease the sentence to four years,” Roberts said.
The court heard that on the evening of April 6, 2023, the woman went out with a friend for an evening of drinking and dancing in Toronto.
They “went to a series of nightclubs before ending the evening at Mr. Reyes Loor’s apartment, around 5:30 a.m. on April 7, 2023,” said the sentencing decision.
Reyes Loor worked in the Toronto club scene and knew the woman’s friend.
Reyes Loor let the pair into the nightclub Early Mercy without waiting in the lineup or paying the cover charge around 1 a.m. on Aug. 7, 2023, said the decision, which notes Reyes Loor provided them with vodka shots.
The pair moved on to other clubs, “but returned to Early Mercy at closing time, around 4 a.m.,” said the decision.
They accompanied Reyes Loor to a party, then came home with him to his apartment, it said. “Surveillance video from his lobby shows the trio arriving around 5:30 a.m.,” and the woman leaving with her friend around 9 a.m.
The woman “became extremely intoxicated over the course of the night,” said the decision. “Apart from a few flashes of memory, she does not remember anything after around 2 a.m. until the following morning, around 9 a.m. One of the flashes of memory she has is about 10 seconds at Mr. Reyes Loor’s apartment. He is on top of her, beginning to penetrate her vagina with his penis. She did not want him to penetrate her but was so drunk that she could not move or speak.”
The judge was “satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Reyes Loor knew that (the woman) was too intoxicated to consent to sexual intercourse at the time.”
Roberts was also “satisfied that Mr. Reyes Loor caused” the woman injuries during the non-consensual sexual activity.
“She was bruised all over, and the skin of her genitals torn. It was painful and mentally disturbing to go to the bathroom. It was also difficult to do many of the movements she was required to do at work. In addition, the medications she was prescribed had side effects on her gastrointestinal system,” said the judge.
“More significantly, she is no longer the confident, trusting, innocent person she once was.”
The victim told the court her “perception of bonding through trust has been affected in ways that are hard to articulate,” said the decision.
“Social spaces that once felt natural are now fragile.”
She told the court that the “psychological and emotional impact continues to affect” how she lives, loves and experiences the world.
“It feels every day is a process of navigating grief, anxiety, vulnerability and inner peace while regaining my sense of normalcy, routine and control,” she said.
Reyes Loor, 31, “initially came to Canada in 2015 to study English and returned later to study business,” said the decision.
“He graduated from George Brown in 2018.”
His common-law partner testified that she was “shocked by the charges and believed them to be out of character.”
Reyes Loor “maintains his innocence,” said the judge. “When I asked him whether he had anything to say before he was sentenced, he noted simply that his mind was at peace and his conscience clear.”
Assuming the conviction is upheld, Reyes Loor’s lawyer was “unequivocal that he will lose his status and be deported,” said the decision.
Reyes Loor took advantage of the woman’s “condition to violently sexually assault her,” said the judge.
“He did not wear a condom. The offence involved gratuitous violence. He bit her. He tore her genitals.”
The victim was injured both physically and psychologically, Roberts said.
Reyes Loor “has no criminal record or any history of involvement in the criminal justice system,” said the judge. “He is a good son, partner, and employee.”
According to Roberts, “the sentence must be as short as possible to achieve general deterrence and denunciation.”
The judge noted that “collateral consequences can never reduce a sentence to the point where it becomes disproportionate to the gravity of the offence, or the moral blameworthiness of the offender.”
But given Reyes Loor’s “immigration situation,” Roberts said, his conviction will “nearly certainly result in him being deported, making whatever punishment I impose more severe.”
She reduced his sentence to four years “in light of the serious collateral consequences that the conviction will likely have on Mr. Reyes Loor. The circumstances of this case are far too serious to impose a sentence that will not have immigration consequences…. Nonetheless I believe the near certain immigration consequences still factor into the sentence in so far as they will make the sentence harsher than it otherwise would be. I believe it is important to take this into account in order to ensure the sentence is proportionate.”
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