There are three levels of sexual assault under Canadian law, increasing in severity:

1. Sexual Assault (s. 271) – Involves non-consensual sexual contact without aggravating factors.

2. Sexual Assault with a Weapon, Threats, or Causing Bodily Harm (s. 272) – Involves the use of a weapon, threats, or results in bodily harm.

3. Aggravated Sexual Assault (s. 273) – Involves wounding, maiming, disfiguring, or endangering the life of the victim.

Being charged with sexual assault can be devastating.  Convictions carry serious penalties, including imprisonment, mandatory registration on the national sex offender registry, possible weapons and DNA orders and long-term social and legal consequences.  There is often a unique social stigma attached to a sexual assault conviction that can last for years after the criminal proceedings are over.

In many cases, clients are surprised when they learn they are being charged with sexual assault.  They did not believe they were committing an offence at the time as there was no “violence” or “force”.

Defending sexual assault cases requires a very thorough analysis as cases often turn on one small piece of evidence.  When required, we hire private investigators, DNA experts, technical experts and other expert witnesses in order to help defend our clients.  Often we need to scrutinize pages of text messages and other personal information in order to prepare our defence.

There are unique rules of evidence that only apply in sexual assault cases.  These can be difficult to navigate as the law continues to shift and evolve over time.  Some evidence that would ordinarily be admissible in other trials may require judicial approval after a separate motion called for that purpose. For that reason, it is very important that a person facing a sexual assault charge retain a lawyer with a successful track record of defending sexual assault cases, and one that is up to speed with the most recent caselaw.