By Canadian Press

Crown wants 12 years for two men guilty of violent Toronto bar sex assault

Jan 29, 2020 | 1:01 PM

TORONTO — A bar owner and his manager convicted of a violent, videotaped gang sex assault of a barely conscious woman each deserve 12 years in prison, a prosecutor said on Wednesday.

In arguing for the sentence, the Crown lambasted the men for their “disturbing misogyny” and the attack on the vulnerable victim.

“It’s hard to picture a more shocking sex assault than what was shown on that video,” prosecutor Rick Nathanson told Ontario Superior Court. “As time went on, it becomes chillingly deliberate.”

A jury last month convicted the accused, Enzo De Jesus Carrasco, 34, and Gavin MacMillan, 44, of gang sexual assault and administering a stupefying drug to their then-24-year-old victim.

The “intensely violent and lengthy sexual assault,” Nathanson said, occurred Dec. 14, 2016, in the downtown College Street bar MacMillan owned.

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Nathanson produced numerous crude text messages between the owner and his manager in the run-up to the attack, indicating the surveillance video in the bar was deliberately set up to capture such incidents.

The almost six-hour recording, Nathanson said, further traumatized the victim, who otherwise has only vague memories of attack, and is an aggravating factor.

Nathanson urged the judge to impose a nine-year term for the sexual assault and a further three years — to be served consecutively — for the drug offence.

The prosecutor heaped scorn on glowing references about the men, first-time offenders, the defence was expected to introduce in its submissions.

“These are men with two sides to them: A public persona and a more private persona,” Nathanson said.

Neither is a hormonal teenager but rather mature adults who had a responsibility for the well-being of their bar patrons, he said.

The defence, which has yet to make its submissions, indicated a one to two-year sentence would be appropriate.

Earlier, the victim’s mother read a statement in which she described the emotionally crippling legacy the attack left on her daughter. Choking back tears, she spoke of the impact on the entire family and how her daughter has been changed.

“My daughter was such a loving, happy, creative, trusting individual,” said the woman, who can’t be identified to protect the victim’s identity. “It was all taken away from her.”

The victim, court heard, would repeatedly wake up screaming from nightmares and flinch when loved ones tried to touch or hug her.

The mother questioned whether the two offenders had ever stopped to consider the “heart-wrenching” impact of their violence.

“The first three months after this happened, she could barely leave my house,” the mother said.  “She used to be such a physically active and positive person. Now she can’t even walk for long periods.”

At the start of the sentencing hearing, Justice Michael Dambrot rejected a defence request to declare a mistrial in light of a recent Court of Appeal ruling related to jury selection. At least one of the men has filed an appeal based on the decision.

“The jury, Your Honour, was not properly constituted,” lawyer Chantelle LaFitte said. “How can we say an improperly constituted jury intended a verdict?”

But Dambrot said it would be unwise for him to make a decision given the law has not yet been settled and the jury had already rendered its verdict.

“I’m inclined to think I should let the Court of Appeal sort it out,” Dambrot said in rejecting a mistrial.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Jan. 29, 2020.

Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press