UPDATE: After just 35 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict.
Garrett Dunlop was found to be not guilty of sexual assault or sexual interference.
—
The fate of a former Nipawin Hawks star is set to go into the hands of 12 Melfort jurors.
Garrett Dunlop, 21, of Nanaimo B.C., is charged with sexual assault and sexual interference in relation to two incidents when he allegedly had sex with a girl under age 16. Throughout the trial and in his own testimony this morning, Dunlop maintained the pair only kissed and he broke off the encounter upon learning her true age, which he had believed to be much older.
Dunlop, who was named SJHL Rookie of the Year in 2015, could face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
Before closing arguments were heard, the charges of making sexually explicit material available to a minor and using electronic communication to facilitate an offence were both stayed. Justice Murray Acton instructed the jurors only to concern themselves with the two remaining charges.
In his closing argument, Saskatoon-based defence lawyer Mike Owens emphasized the Crown had introduced no physical evidence whatsoever to support the allegations against Dunlop, and said their case relies almost exclusively on the statements of the complainant and her family.
“This is a ‘he said, she said’ sort of circumstance,” Owens told the jury.
Owens noted Dunlop made reasonable assumptions about the alleged victim’s age based on their conversations about her drinking at all-night parties, smoking, and hanging out with her “high school friends.” When he learned her true age after they shared a kiss, Owens said, Dunlop immediately took action to correct the situation before it could go any further.
“When they met in person his common sense kicked in,” Owens said. “He did the right thing. It would have been so easy to do the wrong thing, but he did the right thing.”
Senior Crown Prosecutor Tyla Olenchuk argued Dunlop’s version of events did not add up, and questioned whether two young people would limit themselves to kissing in the backseat of an SUV parked in a secluded area.
“More than chaste pecks on the lips occurred,” she said. “He pressured her into performing oral sex on him, and he had sex with her.”
Unlike the alleged victim, Olenchuk said Dunlop had a motive to lie in order to protect himself from a potentially-lengthy prison sentence, and said he avoided several of her questions under cross-examination.
Dunlop, she said, relied on his uninformed assumptions instead of taking specific steps to learn the complainant’s true age before initiating a sexual encounter, and said the evidence he gave at trial “defies logic.”
“You will need to consider if he took all reasonable steps to ascertain her age,” Olenchuk said. “Ladies and gentlemen, who do you believe?”
Tomorrow morning the jury will receive their final instructions from the judge before retiring to begin their deliberations. Acton instructed the jurors to bring an overnight bag in case they have not reached a verdict by the end of the day.
Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca
On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews
