By CKOM Staff

Saskatoon man acquitted of charges in bizarre sexual assault trial

Oct 28, 2015 | 11:00 AM

A Saskatoon man accused of filming himself performing non-consensual sex acts with his wife has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting his wife or threatening to kill her.

On Wednesday Justice Martel Popescul acquitted the man on all five counts at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench.

The accused cannot be named in order to protect the identity of his wife.

During the trial the court heard about the ongoing tension between the couple after they moved to Saskatchewan from Ireland in 2012. The victim claims her husband became paranoid and threatened harm if she left him.

Police searched the rural home of the accused in August 2014 and in October 2014. During an RCMP interview, the alleged victim said she was presented with a series of disturbing videos taken of her without her knowledge. In four of the video clips she was performing oral sex on her husband. One clip showed a hand sticking a cucumber into her vagina. She testified that it was her husband’s hand because he was wearing his wedding ring.

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A timeline presented in court of the alleged sexual assault can be found here.

The victim claims she was unaware she was being recorded and has little recollection of the sex acts captured on tape.

Defence lawyer Davin Burlingham argued the alleged victim was actively engaging in or performing the filmed sex acts and therefore must have been aware and consenting.

But much of the evidence points to the woman being intoxicated, sometimes to the point of passing out, and even possibly drugged according to Crown prosecutor Buffy Rodgers.

The woman testified that she would drink alcohol with friends and be perfectly fine, but when she drank the same amount of alcohol with her husband she would “black out.”

Rodgers also argued that just because the woman was capable of sex doesn’t mean she was in a state to be able to consent.

Closing arguments in the trial revolved around the issue of consent, and whether the victim consented to participating in sex acts filmed by her husband.

– With files from News Talk’s Bre McAdam

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