Sask. man's sexual assault conviction, sentence upheld after appeal
WARNING: The following story contains details of sexual assault.
The appeal of a Saskatchewan man convicted of sexual assault over an incident at a house party in 2020 has been denied.
Mitchell Biesenthal was convicted by a judge and jury trial in Estevan in 2022, being sentenced to three years incarceration along with several other orders.
A publication ban is in effect on any information that could identify the complainant.
According to the Court of Appeal decision handed down Feb. 7, Biesenthal met the complainant in the case at the party in Oct. 2020. The complainant testified that in the late hours of the night, she was left alone with Biesenthal as others in the house went to bed.
“At Mr. Biesenthal’s invitation, the complainant agreed to dance,” the appeal decision said.
After that, the complainant testified Biesenthal pushed her onto the couch and proceeded to sexually assault her through touching and forced sexual intercourse.
“I was gone. Zoned out. Done. Physically, yeah, I was still there,” the decision said, quoting the complainant’s testimony.
The incident ended when the complainant’s sister entered the room. The complainant rushed to the bathroom, before telling her sister she was leaving. She did not tell her sister about the assault until the following day.
The complainant’s sister testified she was certain from what she’d seen that the two had not just been kissing on the living room floor. She later exchanged Snapchat messages with Biesenthal.
“I’m usually not like that. I get consent all the time. I will find a way to make up for it,” Biesenthal said in one message during the exchange, which were presented as evidence at trial.
In court, Biesenthal denied a sexual assault took place, saying he kissed the complainant during a pair of songs and moved to the couch to “make out.” He told court all the kissing was consensual, and did not progress beyond that.
On the Snapchat messages, Biesenthal testified that he didn’t know what he was apologizing for and any apology offered was meant to appease the complainant’s sister, not admit to any criminal wrongdoing.
Grounds of Biesenthal’s appeal include alleged errors in the judge’s instructions to the jury and a refusal to amend the indictment to contain two separate counts of sexual assault (one for non-consensual kissing, the second for non-consensual touching and intercourse), which the Court of Appeal struck down.
As a result, Biesenthal’s appeal has been dismissed. He was ordered to surrender to the Estevan RCMP detachment on or before Feb. 9.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.