R. v. SA
2023 ABCJ 111
In the Alberta Court of Justice
Docket 220944086P1
Before Justice J.J. Stuffco
Decided on May 03, 2023

Relevancy of the Case: Consideration of mitigating factors in a sentencing hearing for non-consensual publication of an intimate video

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Criminal Code, 1985 (Section 162.1(1), 162(1)(a))

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The accused made a ten-minute video of the victim. They met online through a dating website.
• He recorded the victim without her consent. In the video, she was nude, exposing her face and genitals.
• When the victim found that the videos were published online, she tried to contact the accused. However, he did not take down the videos.
• He made monetary gains using those videos. He claimed that he had gone through a lot of traumas in his childhood while pleading guilty to charges without a trial.

Prominent Arguments by the Counsels

• The Crown’s counsel argued that the accused used the videos for monetary gains. Even when the victim requested, he did not take them down. Therefore, the court should not consider any mitigating factors.
• The accused’s counsel submitted that he is attending counselling and is undergoing a risk assessment. The counsel also underlined the accused’s childhood traumas.

Opinion of the Bench

• The accused’s moral blameworthiness is relatively high as he gained the victim’s trust by having sex with her. He also recorded her without her consent.
• The offender’s intentional, deliberate actions represent a conduct that can only be sanctioned through incarceration.

Final Decision

• The court passed a sentence for 12 months probation, along with passing orders to refrain from making any comments or posts referring to the victim for 10 years and to delete her images and videos from his devices.