BREAKING: Man, 22, guilty of sexual assault of Ryerson University student

By Raneem Alozzi and Maggie Macintosh

A jury has convicted a Dundas, Ont. man of sexually assaulting a Ryerson University student two years ago, as reported by the Toronto Star.

Jurors found Patrick Walsh, now 22, ignored a woman, whose name is protected under a publication ban, when she told him she did not want to have intercourse with him on May 13, 2016. The verdict was announced Sept. 28, in a courtroom in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

“It was probably difficult, but it was the right verdict,” said Crown attorney Brigid McCallum, according to the Star’s report. 

The complainant left the courtroom after the verdict. The Star also reported Walsh, who is currently enrolled at a Detroit university on an athletic scholarship, and his family “appeared badly shaken up and stunned.”

At the start of the trial, the complainant told court the two walked to Walsh’s mom’s apartment after they met at Grace O’Malley’s pub. She, age 19 at the time, said she was feeling intoxicated after having a few drinks at the bar.

At first, she consented to kissing in the street on their way to the apartment. But when they arrived to the empty apartment, she said things escalated quickly.

She testified Walsh forced her to give him oral sex, and then afterwards, when she was lying on the bed in shock, he got on top of her and penetrated her.

The complainant said she told him “no” three times, but he ignored her.

At the start of the trial, Walsh was also charged with publishing an intimate image of the complainant—the complainant alleged he livestreamed her naked, vomiting after he sexually assaulted her. However, Ontario Superior Court of Justice Kelly Byrne dropped the charge midway through the trial.

Walsh’s defence lawyer Zachary Kerbel argued that there was no evidence of his recording and that “livestreaming” was a transitory mode of recording that ceases to exist after it’s initially recorded.

Walsh could face up to 10 years in prison, he will return to the court next week when the date of the sentencing will be set.