By Emma Sandri
A judge sentenced a 22-year-old man to two years in a penitentiary after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a Ryerson University student at the time.
In her judicial reasoning, Superior Court Justice Kelly Byrne said Patrick Walsh had accepted no wrongdoing for “not one, but two acts of significant personal violence.”
A jury found Walsh guilty in September of 2018 after hearing testimony that he forced a woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, to have intercourse. Walsh had pleaded not guilty.
“Not a day goes by [the complainant] does not think about the event,” said Byrne. “[The court] forced her to relive events she so desperately wants to forget.”
In May of 2016, Walsh and the woman had a few drinks at Grace O’Malley’s, a popular Irish pub, before leaving together. The two had previously known each other from a party a year earlier and the woman testified she had consented to kissing.
The Eyeopener previously reported that Walsh brought the complainant back to his mom’s apartment, where she said things escalated very quickly.
Walsh forced the woman’s head down to perform oral sex. While she laid in shock following the assault, Walsh then got on top of her and penetrated her — she repeatedly told him to stop.
Following the assault, the complainant testified that Walsh had FaceTimed his friends, as she was throwing up naked in the bathroom. The charge for publishing an intimate image was dropped midway through the trial by Byrne.
“You don’t deserve to know any part of me,” said the woman during her victim impact statement on Jan. 7. “I spend days, even weeks, barely eating, moving or even wanting to live.
“I am living breathing proof of what you did.”
Crown attorney Brigid McCallum had asked Walsh be sentenced to three years in prison for the assault. Factors that reduced Walsh’s sentence were that he was youthful and a first-time offender.
Walsh’s defence counsel Zachary Kerbel had previously asked for 12 months in prison, as he said it was unclear if the jury found Walsh guilty of both oral or vaginal assault, or just one.
In addition to his time in prison, Walsh will also have to register himself as a sex offender for 20 years and not be in any contact–direct or indirect–with the complainant.
“As a person, not as a judge, [I want] good things for everybody,” said Byrne. Following the sentencing, she personally gave both Walsh and the complainant a book.
Byrne also said she urged Walsh to find empathy and understanding in order to fully rehabilitate himself.
After the hearing, a member of Walsh’s family yelled “tell the truth” at the complainant as she left the court.
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