Sarnia man convicted of sexually assaulting woman at house party

A Sarnia man was found guilty Friday of sexually assaulting a woman at a Lambton County house party.

Tyler Shiffer, who also was found guilty of unlawful confinement and will be sentenced this fall, sat quietly in the city’s second-level courtroom as Superior Court Justice Russell Raikes delivered his decision after a six-day trial earlier this year.

“For the reasons provided, I find the defendant guilty of both counts,” Raikes said after reading his 45-page verdict, which took more than an hour.

The judge started by summarizing the evidence heard at the trial held during the last week of March and on a couple more days in April.

Shiffer spent most of the get-together smoking marijuana in the garage with a friend, while the woman – whose identity is protected by a publication ban – was mostly in the house with a group of co-workers.

At one point Shiffer, who also had been drinking, tried to leave, but his hosts didn’t want him to drink and drive, so he stayed the night.

Several other guests did, too, and many of them went to the basement to sleep as the party died down about 2 or 3 am Shiffer stayed in the living room area, which is where the incident took place.

Shiffer testified he woke up to the woman’s hand on him and he accepted what he called an invitation to a pretty naughty interaction. He also tested to various acts of foreplay, mostly one-sided, on the couch and the floor. Though they didn’t speak, he was under the impression she was enjoying it.

He did recall her saying “no” on at least two occasions, but the first time he took it as something he was doing being off limits and activity stopped before resuming later. He denied they ever had sex.

The woman, however, recalled the interaction differently. Though she admitted to having a spotty memory as she was very intoxicated that night and she also wanted to forget what happened, she said she awoke to Shiffer pulling her hair as she slept on the couch. Confused about who was doing this in the dark, she eventually figured out it was Shiffer and repeatedly told him “no” and to “please stop.”

As things moved from the couch to the floor, she tried to wriggle away and again told him to stop. Things did stop after a person she believed to be a friend from the party – several of whom also tested – headed downstairs and went to bed.

The woman told her husband the next morning what had happened and found blood in her underwear and abrasions on her back. She later gave a statement to police and was assessed by a nurse at hospital.

Though there were frailties in her testimony, Raikes said he found her evidence credible and reliable as it relates to what happened in the living room after everyone went to bed. It was corroborated by evidence heard from another partygoer who walked by the area during the commotion.

Meanwhile, the judge said he didn’t believe Shiffer’s evidence as to how the sexual touching commenced, that it was consensual, that she was enjoying it, or that he respected boundaries she set.

“I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the Crown has proven all constituent elements for sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt,” Raikes said.

The judge also said he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt Shiffer physically restrained the woman and deprived her of her liberty to move from the living room to her bedroom.

Shiffer’s sentencing hearing has been set for November, though the lawyers may make arguments that one of the two convictions should be stayed under the Kienapple principle, which prevents a person being convicted of two crimes for the same act.

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