A Sarnia man found guilty of sexually assaulting and forcibly confining a woman during a New Year’s Eve party in Lambton County two years ago was sentenced Monday to four years in prison.
A Sarnia man found guilty of sexually assaulting and forcibly confining a woman during a New Year’s Eve party in Lambton County two years ago was sentenced Monday to four years in prison.
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Tyler Shiffer, 26, was found guilty of both charges Sept. 1 by Superior Court Justice Russell Raikes following a six-day trial earlier this year. During a sentencing hearing in November, defense lawyer Sarah Donohue asked for three years in prison while assistant Crown attorney Sarah Carmody countered with between four and six years.
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Raikes returned Monday and said four years was an appropriate and just sentence.
“The sexual assault can only be described as brazen,” he said.
The judge further described the attack as a betrayal and said Shiffer moved quickly and forcefully while ignoring the woman’s unequivocal request to stop.
But Raikes also had some advice for him.
“Mr. Shiffer, you’ve done something wrong. But it doesn’t have to be who you are for the rest of your life. You can learn from this. You can grow. You can have a very productive life once you’ve served your sentence and I encourage you to do that,” he said.
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Shiffer, sitting quietly next to his lawyer, didn’t respond. He also declined to address the court during November’s sentencing hearing, when Donohue said he maintained his innocence.
The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, did not file a victim-impact statement, but information on how the attack has affected her was included in a pre-sentence report written about Shiffer. It noted she moved from her home and limits social interactions due to fear.
The court previously heard Shiffer spent most of the New Year’s Eve 2022 house party smoking marijuana in the garage with a friend while the woman was in the house with a group of co-workers. He and several other guests stayed the night, with many of them going to sleep in the basement as the party died down around 2 am or 3 am
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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 sexual interaction.
He also testified 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, the trial heard.
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 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,” the trial heard.
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As things moved from the couch to the floor, she tried to wriggle away and again told him to stop. Things finally did stop after a party guest headed downstairs and went to bed.
The woman told her husband the next morning what 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, the trial heard.
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 the partygoer who walked by the area during the commotion.
The judge also said he didn’t believe Shiffer’s evidence as to how the sexual touching began, that it was consensual, that she was enjoying it, or that he respected boundaries she set. In the end he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt the Crown proved the elements of both offenses.
But Raikes decided Monday to stay the forcible confinement conviction under the Kienapple principle, which prevents a person from being convicted of two crimes for the same act, and only sentenced him for the sexual assault.
Shiffer will be on the Sex Offender Information Registration Act list for 10 years.
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