A BC Supreme Court judge found a nightclub bouncer not guilty of sexual assault on Oct. 24 after a trial in Prince George.
Austin Ojakovo was invited by a patron at Ignite nightclub to a party at her cousin’s residence on Jan. 4. He arrived around 3:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. and they engaged in brief, playful wrestling on a living room couch.
The woman claimed Ojakovo raped her. But Ojakovo pleaded not guilty and denied any sexual contact or sexual feelings for the woman when he testified in his own defence.
“In this case, I have accepted some of what each of the witnesses have said, but not all of what anybody has said,” said Justice Alison Latimer. “Taking the evidence as a whole, I'm left with significant doubt about what occurred during the three-to-five minute wrestling match. I cannot conclude that the Crown has discharged its burden of proof.”
The complainant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, had been drinking off and on for several hours and admitted it affected her memory of the evening and early morning.
She went for dinner at Montana’s around 6 p.m. on Jan. 3, took a ride on a party bus and went to a friend’s house where she drank and listened to music. Around 11 p.m., she went with friends to Ignite for dancing and drinking. She noticed Ojakovo, who she had met before and knew as “O.J.” or “Michael.” She invited him to join her at her cousin’s residence. She arrived around 1 or 1:30 a.m. and continued to listen to music, play cards and drink. Ojakovo followed about two hours later.
She testified that “she came to,” and the next thing she remembered was Ojakovo trying to get on top of her while there was nobody else in the living room. She testified that she was scared and crossed her arms across her chest and that Ojakovo pushed her underwear aside and penetrated her vagina once with his penis without her consent.
Ojakovo testified they were simply engaged in playful wrestling for three-to-five minutes. He told the court that the complainant pinned him down first and he had to use all his force to turn around, pin her by the shoulders and free himself.
“He was not shaken in cross-examination in his steadfast denials of any contact of a sexual nature with [the complainant],” Latimer said.
Latimer could not conclude the effects of intoxication were wearing off by the time the complainant was seated on a couch in the living room beside Ojakovo. Nor could she conclude anything of a sexual nature happened.
“When I consider whether the remainder of the evidence is able to satisfy me beyond a reasonable doubt that the touching was of a sexual nature, I conclude it cannot,” Latimer said.
All witnesses agreed that a third-party observed at least part of the couch wrestling, but there was disagreement about who the third-party was.
The cousin, who was in the kitchen, said she heard the complainant yell for help, but the complainant denied calling for help. The cousin testified that when she pulled the complainant and Ojakovo apart, they were both fully clothed.
Later, the complainant asked Ojakovo for a ride home.
“I have been careful not to rely on the evidence about [the complainant] asking Mr. Ojakovo for a ride home to support any stereotypical assumptions about how women who have been sexually assaulted should or might behave after sexual assault,” Latimer said.
