A Kamloops-area man who raped his friend while she was drunk has avoided jail, and will instead spend the next two years living at home under house arrest.
The 23-year-old man cannot be named under a court-ordered publication ban put in place to protect the identity of the victim. Castanet is not naming the community in which the offence took place to avoid violating the same ban.
The man was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday. He was convicted following a trial in 2022.
Court heard the man had the victim, with whom he was “good friends,” over to his house on Jan. 9, 2020. He plied her with booze and raped her.
The man testified at trial and claimed the encounter was consensual, but B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Donegan wasn’t buying it.
Prosecutors were seeking a two-year prison sentence, followed by a lengthy term of probation. The man’s defence lawyer, meanwhile, sought a sentence of house arrest.
In Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Donegan sided with the defence and sentenced the man to house arrest for two years less a day, to be followed by three years of probation.
The man will be barred from having any contact with the victim for the duration of his five-year sentence, and he will be required to complete 100 hours of community service, among other conditions.
He was also ordered to submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database and register as a sex offender for 20 years.
