Deliberately piercing a condom to cause pregnancy against will is sexual assault, says Canada's Supreme Court
Montreal: Deliberately piercing a condom to cause a partner's pregnancy against her will constitutes sexual assault even if the couple is in a consensual relationship, Canada's Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
The unanimous ruling by the panel's seven justices upheld a lower court's decision in a 2006 case that found Jaret Hutchinson had committed aggravated sexual assault by having sex with his girlfriend without telling her he had sabotaged his condom.
Hutchinson, as he later admitted to his girlfriend, poked holes in the condom because he wanted to consolidate their relationship by getting her pregnant.
After she became pregnant, the young woman, who has not been identified, decided to have an abortion and took Hutchinson to court.
"We conclude that where a complainant has chosen not to become pregnant, deceptions that deprive her of the benefit of that choice by making her pregnant, or exposing her to an increased risk of becoming pregnant by removing effective birth control, may constitute a sufficiently serious deprivation for the purposes of fraud vitiating consent," the court said.
"The complainant did not consent to how she was touched, and thus she did not voluntarily agree to the sexual activity in question."
The lower court had sentenced Hutchinson to 18 months in prison. The Supreme Court now must decide whether the sentenced should stand.
( Source : AFP )
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