KELOWNA — The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction of a man found guilty of sexual assault for shaving the body hair of a young man who passed out at his home.
A lower court heard that Michael Hume, of Lytton, B.C., shaved the pubic area of a young man after a night of drinking in August 2013, then threatened him with an alcohol bottle, tossed $50 at him and warned him not to tell anyone.
The former community support worker was convicted of sexual assault, uttering threats and unlawful confinement in January 2015 and sentenced to three years in prison.
He appealed, arguing the judge should not have found the sexual assault “serious” because there was no penetration and that the sentence imposed was too harsh.
The three-judge panel unanimously dismissed the appeal, saying in a ruling released Friday that Hume’s crimes were “highly invasive, humiliating and degrading.”
Writing for the panel, Justice Nicole Garson Garson said it is not correct to say sexual assault is not “serious” if there is no penetration, and the sentence was appropriate because of the circumstances of the case.
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