The Crown is seeking a 12-year prison sentence for two men found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman inside a Toronto bar in 2016.
In November, a jury found Gavin MacMillan, the 44-year-old owner of College Street Bar, and an employee of the bar, 34-year-old Enzo DeJesus Carrasco, guilty of gang sexual assault and drugging to facilitate a sexual assault.
The charges stem from a disturbing incident that occurred inside MacMillan’s now-shuttered Little Italy bar on the night of Dec. 14, 2016.
During the trial, the jury reviewed hours of graphic security footage from inside College Street Bar on the night of the assault. The Crown said the men sexually assaulted the victim in various rooms over a period of at least six hours.
The court previously heard that the victim, who cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban, was just visiting Toronto at the time and had gone to the bar that night to meet up with a friend.
While reading her victim impact statement aloud in a Toronto courtroom on Wednesday, the victim’s mother spoke directly to the two men, outlining the devastating impact the incident has had on her daughter’s life.
“Did you stop to think what if this was your daughter, your mother, your sister, your niece, your grandmother or even your friend,” the victim’s mother said tearfully. “My daughter was such a happy, trusting, creative individual and it was all taken away from her.”
She said for months following the assault, her daughter, who did not attend the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, could barely leave the house and would sometimes stay in bed for days.
“She would cry wondering what she did wrong, what she did to deserve this,” the victim’s mother continued.
“To watch my baby who was full of love and spirt just existing...is just heart wrenching.”
The Crown is asking for a sentence of 12 years for each of the two accused, including nine years for gang sexual assault and a consecutive sentence of three years for administering a stupefying drug.
The prosecutor called the treatment of the victim “horrendous” and “callous,” adding there were times that the woman was so intoxicated that she was unable to stand on her own.
The Crown said the suspects repeatedly dosed her with cocaine for the purpose of continuing to sexually assault her.
While both men maintained that the sex was consensual, the Crown asserted that none of the evidence submitted by either of the defendants was “remotely worthy of belief.”
At the beginning of the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, the defence requested a mistrial on the basis of improper jury selection following the federal government’s changes to the jury selection process.
The judge dismissed the request, stating that the situation could be dealt with by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which recently ruled on a similar issue.
