Saskatoon Sexual Assault Conviction Upheld; Suspect in Calgary Murder Case Back in Jail
Appeal court rejects Kenneth Dauphinais's bid to overturn conviction; recording made during separate murder investigation proved crucial.
A Saskatoon man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman—after choking her unconscious—will serve the remainder of his sentence after his appeal was dismissed on May 20.
Kenneth Dauphinais, 51, is now back in jail following the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal's decision. The case carries a darker shadow: he was also charged in connection with the 2002 death of his wife, Terrie Ann Dauphinais, in Calgary, though that murder charge was stayed after key evidence was ruled inadmissible.
The woman he assaulted reported the 2008 incident to Saskatoon police but didn't want charges laid at the time—she feared him. However, she wanted a record created, fearing something might happen to her after learning his spouse had been killed and that he was a suspect.
Nine years later, in 2017, Dauphinais spoke to a tattoo artist in Manitoba about violently assaulting a woman. The tattoo artist, disturbed, contacted police. Calgary investigators, working on Terrie's murder case, employed the tattoo artist as a police agent and recorded a subsequent conversation while she worked on his tattoo. In that recording, Dauphinais disclosed details of the sexual assault that matched nearly identically with the woman's 2008 account.
The conviction was upheld on those recordings. Sue Martin, whose daughter Terrie Ann was killed in Calgary, responded to the decision: "I'm doing the happy dance. I'm glad he's back in jail so he can't hurt another woman and doesn't get away with this crime."
The woman he assaulted said in an interview that the appeal court's decision brought relief. "Other women need to know that he is a convicted predator," she said.