Alberta court upholds conviction that robbery victim's forced stripping was sexual assault

Alberta's top court has ruled that forcing a robbery victim to strip naked constitutes sexual assault, even when sexual gratification is not the motive.

A three-judge Court of Appeal panel upheld Leon Daniel Roan's conviction Wednesday in connection with a June 15, 2022, attack in an alley behind the Turning Point Drop-In Centre in Red Deer. Roan, 43, directed accomplices to strip the victim of his clothing and property. After Roan left the scene, another robber used a knife to cut off the victim's underwear, leaving him completely naked. Security camera video captured Roan throwing the victim's empty wallet at his feet after the initial stripping.

Defence counsel Connor Sprague had argued that Justice Gordon Hatch erred in his April 22, 2024, ruling finding Roan guilty of robbery, sexual assault, and breaching a recognizance. Sprague contended the stripping did not occur in sexual circumstances and that Roan should not be convicted of sexual assault because he had left the scene before the final removal of clothing.

The appeal court rejected both arguments. "The trial judge did not err in finding that the assault of the complainant occurred in sexual circumstances that violated the sexual integrity of the victim," the panel wrote. They found that "when the appellant directed the other perpetrators to 'strip' the complainant, the appellant had the requisite knowledge that they would remove all his clothing" and that this violated his sexual integrity.

The judges emphasized that sexual motivation or gratification is not necessary for sexual assault. "The trial judge made no error in concluding these actions violated the complainant's sexual integrity and involved sexual circumstances, constituting a sexual assault."

Roan was sentenced to five and a half years.