LOWER SACKVILLE NOVA SCOTIA MAN APPEALING HISTORICAL SEX CONVICTIONS.
Chronicle Herald.
A former youth group leader at a Bedford church is appealing his convictions for historical sexual offences involving two 14-year-old girls.
Mark Irvine Wetmore, 35, of Lower Sackville stood trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court last year on a total of eight charges in relation to two members of the church group. The identities of the complainants are protected by a publication ban.
Justice Denise Boudreau found Wetmore guilty on two counts of inviting someone under the age of 16 to touch him for a sexual purpose and one count of sexual assault.
The sexual assault charge was stayed prior to sentencing because the facts were covered by one of the sexual invitation convictions.
In December, Wetmore was sentenced to three years in prison. The judge ordered him to register as a sex offender for 20 years and provide a sample of his DNA for a national databank. She also prohibited him from having firearms for 10 years after he gets out of prison.
At trial, the judge accepted the complainants’ testimony that Wetmore invited them to give him oral sex during separate incidents on a walking trail in Lower Sackville in the summer of 2009. One of the girls was able to talk her way out of the situation.
Boudreau noted that Wetmore, who was 20 years old at the time, developed online friendships with the girls and got them to talk about personal events and issues. As the relationships progressed, the complainants said they agreed to appear topless on their webcams, and Wetmore eventually made the demands for oral sex.
Wetmore was acquitted on another charge of sexual assault, two counts of sexual exploitation and two counts of luring a child under the age of 16 for the purpose of committing a sexual offence.
The charges were laid in 2021, after the complainants went to police.
Wetmore’s lawyer, James Giacomantonio, filed a notice of appeal in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal two weeks ago.
In the document, Giacomantonio claims the trial judge erred by failing to apply the law correctly in her analysis of the defence’s pre-trial application to have the charges stayed because of unreasonable delay.
The trial was originally set for May 2023 but was rescheduled for the next available five-day block in May 2024, which was beyond the 30-month Jordan ceiling.
Wetmore says Boudreau erred in finding the entire one-year adjournment was “caused by the defence,” with a “marked indifference” towards delay “coupled with an implied waiver by the defence.”
He maintains the judge was in error when she failed to attribute any delay to the Crown’s late preparation and change in trial strategy. “This includes a decision to call a witness in breach of an earlier agreement not to pursue that evidence,” the notice says.
Boudreau also erred, the appellant says, in failing to attribute any delay to the “under-resourced court scheduling process,” which resulted in a one-year adjournment of a week-long trial.
In terms of the actual trial, Wetmore claims the judge failed to give meaningful reasons for rejecting the defence theory of a motive for one of the complainants to lie and of collusion between the two women. He also says Boudreau misapprehended evidence of a motive to fabricate or collude.
The appellant wants the convictions quashed and acquittals entered, or a new trial ordered.
Wetmore appeared in Appeal Court on Thursday to apply for bail pending appeal. Justice Cindy Bourgeois released him on a $20,000 bail order secured by pledges by his sureties, his parents.
The judge said she was satisfied Wetmore had met the burden of establishing that his appeal has merit, that he is not a flight risk and that his detention is not necessary in the public interest.
The bail order requires Wetmore to live with his parents in Lower Sackville and observe a 10 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew.
He is prohibited from possessing any firearms, having contact with the complainants or being within 200 metres of their homes, schools or workplaces.
The judge also banned Wetmore from working or volunteering in any capacity involving anyone under the age of 16 and from attending any school ground, daycare, swimming pool, playground, skating rink, community centre or other places known to be frequented by children.
In addition, Bourgeois insisted on a condition that says Wetmore cannot communicate with or be around anyone under 16 unless he’s in the immediate presence of one of his sureties.
The appeal will be heard by an Appeal Court panel June 12.
The bail order stipulates Wetmore must surrender himself into custody at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth the day before the appeal decision is released.
Wetmore and his parents confirmed to the judge they understood the terms of his release.
“You’re very lucky, Mr. Wetmore, to have parents who are supporting you in the way that they are,” Bourgeois said.
Wetmore also faces historical charges of sexual assault and child luring in Dartmouth provincial court involving a third girl from the church group. That trial sat for three days in September and one day in December, with Judge Del Atwood reserving his decision until February.