P.E.I. man found guilty of sexually assaulting child

A P.E.I. man who had inappropriate social media communications with a 10-year-old lady has additionally been discovered responsible of sexually assaulting her.

Adrian Kay, 35, sat within the prisoner’s field on June 10 in provincial courtroom in Charlottetown and hung his head as Decide Nancy Orr convicted him of sexual assault and sexual touching the lady final yr.

A publication ban is in place stopping the discharge of data that might determine the feminine sufferer.

Kay pleaded not responsible to the costs and had a two-day trial on Could 24 and Could 31. Crown legal professional Chad McQuaid referred to as six witnesses to testify, together with the sufferer. Defence lawyer Conor Mullin’s solely witness was Kay.

When requested by her father if something was mistaken, she stated “no” and that she simply missed house.

Information at trial

Orr spoke for greater than an hour recounting the testimony and information introduced on the trial. Kay and the lady knew one another and exchanged quite a few Snapchat messages previous to the sexual offences.

On Sept. 4, the lady went to Kay’s Cornwall residence to go to with a member of the family and watch a film. Kay sat subsequent to the lady on the sofa. He touched her hair and ear, after which put his hand on the within of her thighs. He requested her if she was uncomfortable and the sufferer stated “no” as a result of she didn’t know what to do, stated Orr. The lady made up an excuse about feeling homesick and obtained Kay to drive her house. When requested by her father if something was mistaken, she stated “no” and that she simply missed house. She hugged her father and went to mattress.

Kay’s testimony

At trial, Kay testified that he didn’t contact the lady or drive her house that night. He stated he sat subsequent to the lady throughout the film and after 4 minutes went outdoors to smoke a cigarette. When he went again inside, the lady was gone. Orr famous that it was exhausting to grasp Kay’s account that the lady would request to look at a film after which depart shortly after with out saying something. As properly, Kay typically messaged the lady late at evening asking how she was doing and if she was OK. However that evening, he did not even message her to ensure she obtained house OK.

The day after the incident, the lady visited Kay’s residence once more.

On Sept. 9, the lady’s father was fixing her telephone and located a Snapchat message from Kay that stated “good evening kiss” adopted by “miss.” Extra messages between Kay and the lady have been discovered on the telephone. The lady advised her mom concerning the sexual touching and the matter was reported to police.

Kay moved to P.E.I. from Quebec about 5 years in the past. Over that point, he solely spoke to the lady’s mother and father as soon as on the telephone whereas she was asking for permission to be at his residence on the evening of the offences. After the messages have been discovered on the lady’s telephone, her father went to Kay’s residence and confronted him concerning the allegations.

Inappropriate texts

Orr additionally recounted the content material of among the Snapchat messages between Kay and the lady. One message concerned Kay on the brink of take a shower late at evening and saying that he wished somebody was there to scrub his hair, adopted by laughter. He then asks the lady what she’s “as much as”. In one other message, Kay asks the lady if he wished to go watch the sundown at Canoe Cove.

Orr stated that Kay messaging the lady was “utterly inappropriate” given their ages and there have been “very critical considerations” concerning the nature and objective of these messages.

Kay stated in courtroom that there was nothing inappropriate about messaging the lady.

Not responsible of luring

Orr accepted that Kay touched the lady for a sexual objective and that the touching wasn’t unintended or incidental. Orr stated that the lady’s testimony was credible and dependable. Nevertheless, Orr famous that the lady gave the impression of “a a lot older individual” when speaking concerning the inappropriateness of Kay messaging her. Orr additionally did not settle for the lady’s declare that she did not inform her father about what occurred the evening of the incident as a result of Kay knew the place she lived. Moderately, it was extra seemingly that the lady was involved about her father’s response.

Kay was discovered not responsible of one other cost of utilizing a pc to facilitate the fee of the offences. That offence is extra generally referred to as youngster luring. Orr stated there have been messages between Kay and the lady with lacking info and audio messages that might not be accessed. Orr additionally stated that there wasn’t any sexually express language within the messages courtroom noticed and Kay by no means requested the lady to ship him bare footage.

Sentencing adjourned

Kay was arrested by the RCMP for sexual assault on the morning of Sept. 16. Kay had been driving his automobile and police observed he had indicators of impairment. Kay was charged with impaired driving and was sentenced by Orr for that offence on Could 13.

Sentencing for the sexual offences was adjourned to July 20. Previous to the impaired driving and sexual offences, Kay did not have a prison document.

Terrence McEachern is a justice reporter with SaltWire Community.  [email protected] @PEIGuardian