With her attacker’s sentencing behind her, R.P. says if she were to do it all over again, she would never pursue justice through the courts.
Her name is protected under a publication ban but her story is public.
She was sexually assaulted on Superbowl Sunday in 2014 by Robert Shawn Burton. She was asleep at his house when it happened. More than three years later her case is closed.
READ MORE: Coming forward in court: Women break their silence of sexual assault
Burton was sentenced Wednesday to two years in a federal penitentiary followed by three years probation when he will undergo treatment in the community.
In sentencing, Justice Joshua Arnold said R.P. was the victim of a “major sexual assault” that had a “profound effect” on her. Including “severe” mental health repercussions, and the loss of her job.
‘He took away my ability to control my body’
In an emotional victim impact statement, R.P. told the court that Burton became the “author” of her life by assaulting her.
“Mr. Burton gave me a new name: rape victim,” she said. “Mr. Burton added letters to the end of my name: PTSD.”
In the wake of the assault, she told the court she no longer recognizes herself. And her days are often filled with “anxiety, self-doubt, panic, anger, and fear.” As a result, she said she spends most days alone.
“He took away my ability to control my body,” she said.
She also told the court about her fear on the night of the attack. Saying that she didn’t know if it would get worse if she tried to fight back. And she didn’t know if his roommate would be a help or another threat if she called for help.
“Mr Burton took away my ability, my right, to feel comfortable in my own mind, in my own skin,” she added.
‘I’d like to say sorry’
In a brief statement Burton apologized to R.P., her parents, and his own family and children.
The Crown asked for a three-year sentence while the defence asked for two years. Arnold ruled on two years because he said it allowed him to add the three-year probation and treatment program.
He said the three-year probation would “make sure the that the justice system could be involved for a longer period of time with Burton.”
“Thereby giving the criminal justice system control over Mr. Burton for five years,” Arnold said.
‘I would never go through this again, never’
The Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service said it doesn’t track its guilty verdict rates in sexual assault cases, but crown attorney Rob Kennedy said the cases are challenging.
He said because of the intimacy of sex assault crimes, there are often no witnesses, making a guilty verdict “very difficult” to render.
And the country has seen several high-profile acquittals in Halifax and Toronto.
Within that context, a guilty verdict and two-year sentence in a sexual assault case may come as a sign of hope for some. But R.P. told Global News the cost of going through the courts was too high for the result.
“I would never go through this again, never,” she said after the sentence was handed down. “If someone was to ask my opinion I would tell them ‘no, don’t do it.'”
READ MORE: Securing convictions in cases of sexual assault notoriously difficult
She said the court process made her feel like she was being “assaulted over, and over, and over by the system.”
“It was harder being conscious and having to see this then it was being unconscious and being raped,” she said.
The hurdles she came up against were many and from almost every avenue, she said. From interactions with police, medical staff and the courts.
For example, on court days she waited in the same lobby as her accused rapist — sometimes only one bench-length away from her. She said she waited months before getting appropriate counselling. And she had to defend herself on the stand on three separate occasions.
‘I had done nothing wrong, nothing, except told the truth’
The most trying part for her were the cross-examinations, she said. Something R.P. had to go through at the preliminary hearing, during a defence application to remove text message evidence, and finally at the trial.
“Being cross-examined for hours, and hours,” she said. “It was never-ending, and I had done nothing wrong, nothing, except told the truth.”
During her victim impact statement, R.P. said she felt like she was being “ripped into a million pieces” when she was characterized as “misleading,” “difficult,” or “angry.”
In a December ruling on the application to remove evidence, Arnold laid the blame for the additional hearing with the RCMP.
“The police made a series of unusual decisions that have led to the defence making an application to exclude the text messages,” he wrote.
Calling the Mounties’ method for capturing text messages related to the assault “questionable.” And adding that decisions made by the RCMP. resulted “in questions as to the completeness of the text message exchanges and the accuracy of the transcripts of the texts.”
R.P. said she felt like the hearing on evidence was “a way to buy time or beat me down.”
The text messages were allowed into evidence, and Arnold relied heavily on them in his guilty verdict.
‘I think it’s set up just to keep victimizing us’
Asked what she would change about the process sexual assault victims have to go through, R.P. said everything.
“I can’t find one part of it that I would keep the same,” she said. “I think it’s set up just to keep victimizing us.”
When she first went to the police she said she was told ‘this is going to be hard.’ She said that shouldn’t be what a police officer has to tell a victim.
READ MORE: This is what it’s like to take your rape to court
“It has to change right from the start,” she said. “Right from the first person you go to, to try and get help.”
Kennedy said her experience is troubling.
“I would certainly agree that going through a trial process… and having the uncertainty of the result and managing expectations throughout that is a very difficult and traumatic experience for victims of sexual assault,” he said. “It is concerning.”
‘Province has heard those concerns’
He said the “province has heard those concerns” and is addressing them by improving training for prosecutors and dealing with “justice issues” related to sexual assault prosecutions.
In the wake of the acquittal of Bassam Al-Rawi in Halifax in February, Nova Scotia announced several changes — including hiring two special prosecutors for sexual assault cases and starting a pilot project to give free legal advice to sexual assault victims.
Neither change has been implemented, but the justice department said they are in the works.
In addition to the provincial changes, the director of Victim Services in Nova Scotia said a pan-Canadian working group is studying the issues raised by R.P.’s case.
“Ultimately the goal of that group is to improve the response of the criminal justice system to victims of sexual assault,” John Joyce-Robinson told Global News.
He said the group is studying the current challenges as well as “best practices” in order to reach the goal.
He said R.P.’s perspective that the court system carries too high a cost to victims is “understandable.” Adding that it’s important for victims of crime to be “supported and heard.”
However, Joyce-Robinson urged victims of sexual assault to come forward even though it is “very challenging.” He said $2,000 is provided for victims seeking counselling which he said covers 23 sessions.
Where to get help
As part of its sexual violence strategy, Nova Scotia has a directory of victim support services for every region of the province. You can find it here.
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