Man convicted of sexually assaulting Barrie woman sentenced

The man convicted of sexually assaulting a Barrie woman in July 2016 was sentenced Monday to 18 months in jail and two years of probation.

Quebec man Shawn Roy, who was 38 at the time of the incident, was found guilty of sexually assaulting 20-year-old Kassidi Coyle while she was asleep at a house party on Canada Day in 2016. He was convicted in February of this year.

Coyle took her own life four months after the assault, before the case went to trial. However, Justice Robert Gattrell allowed the statement Coyle gave to police the night of the assault to be admitted as evidence. Those remarks, in combination with forensic evidence from a rape kit, led to Roy’s conviction.

At a sentence hearing in May, Crown attorney Lynn Shirreffs sought the maximum sentence of 18 months for a summary sexual assault offence, with several other conditions.

At the hearing Monday morning, Justice Robert Gattrell sentenced Roy to the maximum 18 months in jail, followed by a two-year probationary period and several ancillary orders, including registration on the sex offender list for 10 years, that he submit a DNA sample and have no contact with Coyle’s immediate family.

Initially, when Coyle’s mother Judi Coyle realized the trial was proceeding summarily and carried the maximum sentence of only 18 months, she was devastated.

“I originally was upset because I wanted it to be an indictable offence and I wanted him to get 10 years,” Coyle said outside of the courthouse.

However, she says after Monday she felt justice was served for her daughter.

“After sitting and thinking about it and hearing the judge say he was getting the max, which is 18 months and two years probation, it felt good,” she said outside of court.

Coyle fought for months to lift the publication ban on her daughter’s name, to draw media attention to the case in hopes of encouraging other victims of sexual assault to seek justice. “I did it for other victims out there, to help them,” she said.

“I’m not surprised, even in death, Kassidi made her mark,” she said. “She was like that in life. She was a force in life and I’m not surprised she left this world leaving a mark.”

Her mark, Coyle says, is a precedent for sexual assault cases wherein the victim is unable to testify at trial. “Her case will now be used as a precedent, which is pretty remarkable. … I hope other girls will come forward and realize that they can get a conviction now,” she said.

Coyle says now that the case is over, she will turn her focus to activism on her daughter’s behalf.