A North Vancouver provincial court judge is expected to provide a sentencing decision next month for a Vancouver police officer convicted of sexual assault.
Jagraj (Roger) Berar was convicted in October last year in relation to a disturbing incident in Whistler, B.C., in July 2019, involving an intoxicated woman in his hotel suite.
The victim testified that Berar, who is no longer part of the Vancouver Police Department, performed a sexual act on her in the suite after she had thrown up and blacked out.
“I broke through the blue wall of silence,” the woman wrote in an impact statement read aloud in court on Wednesday.
“I had wanted to be a cop since I was six years old. I want to catch bad people. I never thought it would be through my own victimization.”
Berar, who was suspended with pay when the allegations were first brought forward, appeared in North Vancouver provincial court on Wednesday, but did not speak before cameras as he left the courthouse.
His defence lawyers have asked for a one-year sentence, while Crown prosecutors are requesting he serve between 12 and 15 months behind bars.
A date for the sentencing decision is still being finalized.
The assault was first reported to Squamish RCMP on July 19, 2019, and happened on July 15.
In proceedings leading up Berar’s conviction, court heard that he and the victim met that day, and spent the afternoon and evening socializing with colleagues and drinking in Whistler Village.
The group eventually returned to Berar’s hotel suite. The woman testified that when she woke up and found him performing a sexual act, she told him to stop before packing her belongings and leaving.
Berar testified that the pair had shared a pullout couch in the suite and that he had woken to find her grinding into him.
He “believed she was consenting because of the body movements and the sounds she was making,” Judge Joanne Challenger said in her ruling on Oct. 6, adding that she found the victim to have been a credible witness.
“I accept she was unconscious and at times semi-conscious and therefore could not give and did not consent.”
In a letter to the judge that was read in court on Wednesday, Berar wrote in part, “I take responsibility for my actions. I did not intend to do any harm to (the victim).”
In her own statement read by the defence, Berar’s wife wrote that “not one day has gone by where he hasn’t felt remorse.”
His defence lawyers said he has no previous criminal record, presents a low risk of reoffending, and will likely be in protective custody.
The victim, meanwhile, told Global News that Berar has never apologized to her and has not taken any accountability for what happened.
“The damaged inflicted has dramatically impacted me, my husband and my nine-year-old child,” she wrote in her impact statement. “There is not a day that goes by where what you did to me isn’t at the forefront of my thoughts.”
Despite all Berar took from her, she wrote, “I stand true to myself as a person … continuing to fight for justice.”
— with files from Simon Little and Emad Agahi