"The trial judge started from the assumption about what a young woman would do in a strip club and carried that theme throughout her analysis," the Appeal Court said. In its analysis, the Appeal Court warned the common-sense approach to assessing credibility is "fraught with danger," and London-Weinstein had unfairly made assumptions about female behaviour in accepting OI's testimony and rejecting Cepic's. London-Weinsten convicted Cepic and jailed him for two years less a day.Ĭepic appealed, arguing the judge had relied on stereotypes and assumptions, while OI maintained London-Weinstein was entitled to rely on common sense assumptions about basic human behaviour. The judge also called it "completely implausible and nonsensical" that OI would have told the accused about her boyfriend just as he was about to climax. London-Weinstein sided with OI, saying she found the complainant reliable and credible, and Cepic self-serving.įor example, the judge rejected Cepic's evidence that OI had touched him sexually, saying it was unlikely the woman would have done so on her first-ever lap dance. Cepic, described as a hard-working and trustworthy father, said the woman had been a willing participant. OI argued she was forced into fellatio and intercourse. Police charged Cepic with sexual assault. She reported the incident to police several hours later. When her then-boyfriend arrived to pick her up, she told him she had been sexually assaulted, court heard. She also said she was worried her father, a police officer, would be furious, court heard. This time, court heard, she performed oral sex on him and he briefly penetrated her.Ĭepic testified at trial before Superior Court Justice Anne London-Weinstein that he was already having intercourse with the woman and about to ejaculate when the woman said, "no, I have a boyfriend." She denied saying that and testified she told him, "no" and tried to push him off her.Īfter the dance, OI texted a friend wondering what to tell her boyfriend. She then paid Cepic, 29, another $40 for a private lap dance. He would testify she reached into his pants to touch his private parts, something she would deny. It was OI's first time at such a club.ĭuring the evening, OI paid Cepic $10 for a lap dance. The case arose in March 2016, when the woman, identified only as OI, and seven girlfriends went to the Foxxes Den in Toronto to celebrate a birthday, court records show. "The conviction must therefore be set aside."
THIEF OF HEARTS STRIPPER SERIES
"The trial judge's path to conviction rested largely on a series of erroneous assumptions about what a young woman would or would not do in the circumstances of this case," the court said.
In quashing the conviction against Damir Cepic, the Court of Appeal faulted the judge's reasoning in deciding the complainant, 23, did not consent to sexual activity with him. TORONTO - A male strip-club performer convicted of sexually assaulting a woman who paid him for a lap dance should get a new trial because the judge relied on stereotypes of how women behave, Ontario's top court ruled on Thursday.
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