B.C. man told court ‘he never needs to seek the consent of a female to have sexual relations with her’
Article content
A 56-year-old B.C. man who confessed to documenting the sexual assault of a teenage girl and told the court he didn’t need consent to have sex with women, has been jailed after a judge rejected his request to have the case tossed over court delays.
Prakash Lekhraj, who shared images of the rape in a group chat and told members that the girl “took it like a champ,” was convicted of sexual assault and making or publishing child pornography in a November 2023 trial.
Advertisement 2
Article content
The B.C. prosecution service told the National Post he’s been sentenced to more than three years in prison for the crime, details of which were recently made public in a decision from provincial court Judge Ellen Gordon on Sept. 18.
“In the early morning hours of August 23, 2020, Prakash Lekhraj sexually assaulted the complainant, then a teenaged girl, by, among other acts, both vaginal and anal penetration. He photographed her and via a group text message bragged to his friends,” reads Gordon’s ruling.
Recommended from Editorial
During his three-day trial, Lekhraj admitted to the assault and told “the Court that he never needs to seek the consent of a female to have sexual relations with her.”
Lekhraj has since appealed his convictions, his second attempt to escape prison time.
His first came nearly five months after the trial ended and days before sentencing this April, when his new lawyer filed a Jordan application, arguing that too much time had passed since he was charged and the conclusion of his trial.
NP Posted
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
A Jordan application seeks a stay of proceedings for failing to resolve the matter in a “reasonable time,” as established by the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2016 R. v. Jordan case.
In the case of a provincial trial, the period is 18 months.
A few months after charges were sworn on March 31, 2022, the court attempted to schedule a trial for November or December, but scheduling conflicts ended up pushing it to March 20, 2023.
However, that morning the Crown came to court requesting an adjournment saying the victim, described in court records as “a very fragile young woman,” had gone through a recent breakup with her boyfriend and could not testify.
Lekhraj’s lawyers opposed the request, citing “the looming 18-month Jordan ceiling.”
The presiding judge ruled in the Crown’s favour, noting, “It is understandable that a relationship break-up could be one further burden that is too much to bear and that this has caused her to feel that she is at present not in a state to come to court to testify.”
By the time the court and counsels sorted through another round of scheduling challenges, the trial didn’t begin until November 14, 45 days after the 18-month ceiling.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“Defence never brought an application seeking a judicial stay of proceedings after the adjournment and before the trial date, nor was delay referenced at all during the course of the trial,” Gordon’s decision notes.
When Lekhraj’s lawyers did file their Jordan application, they argued the court and Crown failed to prioritize the case and that adjournment wasn’t the best option. In their view, the victim’s “fragility” on an “off day” didn’t warrant an exceptional circumstance and she “should have been available to testify later in the week.”
The Crown defended the victim’s unavailability, calling it “reasonably unforeseen and reasonably unavoidable,” and countered with questions about why the defence waited until nearly five months post-conviction and so close to sentencing to file its request.
Gordon agreed the defence’s scheduling did not delay the case, but deemed that the victim’s “emotional distress was very much a discrete exceptional unforeseen circumstance.
“Nothing could have been done that week. She was not going to automatically heal,” she wrote. “That unforeseen circumstance mitigates against the six weeks’ period of time over the ceiling.”
Advertisement 5
Article content
The judge also agreed with the Crown that Lekhraj made no attempt to remedy his situation until after his conviction.
“The combination of his failure to bring a timely application with the unforeseen cause of the adjournment demonstrate that a remedy of a judicial stay of proceedings is not appropriate nor warranted in this case and it is denied.”
On the same day her ruling came down, Gordon sentenced Lekhraj to three years for the sexual assault and three months for the child pornography charge, to be served consecutively, according to the B.C. prosecution service.
He’s also under a 10-year firearms ban and will be listed on the national sex offender registry for 20 years.
As reported by BurnabyNow.com, the Crown was seeking a sentence in the range of four to five years for the 56-year-old who also goes by Paul Lekhraj and has a criminal record that includes a conviction for living off the avails of prostitution in 1995.
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Article content
