'Hard to imagine a more invasive offence': B.C. man gets 28 months for alleyway rape
Warning: This story contains disturbing details
A B.C. man will spend 28 months in prison for the “brutal and prolonged” rape of a woman who will suffer from life-long emotional and physical reminders of the horrific attack.
Brendan William John Sullivan, 29, who pleaded guilty in August, was sentenced in a Chilliwack provincial court room last week on one count of sexual assault against a victim who was 19 at the time.
In his written decision , Judge Michael Fortino said that while he accepts Sullivan’s remorse for his actions as genuine, it doesn’t diminish the fact that he altered the course the young woman’s life and “caused her irreparable harm.”
“She will live daily with the pain and discomfort of your offending, both emotionally and physically.
“I also appreciate that you will continue to live with the shame your actions have brought to you and your family and you will struggle with reconciling your actions with the person you know yourself to be.”
On Oct. 30, 2022, a then 26-year-old Sullivan was at an undisclosed nightclub in Chilliwack, where, after having much to drink he met the victim, identified only as R.D. due to a publication ban, and they “made a mutual decision” to leave and head back to his place.
Outside the club, when R.D. learned that Sullivan’s home was located in Hope, roughly 50 kilometres away and farther than she expected, she “expressed some reluctance.”
While cutting through an alleyway near the club’s parking lot, Sullivan said he’d be fine to have sex then and there, an idea R.D. said no to once and then again as Sullivan persisted.
Moments later, Sullivan pushed her against the wall before throwing her to the gravel pathway, where he “lifted up her skirt and then removed her shorts and underwear along with his own pants” while she repeatedly told him no.
Sullivan then proceeded to have “penetrative penile-vaginal intercourse with her against her will and without using a condom” for approximately 30 minutes, during which time R.D. kept saying no
“When she tried to call out for help as she could hear people in the adjacent parking lot on the other side of some hedges, he covered her mouth,” Fortino wrote. “When she tried to fight him off with her arms, he pinned them down. The force of his body weight on top of her and the pinning of her arms rendered her unable to fight back.”
As the attack began, however, R.D. managed to text her friends using a safe word to signify she was in trouble and another that read “I f—ing said no. Behind the hedges.”
Upon arriving back at the club, one of her friends heard sounds of distress and walked into the alley to find Sullivan sexually assaulting R.D. while he held a hand over her mouth and held down her arms.
As the friend screamed and pulled Sullivan off, he claimed it was consensual and that he and R.D. were friends, prompting the nearly naked woman to scream back, “We are not f—ing friends.”
The clamour caught the attention of others nearby, including two unknown men who hit and kicked Sullivan until he fled. A bouncer stopped and held him until police arrived, at which point Sullivan again claimed the sex was “mutual and consensual, although he acknowledged he never received R.D.’s verbal consent.”
R.D., meanwhile, underwent a forensic examination at the hospital that revealed “bruises and abrasions around her neck, chin and back, along with gravel inside her vagina.”
“It is hard to imagine a more invasive and violative offence,” Fortino wrote.
In her victim impact statement, R.D. said injuries from the gravel, which she would find inside her vagina for days after the attack, have resulted in “urinary stress incontinence due to damage she sustained to her perineal area along with constant pain, discomfort and a lack of control over her bladder” that requires her to use incontinence products.
Aside from the physical damage, R.D. said the rape changed her life dramatically, leaving her with flashbacks, panic attacks, sleepless nights, a lack of trust in people and fears of being alone with men and being victimized again.
“It could not be clearer to the Court that R.D. suffered immeasurable physical and emotional harm from the offence and her life was forever changed by it,” Fortino wrote.
Sullivan, who grew up “in a loving and supportive family,” had no criminal record or involvement with police before his arrest.
A psychological risk assessment conducted before sentencing, however, found a long-term pattern of alcohol abuse that began in high school when he lost three friends in a car accident, followed by his sister to an overdose.
He moved to Kelowna at 24 and while he didn’t stop drinking, he turned his life around somewhat and lost some weight, gaining confidence, he said, but also making him “more susceptible to the effects of alcohol.” He was visiting Chilliwack at the time of the offence.
The risk assessment diagnosed him with “alcohol use disorder and unspecified depressive disorder,” but emphasized that mental illness was not a direct factor in the offence. Instead, his alcohol use was identified as the main “disinhibiting” and “destabilizing” factor impairing his judgment and perception of consent.
Meanwhile, a pre-sentence report bolstered by letters of support from family, friends and coworkers — along with Sullivan’s struggles to reconcile his own actions — suggests the incident is entirely out of character.
In addition to the prison time, Fortino prohibited Sullivan from owning any firearms or weapons for a decade. Defence counsel had been seeking a conditional sentence, given Sullivan was deemed a very low-risk to re-offend.
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