This is an extremely rare event that took place in Canada. This Tuesday, January 10, a man was found “not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder” after being accused of sexually assaulting a friend. In 2018, she woke up in the middle of the night, the accused “above her” who penetrated her “mechanically, without speech or caresses”, as Le Devoir writes. “At trial, the 46-year-old accused did not deny the alleged acts, but claimed to remember nothing,” add our colleagues. Yannick Giguère explained that he suffers from sexsomnia, a disorder that is similar to sleepwalking. Those affected engage in involuntary or unconscious sexual behavior.
“Sexsomnia has only been recognized for fifteen years, but it is a reality. Sexsomniacs are often sleepwalkers at the base, but disorders such as sleep apnea can also be the cause. crises are often triggered when the subject is tired or has drunk alcohol”, described Isabelle Arnulf, specialist in sleep disorders at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, at the Obs. After studying the accused’s file for long hours, the judge rendered an extremely rare verdict. “The evidence clearly establishes that at the time (July 2018), he was suffering from sexsomnia,” said the Quebec court judge in his verdict. If he is convinced that the complainant was the victim of a sexual assault, he declared the accused “not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder”.
The complainant “considers that justice has been done”
The photographer will now have to appear before the Mental Disorder Review Board. This will have several options, according to Le Devoir: “keep him in a psychiatric establishment, release him or even release him with conditions, for example, by imposing on him the taking of medication”. “He does not come out of it with a slap on the wrist. There are consequences to that. I consider that justice has been done. And I am happy to turn the page”, explained the complainant leaving the court. A few years ago in England, a man was found not guilty of rape because of this disorder from which he claimed to suffer.
A rare verdict © Pixabay
