Alberta woman accused of sex with 15-year-old guilty of sexual assault
Jurors have reached a verdict in Alexa Suitor's sexual assault trial, finding Suitor guilty of sexual assault and sexual interference.
Jurors returned verdict Saturday afternoon after deliberating since Friday afternoon
Meghan Grant · CBC News
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A Sundre, Alta. woman accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy at a New Year's Eve party has been convicted of sexual assault and sexual interference.
Alexa Suitor, 35, did not outwardly react when the jury foreperson read the verdict Saturday afternoon after 24 hours of deliberating.
The jury began deliberations Friday afternoon after hearing closing arguments prepared by prosecutors James Molloy and Laura Somers and defence lawyer Patrick Fagan.
Justice Douglas Mah will hear sentencing arguments at a later date.
Fagan indicated to the court he will be asking for a discharge for his client, which would mean she would not serve any time in jail.
- 'We did not have sex': Sundre woman accused of sexually assaulting teen boy testifies in own defence
Over the week-long trial, the jury heard that on Dec. 31, 2023, a number of teens and adults attended a New Year's Eve party at a home in the Sundre area.
The teens and Suitor spent most of the night drinking in a cabin on the property while the other adults hung out in the main house.
'We took it too far'
At the end of the night, Suitor and several of the teens worked out sleeping arrangements. Some were to spend the night on cots in the living room; others would be in the bedrooms.
The victim — who CBC News is calling C.D. to comply with a publication ban — testified that he fell asleep on a cot and woke up to Suitor touching his penis. He said this led to sexual intercourse on the cot.
C.B. said the next day, he received a Snapchat message from Suitor saying “we took it too far last night.”
Two friends of C.B.’s also testified.
Suitor denied sexual touching
One friend said that she saw the pair having sex when she went into the kitchen to get a glass of water.
The other friend said that he saw the next-day Snapchat message from Suitor.
Suitor testified in her own defence, telling jurors that the sex and sexual touching never happened.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meghan Grant is a justice affairs reporter. She has been covering courts, crime and stories of police accountability in southern Alberta for more than 15 years. Send Meghan a story tip at meghan.grant@cbc.ca.
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