TORONTO — The Ontario Court of Appeal has dismissed the latest bail application of a Toronto man who was arrested in Thunder Bay while under a court-ordered sentencing condition not to be in the city.
His name can't be disclosed under a publication ban.
The man's record is lengthy.
In May 2018, he was charged with sexual assault in another city while already on probation for a youth robbery conviction.
Pending trial, he was released on house arrest bail – later changed to a midnight curfew – with his father as surety.
In September 2020 the man was arrested at a south-side Thunder Bay residence for being unlawfully in a dwelling house, drug trafficking, obstructing an officer, resisting an officer, and failing to comply with his release order.
This time he was released on bail under stricter house arrest conditions, with his mother as surety.
Later in 2020 he was convicted on the 2018 sexual assault charge, and was sentenced in February 2021 to two years less a day followed by two years' probation.
When he appealed that conviction to the Ontario Court of Appeal, he was again released on bail on house arrest terms, with his mother and another family member as sureties.
In March 2021 the man pleaded guilty to the charges laid in Thunder Bay in 2020, with the exception that he pleaded guilty to drug possession rather than trafficking.
For these offences, he received a seven-month conditional sentence followed by 12 months' probation.
One of the conditions was that he not travel to the District of Thunder Bay.
However in October 2021 the man was arrested in Thunder Bay and charged with resisting a police officer, uttering a forged document, and failing to comply with release and probation orders.
His bail pending appeal of the sexual assault conviction was revoked as a result of the new charges.
A month later, he was granted bail on the new charges, with conditions including house arrest and residing with his stepfather, who was to be his surety with a financial commitment of $20,000.
In an application heard by the Court of Appeal in December 2021, he next asked to be released from custody on revised bail terms pending appeal of the sexual assault conviction.
His lawyer proposed house arrest, a $100,000 financial commitment from his surety, and a requirement to wear an ankle bracelet to provide GPS monitoring 24 hours a day.
The Crown opposed that application on the basis the man had failed to establish his appeal was not frivolous and that his detention was not necessary for public safety and public confidence.
The appeal court dismissed the application late last month.
