A bus driver has been sentenced to three years and one month in prison for serious indecency after he sexually assaulted a vulnerable 21-year-old woman whose cognitive functioning was determined to be that of a teenager.
Justice Ann Marie Smith handed down the sentence after a jury returned a guilty verdict last month.
The trial revealed that Dale Emanuel, a man in his fifties, forcibly engaged in sexual acts with the woman after she explicitly refused his advances.
According to evidence presented during the trial, on February 15, 2023, Emanuel drove the victim to an abandoned two-storey building off a main road, where he compelled her to perform oral sex on him.
The victim testified that Emanuel used physical force, including locking his legs around her when she resisted.
The court heard that the pair’s initial contact was made via Facebook, and they had been in a five-month relationship. Emanuel had previously engaged in consensual sexual relations with the woman at his home.
Expert medical testimony confirmed the victim’s developmental challenges.
While Emanuel faced a potential rape charge, the jury found him not guilty on that count, but was guilty of serious indecency alone.
He was sentenced on Tuesday to spend just over three years at His Majesty’s Prison.
