Charge laid after reports of festival sexual assaults
Police say three allegations made during Folk on the Rocks in July
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, October 21, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A 19-year-old city man has been charged with a single count of sexual assault against a woman at the Folk on the Rocks festival in July.
Nathan Round, 19, faces a charge of sexual assault after three assaults were reported at the Folk on the Rocks festival this summer. - Jessica Davey-Quantick/NNSL photo |
The assault is alleged to have occurred July 16 on the festival grounds. It was one of three reports of sexual assault allegations at the weekend music festival, according to RCMP.
RCMP spokesperson Marie York-Condon stated in an e-mail that Nathan Round is the only person charged after police received reports of assaults against three people. Originally, police stated there had been four reports but further investigation lowered that number to three.
York-Condon stated one investigation ended without charges and another is ongoing.
The court file Round does not elaborate on the nature of the sexual assault. A standard publication ban has been imposed on the identity of the woman.
Peter Harte, a lawyer representing the man charged, declined to comment on the case.
A Crown prosecutor from Yukon is handling the file. The prosecutor did not return a request for comment by press time.
The man did not appear in court Tuesday where his case was adjourned for a month. Round is scheduled to next appear Nov. 22 for the Crown to decide whether to proceed as a summary conviction charge or as an indictable offence.
Summary conviction carries six to 18 months in jail if found guilty. Indictable means the man faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted.
Several conditions were applied to the man as the case continues, including to abstain from alcohol and non-prescribed drugs, to remain in Yellowknife and to not have any contact with the woman.
Before the festival ended, there were multiple social media posts about reports of sexual assault, including from one of the performers. One of the MCs for the beer garden stage reminded the crowd about the need for consent.
"Three times now. It's not OK," he told the crowd.
Statistics Canada surveys have shown that the majority of sexual assaults go unreported to police. With those that are reported, 23 per cent of sexual assault cases resulted in guilty verdicts in Canada in 2011-12, according to the statistics agency.
There were 31 reports of sexual assault in Yellowknife in 2015, according to police data released by Statistics Canada.
