Ontario man admits to sex with 15-year-old in Halifax hotel but says he didn't know her age

An Ontario businessman accused of raping a teenage girl in his Halifax hotel room admitted during a police interview to having sex with her, but insisted it was consensual.

Paul Christopher Coburn, who is on trial in provincial court in Halifax, also insisted he didn't know the girl was 15.

Coburn made the admissions toward the end of a four-hour interrogation by police. Video of that interrogation was played this week at Coburn's trial on five sex-related charges.

The charges include sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching. They relate to an incident in April 2017.

Arrested in Toronto

Coburn was arrested at a Toronto airport in July of that year and flown back to Halifax, where he was questioned at police headquarters. Coburn, a financial adviser, is currently living in Oakville, Ont. 

He made repeated requests throughout the interview to consult with his lawyer. The officers told him he had consulted and was not going to be given another opportunity during the interview.

"Everything in that evening was consensual," he said at one point during the interview.

Police told him that the girl was not able to legally consent to anything because of her age.

She testified earlier in the trial that Coburn ordered her to get undressed and get on the bed where she said he forced her to perform oral sex and intercourse.

Police kept peppering Coburn with questions and included details of what they already knew about the case. At one point, they told him that the girl was being used by a pimp and asked Coburn to help.

"If what we want to do is save the life of this young girl from the life she's living, give me immunity or something," Coburn said.

The officers told him they couldn't do that because the terms of the police questioning expressly prevented them from offering him any favours or promises.

'I did not abuse her'

They started to draw him out by posing what they said were hypothetical questions about what could have happened that night.

Coburn said his intention that night was to get a massage. He did not explain how it might have progressed from that to alleged sexual assault.

"Everything that happened that evening was consensual and I did not abuse her," Coburn said. He added that he did not tear her clothes off and throw her on the bed.

When asked directly if the girl took her own clothes off, Coburn replied, "Yes."

"I had no clue there was an underage person in my room," he said.

Throughout the interview, Coburn sat in a chair with his back against a wall, his hands in his lap. He would occasionally raise his hands and gesture to underscore a point but otherwise he didn't move.

Coburn told police that he never asked for or was shown an ID for the girl, but he said he concluded from her behaviour that she was at least 20.

Crown finishes calling evidence

At one point, one of the officers shook Coburn's hand, telling him that the details he had provided corroborated what the girl had already told police so they knew he was telling the truth.

Towards the end of the interview, the three men engaged in idle conversation, including their shared love of hockey, until the paperwork arrived to process his arrest and allow police to access text messages on his phones.

Those texts were introduced as evidence earlier in this trial and show Coburn arranging to have someone come to his hotel room that night for a massage.

The Crown has finished calling evidence in this case. On Monday, the defence will indicate how they will proceed.

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