P.E.I. man to spend 14 months in jail for spousal sexual assault
Wabaningosi (Tim) Dingwell was 27 years old at the time of the offence
A P.E.I. man has been sentenced to 14 months in jail for sexually assaulting his spouse while she was sleeping in 2008, when he was 27 years old.
Wabaningosi (Tim) Dingwell, 43, was found guilty in March of 2024 following a 2023 trial in Supreme Court.
He was not held in jail while awaiting his sentence, but was taken to the Provincial Correctional Centre after the judge's decision was handed down Monday morning.
Justice Gregory Cann spoke for 30 minutes while delivering his decision on how long Dingwell should be in custody, as well as whether he would be able to serve that length of sentence in the community on house arrest.
Cann focused on two central issues: the need to impose consequences for violence against women and how the justice system has historically mistreated Indigenous people, saying the two needed to be balanced in sentencing.
Dingwell is Indigenous and Cann acknowledged the hardships he had experienced during his life.
They ranged from exposure to violence at a young age while growing up in a household with residential school survivors to bullying or racism he experienced as an adult.
But Cann also made a point to highlight the profound long-term impact the violent act had on Dingwell's ex-partner, since Dingwell did not respect her rights or her boundaries.
"The powerless develop a need to become powerful," Justice Cann told the courtroom.
Time to be served in jail
One of the reasons for the delay between the verdict and the sentencing was to let Dingwell undergo an assessment for sexual deviancy.
All parties agreed to the assessment in the fall after it was reported that Dingwell was facing new charges: voyeurism and sending an indecent text message to a different victim.
On Monday, the court heard that the report's author found Dingwell's risk of re-offence to be twice that of the average risk.
The powerless develop a need to become powerful.— Justice Gregory Cann
And while Cann said new, unproven charges outside of his court did not factor into his sentencing decision for the 2008 offence, he said he was required to weigh community safety when deciding whether Dingwell should be eligible for house arrest — ultimately deciding that he shouldn't.
"The community safety requirement has not been met," he said.
After being released from jail, Dingwell will be on probation for two years. He will have to provide a DNA sample for a national database and be on the sex offender registry for 20 years.
Dingwell will be back in provincial court on his more recent charges Thursday.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
