Crown wants to see David Case and Celine Loyer in prison for up to 3 years, defence asking for 6 months

A prominent Sudbury track coach and his former star sprinter will likely see jail time for sexually assaulting a woman in 2011.

David Case and Celine Loyer were convicted last year for sexually assaulting a woman who believes she was drugged during a gathering at Case's Sudbury home. 

At a sentencing hearing Wednesday, the Crown called for as much as three years in prison for each of them, while the defence is instead asking for six months in a provincial jail.

Justice Patricia Hennessy will consider the arguments and release her decision sometime in the near future. 

Assistant Crown Attorney Stephanie Baker argued that Case and Loyer should each serve two or three years in a federal prison.

"They acted as a team and should be treated the same by this court," she said.

Baker said while the defence is trying to "minimize" what happened in Case's home in 2011 as an "isolated incident", it was "extremely intrusive" and left the victim, who was 19 at the time, with physical injuries and mental trauma.

She advised the court that, because Case and Loyer attempted to "manipulate" the victim's memory by telling her it was she who acted inappropriately that night, they deserve a tougher sentence. 

Baker pointed to a Supreme Court decision from last year that called on courts to take the still "underreported" cases of sexual violence more seriously and to not base punishment on the exact type of sexual act.

Loyer's lawyer Michael Haraschuk suggested that six months jail would be an appropriate punishment, since this assault was "completely out of character" for his client. 

"The duration of the offence was a matter of seconds," he told the court. 

"We cannot lose sight that this incident was a momentary occurrence in an otherwise... law-abiding life."

Haraschuk said it has been a "long and draining road" for Loyer since he was first charged in February 2017.

As a massage therapist, she was required by her regulatory college to inform all customers and potential customers of her sexual assault charges, which saw her business drop off dramatically. Loyer has since left the profession. 

Haraschuk also says that the 31-year-old has faced harassing social media messages and now suffers from anxiety. 

He also argued that a shorter sentence is best to reduce the risk to Loyer and other inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Case convicted of second sex assault 

Case's lawyer Nicholas Xynnis also asked for a six-month sentence for his 58-year-old client, even though he has been convicted of sexually assaulting one of his teenage runners in the 1980s.

"At the time of the offence, he did not have a criminal record and that is how he should be treated today," Xynnis said. 

"He committed an offence that, within the mind's eye of almost everyone who knows him, is completely out of character."

Case was to be sentenced for the 1980s assault earlier this month, but Xynnis called for a mistrial just before the judge was to read his decision.

The arguments for and against a mistrial are to be considered at a hearing to be scheduled in the coming weeks.