Vancouver filmmaker sent to prison for 'repulsive and predatory' sex assaults

Raymond Law gets 11-year sentence on 10 charges for drugging, assaulting and photographing 3 women

Image | Raymond Law

Caption: Raymond Law was convicted of 10 criminal charges. (The Urban Mixer)

A Vancouver movie producer who drugged, sexually assaulted and photographed three women while they were unconscious has been sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Raymond Law was convicted earlier this year of 10 charges, including four counts of sexual assault, five counts of unlawfully observing or recording a person while they were nude or engaged in explicit sexual activity and two counts of attempting to administer a stupefying or overpowering drug.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Duncan described Law's crimes as "repulsive and predatory" in a Sept. 27 sentencing decision(external link).
"The three complainants were obviously emotionally affected by Mr. Law's crimes," Duncan wrote in a Sept. 27 sentencing decision.
"All three are plagued with the uncertainty of whether or not the images of them may surface in public forums at some point in the future."
With credit for time already served, Law's sentence has been reduced to 66.5 months or a little more than 5.5 years behind bars.

Law used GHB on victims

Law, now 55, is listed as producer of a 2011 anti-drug movie called Ecstasy, which depicts young women being lured into a life of partying, drugs and abuse.
During his trial, the court heard eerie echoes of that movie's plot in Law's crimes.
He lured one victim, a nurse, to his apartment by claiming he wanted her advice about an emergency room scene in a movie script he was writing. Once there, he gave her a drink laced with the date-rape drug GHB and then sexually assaulted her and photographed her while she was unconscious.
It was the second time Law had attacked the same woman, but she wouldn't realize what Law had done to her until police showed her the pictures they'd seized from his devices.

Image | Still from Raymond Law's movie Ecstasy

Caption: Raymond Law's movie, Ecstasy, is available on YouTube. (Dolce Cielo Productions)

Another woman considered Law a good friend before he sexually assaulted and photographed her while she was passed out after a night at a downtown Vancouver club.
According to the judge, the woman became "emotionally unglued when she was shown the pictures seized from Mr. Law's electronic devices. She exclaimed 'oh my God, oh my God, where are these photos?' then said she wished she did not know about this."

'I blamed myself'

The victims all told the court that Law's crimes had affected their lives profoundly, bringing on struggles with depression as well as lasting distrust of other people. The assaults would affect their romantic relationships, careers and their studies.
One woman's fiancé broke off their engagement when he learned about the abuse.
"For many years, I blamed myself for what happened to me," she wrote in a victim impact statement. "I was ashamed and felt stupid to have trusted someone I didn't know. Unfortunately, my partner and his family felt the same way. My life was completely ripped apart with a broken engagement and humiliation."
Another woman said the trauma interfered with her plans to become a lawyer — she missed classes, failed exams and watched her grades drop. The third victim had to leave her job overseas on several occasions while the legal process was underway, leaving coworkers with a bad impression of her work ethic, according to the judge.
As part of his sentence, Law will also have to submit a DNA sample and register as a sex offender.