Canada Still Criminally Sentencing Adults For Consensual Sex

Andrew Seymour reports at ottawacitizen.com about two adults prosecuted and criminally sentenced for having sex with each other.

A mother and adult son who were caught having sex in the Ottawa apartment of the dying husband and father were sentenced to probation Thursday.

At least it was only probation, but charges should never have been filed in the first place. This was a private matter that didn't hurt or involve anyone else.

The incest came to light when the then 52-year-old woman and her then 32-year-old were spotted through a window by the woman’s daughter and the man’s older sister after she showed up to visit her terminally ill father on May 14, 2010 in his Murray Street apartment.

So the sister was the rat. Sibling rivalry?

She then went inside and knocked on the door. Her brother walked out without saying a word and her mother acted “as if nothing had ever happened,” said Thibault.

The rat is fortunate. Interrupting people having sex is rude and lovers are prone to administer a verbal dressing-down.

Both mother and son pleaded guilty to incest. A publication ban prevents the reporting of their names.

“I’m going to essentially refrain from making any moral comments or moral evaluations of your conduct. I think your conduct speaks for itself, particularly as a mother,” said Ontario Court Justice Paul Belanger. “I’ll leave the opprobrium to your own conscience and perhaps the wrath of others.”

What bigoted nonsense. What a shame that the court was tied up prosecuting a case that does nothing to protect the people of Canada.

The woman received a sentence of two years probation.

The woman’s son — who was abused as a child — was sentenced to one year’s probation.

Notice the article doesn't say who abused the son, so I am left to conclude it wasn't the mother and could have been the dying father. So what did we have here? A woman and a man who are dealing with a dying family member (who may have been abusive) and they find love and comfort with each other. How long did she go without due to the demeanor and condition of her husband?  If she had gone to a bar and brought back a complete stranger (or five) and done the same thing, law enforcement would have done nothing. But two people who know each other and love each other were have sex and get prosecuted. Ridiculous. Notice, with all of the finger-wagging by the judge, the lawyers, and the original rat, nobody explains any actual or potential harm. Because they can't. All they can do assert that it was wrong, but they can't explain why. It is mere animus. They don't like the idea, so nobody else should do it. What a sham.

An adult should be free to share love, sex, residence, and marriage with any consenting adults without fear of prosecution.