Image Credit: Shutterstock

A B.C. man has lost his appeal to have a retrial conducted in French after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a Kamloops woman while on a Tinder date in 2017.

Franck Yvan Tayo Tompouba was convicted in 2019 following a trial held in English but argued he did not know it was his right to have the court proceeding in French so he should now be granted a retrial.

According to a May 24, B.C. Court of Appeal decision, the three-judge panel didn't agree.

"Mr. Tayo Tompouba was fluent in both official languages... in addition, he felt that he could handle matters with the police in English, he had demonstrated an understanding of linguistic nuance and he testified in English without apparent difficulty," Justice Gail Dickson said in the decision. "A trial judge is not obliged to inquire into the accused’s official language of choice unless and until it becomes reasonably apparent in the course of the proceedings that it may be a genuinely live issue... (the judge) had no reason to make such inquiries, and certainly no duty to do so."

Law in Canada requires the courts to give an accused person the right to a trial in either official language.

In 2019 Tayo Tompouba was sentenced to a 90-day intermittent jail served at weekends, having been found guilty of having intercourse with a woman he met on Tinder while she was asleep.

Tayo Tompouba was living in Williams Lake at the time and had travelled to Kamloops to go on the date.

While the woman had consumed numerous drinks over the course of their evening out together, Tayo Tompouba had remained sober.

They ended up back at her place and stripped to their underwear and kissed and cuddled in bed before the woman turned away from Tayo Tompouba and fell asleep.

She later woke up and Tayo Tompouba was sexually assaulting her.

Tayo Tompouba moved to Canada from Cameroon in 2013 and his first language is French. He lived for a while in Quebec before moving to B.C.

Along with his French-language appeal, Tayo Tompouba also appealed that two errors were made by police in statements he'd given them. Again, the court dismissed the appeal.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2022