(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

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She was barely a month out from a very difficult labour — 72 hours delivery, tearing, bleeding, loss of bladder control — but none of that seemed to matter to the baby’s father.

He wanted sex.

A Kamloops man who complained about having to stay up for her 72-hour labour has been found guilty of sexually assaulting the mother of his child while she slept.

She was recovering from both a "difficult" pregnancy and giving birth and was trying to sleep. She awoke in the night to the man trying to remove her underwear and have sex with her, according to a recently published BC Supreme Court decision.

Neither can be identified because of a publication ban protecting the victim.

The pair had a "tumultuous" relationship and were not living together, but he was staying to help with their five-week-old baby in the fall of 2020, the decision said.

They dated on and off for several years and he would stay over periodically. This time, she agreed to let him stay over because his help meant she could get some rest.

The victim had been in labour for 72 hours and was left with painful injuries that were still healing at the time.

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That evening, she went to bed before 10 p.m., but he followed just a few minutes later. She asked him to keep his clothes on and to not touch her as they both went to sleep with the baby in a bassinet beside them.

She awoke an hour later with him on top of her. He flipped her onto her back and began pulling gently at her hospital-provided underwear, the decision said.

"As she awoke, she started pulling back on her underwear, and she and the accused got into a bit of a tug-of-war. The accused became more aggressive," Justice Ward Branch said in his decision.

Although she kicked and tried to fight him off, the accused ejaculated between her thighs and left the room. The victim was left to care for the baby as it awoke and started crying.

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She moved to another room and the man left the home at around 6 a.m.

"Unsurprisingly, the accused offers a different version of events," Justice Branch's decision read.

He said they had "pillow talk" and foreplay for some time and she consented to everything they did.

The victim, however, accused him of "practically raping" her over text messages the next day after he agreed they would not have sex.

"She used the expression 'practically raped' because, at the time, she was not exactly sure how to characterize what had happened to her," Justice Branch said.

They started a "long break up process" in the days after the assault and she didn't report it until months later.

She applied for a protection order against her attacker in March 2021 after he put a ladder against her window and threatened to come inside. He also admitted to this, but he told the court it was only because she wasn't answering the door "even though she had invited him to come over," Justice Branch said in his decision.

She reported the assault to RCMP in May 2021.

Justice Branch found him guilty of sexual assault on Aug. 29, in a Kamloops courtroom. He has yet to render a sentence.

— This story was updated at 2:44 p.m., Sept. 26, 2023, to add additional information from the judge's decision.

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