Man found guilty of sexually assaulting underage girls in Yellowknife

A man has been found guilty in N.W.T. Supreme Court of three counts of sexual assault for having sexual relationswith three underage girls after supplying them with cocaine and alcohol in September 2017.

Two of the girls were 14 years old at the time, and the third was 15.

Joshua (Taz) Desjarlais, 27, was 25 at the time of the assaults and living in Yellowknife. The assaults took place at his apartment.

At issue was not whether the sexualintercourse was consensual, butwhether Desjarlais made reasonable efforts to find out the girls' ages.The age of consent in Canada, when a young person can legally agree to sexual activity, is 16 years old.

In her decision on Wednesday in Yellowknife, Justice Shannon Smallwood said Desjarlais had been "willfully blind" to the girls' ages.

Desjarlais pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the case went to trial. He told police the girls had told him they were either 18 or 19 years old.Desjarlaisalso told police he believed the age of consent was 15.

Smallwood said when the girls testified in court, they appeared to be young. She said she doubted they looked 18 or 19 when Desjarlais met them in 2017.

Smallwood said he should have probed them more about their ages."In that situation, he didn't want to know the truth," she said.

The girls' identities are protected under a publication ban.

Supplied with drugs and alcohol

Desjarlais met one girl, who was 14 at the time, in the summer outside of her apartment. He asked her for her phone number to go on a date. The girl testified that she told him she was "probably too young" for him, but in the end agreed to give him her number.

She testified that no other conversation about her age took place, and that Desjarlais didn't bring up the subject again.

She introduced the two other girls to Desjarlais. All three girls testified at the trial, but two became emotional and left the stand during their testimony. One didn't return to court for cross-examination, while the other became upset and left during the defence's cross-examination.

The 15-year-old testified about two times she and Desjarlais had sex. The first time, she said she and one of the 14-year-olds were doing cocaine in his room when two other men entered. The 15-year-old testified she was raped by Desjarlais and the two men.

Another time she visited the apartment, she said she brought her own alcohol and a bong to smoke marijuana. She testifiedshe wentinto a room with Desjarlais, wherehe pulled down her pants and had sex with her.

He 'didn't care'to find out their ages

Smallwood noted the 15-year-old girl was confused about the sequence of events during her testimony, and had trouble remembering the incidents.

There were also inconsistencies in her story that she was not questioned about because she did not return to the stand.

The third girl, who was 14 at the time, detailed two incidents where she had sex with Desjarlais after he supplied her with cocaine and alcohol.

At trial, when asked if she and Desjarlais ever talked about how old she was, she said, "I think I kind of said I was 18 or something, I think."

In her decision, Smallwood noted the girls' unwillingness to testify, and that certain inconsistencies in their testimonies could not be explained. She said the girl that first met Desjarlais had instructed the other two to lie about their ages.

However, she decided that Desjarlais "didn't care" about finding out the girls' ages when he had reason to question whether what they told him was true.

Desjarlais will be sentenced on April 15. The prosecution wouldn't comment on whether it will bring charges against the two other men.