A judge has ruled the beating and rape of a Huntsville woman who was walking her dog on a popular trail last fall to be a serious, violent offence, clearing the way for the Crown to submit an application for the defendant to be sentenced as an adult.

In Bracebridge court on Monday, assistant Crown attorney Lyndsay Jeanes presented several precedents to the court related to the designation of violent offence.

“The test here is whether the accused intended to inflict severe injury on the victim,” said Jeanes. “In this case there is evidence of physical and psychological damage.”

The court watched a videotaped statement in which the accused discussed the offence with Detective Constable Tim Ginn of the Ontario Provincial Police. At first, the 18-year-old denied remembering anything about the offence, but later admitted remembering everything. He told the officer that after he punched the woman, she told him she recently had surgery on her mouth. “So I punched her again in the face,” he said.

The court heard victim impact statements read for the victim by Jodi Golding, a service worker with the Victim Witness Assistance Program.

Court heard the petite, middle-aged victim is ill from drugs prescribed to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. She has permanent damage to one eye and she is suffering from injuries to her shoulders, neck and back. There is a spot on her lung that is believed to be bruising from the attack. So much of her hair had been pulled out in the attack that she needed a haircut to be presentable.

Because the accused would be reading her statement, she said she was reluctant to provide information on the psychological impact of the attack. “This privacy is my only refuge,” said the victim in her statement.

The defendant pleaded guilty to sexual assault causing bodily harm, robbery, choking and threatening on Jan. 3, 2008. The charges were laid under the Youth Criminal Justice Act as he was still 17 when he committed those offences. In March he pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana, escaping lawful custody and five counts of break and enter related to the escape, offences committed as an adult after his birthday on Nov. 15.

Justice George Beatty ruled that the sexual assault, the robbery and the death threats were serious violent offences “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Publication bans are in place to protect the identity of the victim and the identity of the accused as a youth offender. If the defendant is sentenced as an adult, the Crown will apply to have the publication ban protecting his identity revoked, Jeanes said.