In late 2022 and early 2023, Ottawa legal defence lawyer James Bowie was shedding the life he knew.
His former consumer Leanne Aubin had gone to the Legislation Society of Ontario, and to the media, with allegations that Bowie had provided her his authorized providers in alternate for oral intercourse — and the non-public {and professional} fallout was overwhelming.
On Tuesday morning, Ontario Courtroom Justice Paul Cooper discovered that Bowie had stooped to criminality in his makes an attempt to regain “in any respect prices” the standing and management to which he had turn out to be accustomed, and located him responsible of harassment, extortion and twice uttering loss of life threats.
Cooper advised courtroom Bowie needed Aubin lifeless, threatened to kill her twice within the presence of one other lady, tried to get that different lady to acquire a gun for him “to finish” Aubin, and criminally harassed the opposite lady when she grew to become afraid and tried to ghost him.
He adopted her actions with monitoring gadgets, referred to as her from a number of numbers, watched her home and continued to ship her messages after she stopped replying.
The girl can’t be recognized due to a publication ban.
Bowie stays on bail forward of sentencing
The Crown had earlier withdrawn another extortion charge associated to Aubin’s sex-for-services allegations. It got here after Aubin’s testimony failed to ascertain proof of a direct and expressed menace that Bowie would make an assault cost towards her stick if she talked about his proposition.
Dates for the sentencing course of haven’t been set.
Bowie stays out of custody on bail. Assistant Crown prosecutor Kerry Watson determined to not ask for him to be introduced again into custody, and advised the decide Bowie has revered courtroom orders.
The suspended lawyer testified in his personal defence throughout the trial, and Cooper mentioned his behaviour on the stand backed up the testimony of the girl who described him as turning into obsessive, unhinged and falling from grace.
“That is the particular person I truly noticed earlier than me…. I noticed him try and have management whereas testifying,” Cooper mentioned. “He tried to touch upon the credibility of others, and even moved very near the microphone in a response to a query from the Crown, and whispered, ‘I’m not loopy.'”
‘Vulnerability is just not a synonym for weak spot’
Cooper discovered Aubin and the opposite lady to be dependable and credible witnesses.
He advised courtroom that inconsistencies in what Aubin advised courtroom and the Legislation Society in regards to the existence of a message outlining the sex-for-services deal weren’t materials, and that different inconsistencies have been minor.
Bowie did not assess that Aubin, “who had suffered great loss and challenges,” had “true integrity.” Cooper added that she “courageously went public with data within the hopes of defending others.”
As for the opposite lady, he accepted her testimony that she did not ship two emails to Bowie about an investigation Bowie urged she was serving to him with, and that another person might have used her cellphone to ship them.
On the finish of his verdict, Cooper mentioned Bowie had “misunderstood that [their] vulnerability is just not a synonym for weak spot,” and located him responsible as charged.
Bowie declines remark
Bowie stood up. He had spent the earlier two hours largely leaning again in his chair with one handheld as much as his face, rubbing and shutting his eyes because the decide recounted the proof.
Outdoors the courthouse Tuesday, Bowie declined to remark to CBC and CTV.
Aubin’s attorneys Emilie Taman and Christine Johnson mentioned they have been pleased with the opposite lady for her braveness in coming ahead in regards to the threats towards Aubin’s life, and pleased with Aubin, too.
“It isn’t straightforward to be a complainant in a legal continuing. We signify lots of girls in proceedings like this, and as a rule, we do not have days like this,” Taman mentioned.
“I discovered that probably the most highly effective phrases … have been that victimization is just not synonymous with weak spot, and after we conveyed that to [Aubin, she was] simply overwhelmed, breaking down. It has been a tough variety of months for her,” Johnson added.
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