February 04, 2004
Man guilty in sex, drug attack
Full story: TheStar.com
After a 12-day judge-alone trial, Archibald found Bell, 28, guilty of two charges of sexually assaulting a male and female and two counts of administering a noxious substance. He had pleaded not guilty. Two charges of administering a stupefying drug for the purpose of illicit sex were stayed. The two victims, now in their 20s, were competitive figure skaters at the time of the assault. They claimed that Bell, who had socialized with them for about two weeks before the attack, came to the young woman's loft on the night of July 12, 2001, where they drank heavily. They said they were immobilized by a drug and sexually assaulted. "We were all there just having a good time," Bell testified in his defence at the University Ave. courthouse. Bell's lawyer, Edward Prutschi, told the court that the loft was "party central" to the victims' peers. The young couple was "cutting loose and "trying different things," Prutschi said in closing submissions yesterday. But the judge found that Bell's testimony was "a series of lies layered upon each other." Bell's portrayal of an orgy between the three "was anything but" and his testimony was "not remotely believable," said Archibald.Posted by stupefied
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