Sexual assaults have left victim unable to work, owner of firm currently serving three-year prison sentence
The British Columbia Supreme Court has ordered the owner of a construction firm in Victoria to pay nearly $1 million for sexually assaulting a female employee.
Kyle Christopher Mostowy and his firm All Canadian Construction Ltd. have to pay the victim $157,500 for pain and suffering, $284,400 for past loss of earning capacity and $540,000 for future loss of earning capacity, for a total of $981,900.
The victim in question is one of the five women who worked for the company as office assistants against whom Mostowy committed sex offences. In 2016, the B.C. Supreme Court found Mostowy guilty of these crimes and sentenced him to three years in prison.
The said victim, a 44-year-old mother of two, sued him for damages arising out of the sexual assaults committed against her in the late autumn of 2010, according to a report from the Vancouver Sun.
Assaults
Mostowy's victim had been unemployed for about a year and her employment insurance benefits were about to run out when she got the job at All Canadian through a subsidized employment program.
The sexual assaults committed by Mostowy began almost immediately after the victim was hired, according to the court.
Mostowy used sexual conversations and then proceeded to give massages to the victim to gradually expose and touch the victim’s breasts despite her protestations. He eventually exposed himself and began masturbating in front of her.
However, the victim did not quit because she was placed in a “desperate” situation – she did not think she would be able to get welfare if she quit or be entitled to employment insurance if she quit or was fired, according to the court.
“She was ashamed, in part because she did not quit, and instead kept returning to work despite knowing the sexual assault would be likely to continue,” said B.C. Supreme Court Justice Veronica Jackson.
These incidents caused both physical and mental injuries, according to the judge, and even affected her relationship with her children, who then decided to move in with their father.
“While the sexual assaults were ongoing, the plaintiff’s migraine headaches were constant; the pain became excruciating and could not be controlled with her usual medication.”
“Physically her entire body was in pain. She began having suicidal thoughts. She stopped caring about her appearance. She stopped cooking. She stopped cleaning the house or caring for the property.”
The victim had largely been unable to work as a result of suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder, according to the judge. There’s also a real possibility that she would be permanently unable to work due to her mental injuries.
In July, the Department of Justice Canada announced it is investing more than $1.34 million over five years for the Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services for their project Healthier and Safer Alberta Workplaces.
Meanwhile, in July, a home nurse in Hamilton, Ont. alleged her employer of treating her with systemic discrimination for failing to protect her from being sexually assaulted by her patient.
