Yahoo! News – The Master of His Domain….
OTTAWA (Reuters) – A Canadian who masturbated at a window in his house won his appeal against a conviction for indecency on Thursday after Canada’s top court ruled there was no evidence of intent to commit an indecent act, and a home was not a public place.
The Supreme Court of Canada noted that British Columbian, Daryl Clark, had agreed it was an indecent act to have masturbated “in an illuminated room near an uncovered window visible to neighbors.”
But Justice Morris Fish, writing the 9-0 decision, said such acts have to be done in public places to be a crime — and a home was not a public place. The law also says indecent acts are only crimes in every location if the person intends to give offense.
Imagine that conversation? Upon arrest, the RCMP can just ask nicely, “Excuse me, Mr. Wanker… Did you intend to cause offense by wacking your bag in front of a portrait window?”
I guess you can always except an honest answer. I mean, who intends to be seen while gratuitously wacking oneself in front of a window? Certainly not this gentleman…
Clark was convicted of an indecent act in a public place and given a four-month sentence after a prosecution that followed complaints from his neighbor, named in court documents only as Mrs. S.
The woman said she spotted Clark while she was watching television with her two young daughters in their family room.
Now had she just gone over to her window and closed the shades, all would be fine. Instead of just ignoring it and shielding her kids, she did what every normal mother would do… She drew even more attention to it:
She alerted her husband, and the couple observed Clark from their darkened bedroom for 10 or 15 minutes — also using binoculars and a telescope — before summoning the police, who said the upper part of Clark’s body was visible from just below the navel.
So they went to their darkened bedroom, took out binoculars and a telescope (!) and continued to watch this guy go at it for an additional 15 offensive minutes!? They were so offended by it that they only called the police after watching it for 15 minutes from their bedroom after already realizing that the guy was visible from the family room!
Some people would do better to just indulge their voyeurism rather than cover it up…
“In my respectful view, the trial judge … erred in concluding that the appellant’s living room had been converted by him into a public place simply because he could be seen through his living room window and, though he did not know this, was being watched by Mr. and Mrs. S. from the privacy of their own bedroom 90 to 150 feet away,” Fish wrote.
You know, with all due respect, this case is one big CF (look it up). The guy wacks his bag, offends a neighbor who then proceeds to grab her husband, go in her bedroom and watch for another 15 minutes before calling the police.
Surely someone here has to think this woman and her husband, and Mr. Wanker have lost their collective frigging minds.
(source)