Monday, May 5, 2008

Rape of ex-girlfriend planned, according to Canadian judge

The brutal rape of a Canmore woman by her ex-boyfriend -- a fugitive on the lam from the U.S. -- wasn't a spontaneous assault, a judge ruled yesterday.

Justice Beth Hughes rejected John Julius Marr's claim he had gone to the woman's home on March 27, 2004, to discuss money she owed him and to retrieve his property.

Instead, the Calgary Court of Queen's Bench judge said, Marr's intent all along was to attack the woman "to teach her a lesson."

"I do not accept his evidence because it runs contrary to the very nature of the acts he admitted to," Hughes said.

She noted Marr, in pleading guilty to aggravated sexual assault, admitted tying up his victim with tape from her home, raping her over a lengthy period and keeping his identity secret throughout.

"These are not the actions of a person who 'panicked,'" said Hughes. "He made the decision to break into her home (and) wait in the darkness so he could teach her a lesson."

Defence lawyer Dale Fedorchuk had argued Marr's rape of the woman following a break-up with her was a spontaneous act done after he decided to break into her home to wait for her.

Marr said he illegally entered the residence because he thought if he waited outside she wouldn't listen to his claims she owed him money for home renovations and still had his property.
He testified after he broke in, he realized he had done wrong and when she arrived home he panicked.


After raping and tying his victim up, Marr took the woman's car and drove to Banff and then Vancouver, before fleeing to his native U.S.

Hughes agreed with Crown prosecutor John Szekeres, who suggested Marr couldn't have gone to the woman's home to retrieve his property since he had no way of transporting it.

A date for sentencing submissions will be set once a pre-sentence report and psychological risk assessment is complete June 20.

Marr remains in custody pending his sentencing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was in the US Army with Marr in 1991. He seemed normal then. Wow!!

Anonymous said...

I knew him for many months as "Atlas Finch" an alias name during his time in Canmore. He had sort of a "hippie" persona going, only a small hemp backpack as his property and not very "clean shaven" He made up some story about leaving Hawaii because his son had died and was grieving, but he never had one piece of identification nor a driver's license. How do you leave the US (Hawaii) without a passport? He always gave me the creeps and I told him how I felt about him, he threatened to assault me if I didn't stay out of his business...needless to say, we never really talked again after that at which time he spent the remainder of his time in Canmore at his girlfriends house. And now you know the rest of the story

Anonymous said...

I learned to know Julius in -98 in Hawaii. I was backpacking around the world and we continued to send letters to each other after I came home to my country. he was normal then so I´am shocked to read these things about him. I am really sorry to read this.I have always wondered why our contact has been broken and now I know why. Sad so sad.