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EDMONTON -- An Edmonton man was convicted Wednesday of raping three women in the downtown area, including one victim who testified against him from beyond the grave.
Adam Blea, 27, was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm, two counts of sexual assault with a weapon, three counts of unlawful confinement, choking, assault and two counts of uttering death threats.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Lawrie Smith rejected Blea’s claim that the sex was consensual and either in exchange for crack cocaine or to pay off drug debts, saying his testimony was “unbelievable,” “self-serving” and “does not have the ring of truth to it.”
Regarding the one victim who died shortly after testifying at a preliminary hearing in the case, Smith ruled the woman’s credibility was diminished because she was not cross examined and had admitted lying to police twice.
However, the judge found the woman’s documented injuries were consistent with her testimony, but not his – which she said she disbelieved – and she accepted similar fact evidence from the Crown showing the luring, confinement and use of force were alike in all three attacks.
Blea stood in the prisoner’s box while Smith convicted him and then slowly sat down and bowed his head. Later, he appeared agitated and paced around the box.
The judge ordered a psychiatric assessment and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for April 9.
Crown prosecutor Avril Herron indicated she would be seeking a penitentiary term higher than the credit Blea would receive for the two years he has been in custody.
At a Dec. 17, 2008, preliminary hearing, the now deceased victim testified she had been living at a downtown women’s shelter on May 28, 2007, and had gone out to get something to eat when she ran into Blea.
The woman, who cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban, said he offered to get her some crack cocaine and told her to follow him.
As they crossed Jasper Avenue at 96 Street and began heading for a path leading down to the river valley, she said she was grabbed by him and dragged down the hill.
She testified he jumped on her and began removing her clothes. At one point she said she pushed him and tried to run away, but said he grabbed her and began choking her.
She then said she was HIV positive in the hope it would scare him off, but said he started punching and kicking her and calling her names and she told him she had lied.
Blea then forced her to perform oral sex on him and then raped her, she said, adding she called for help when she saw two men approach and he ran off.
It is not known how the woman died.
During Blea’s trial, a homeless city woman testified she was raped near the downtown river valley by a man who had offered to take her to get “cheaper beer.”
The 42-year-old admitted alcoholic told court she had been at a liquor store on Jasper Avenue on Aug. 17, 2006, when the man approached. She said she went with him, but was later grabbed from behind, pulled down a hill behind a large apartment building and repeatedly raped.
She also said he choked her with a stick to her throat.
A third victim, who was a student at the University of Alberta at the time, testified she left a downtown bar to take a walk for some air on June 17, 2006, and said a man pushed her into a building under construction and repeatedly sexually assaulted her in a “six-hour ordeal.”
She testified she managed to briefly escape the building when the man passed out, but said he caught her and dragged her back inside by her hair and resumed the sex attack. She said the man also punched her in the head, pushed her into a wall and hit her with his leather belt.
Blea, who has a prior criminal record for forcible confinement, is also facing multiple charges – including sexual assault, assault with a weapon and unlawful confinement – stemming from an alleged March 9, 2008, attack and is scheduled to go to trial on March 22.