WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The Canadian Judicial Council said Friday it would investigate remarks made by a judge who spared a rapist a prison term.
The announcement came as the government of Manitoba requested a review of Queen's Bench Justice Robert Dewar's conduct and statements, the Winnipeg Free Press reported. The council had already received complaints about the judge from lawmakers and sexual assault victims advocates.
Scores of people demonstrated outside the Law Courts in Winnipeg at noon. They demanded Dewar's departure and shouted "Yes means yes and no means no."
Last week, Dewar, who has been on the bench 17 months, gave Kenneth Rhodes a suspended sentence after he was convicted of raping a young woman he met in a bar in 2006 in Thompson, a city almost 500 miles north of Winnipeg. The judge suggested Rhodes was a "clumsy Don Juan" and that the victim invited sex with her clothing and conduct.
Alanna Makinson of the Canadian Federation of Students spoke at the rally.
"This ruling has damaged the credibility of Canada's justice system, and we are calling for an apology for his misguided and irresponsible ruling," she said.
