'Serial sexual offender' sentenced to six months in jail

*Warning: This article contains elements that some may find triggering.

*Editor's note: A publication ban covers any information that might identify the victims in this case, including many details of the incidents themselves.

A Palmerston man twice convicted of sexual assaults and other sex-related crimes was handed a six-month jail term on Wednesday, as well as a lifetime weapons ban and will be placed on the national sex offender registry.

“I’m just happy with the sentence,” one of the victims offered after the hearing.

Michael Hurst, 46, was convicted in September on three counts of sexual assault related to the unwanted touching of women’s buttocks and breasts following a week-long trial held in Guelph. The assaults happened between 2017 and 2020, mostly in Wellington North.

He was acquitted of two additional counts alleged to have involved oral sex and intercourse.

Much of the evidence presented in the case is covered by a publication ban aimed at protecting the identities of Hurst’s victims. 

Months earlier, Hurst was convicted of two counts of sexual assault and three counts of committing an indecent act for offences dating back more than 20 years and involving five women. For those crimes he was sentenced to two years less a day of house arrest and three years of probation.

In handing down the latest sentence, Justice Cynthia Petersen rejected Hurst’s testimony while accepting the testimony of his two female victims as credible and reliable.

“At trial, Mr. Hurst attempted to rationalize his behaviour,” Petersen noted. “Mr. Hurst is clearly a serial sexual offender.”

His actions demonstrated “patterns of predatory behaviour,” the judge added, stating Hurst “intentionally targeted the victims in a vulnerable position.”

During the trial, Hurst testified he believed the women had flirted with him by smiling and brushing up against him. That led him to believe he had their consent to touch them sexually.

Petersen described that perspective as “improbable” and rejected his defence of honest but mistaken belief they had granted consent to his touching.

During sentencing submissions last month for his most recent conviction, Mary Murphy, Hurst’s defence attorney, asked Petersen to consider a suspended sentence and probation for the repeat offender, or no more than 90 days in custody. 

Assistant Crown attorney Peter Keen sought 12 to 15 months behind bars.

“These were planned sexual assaults,” Petersen said of Hurst’s touching of one victim, while characterizing multiple incidents involving a second woman “impulsive actions.”

Hurst was sentenced to three months in jail for his assaults against one victim, representing two of the charges for which he was convicted. He was sentenced to serve another three months for multiple incidents involving the second victim, though they’re encapsulated in one charge.

The six months are to be served consecutively.

Following his jail time, Hurst is to resume the house arrest conditions imposed following his earlier trial.

Due to recent amendments to the national sex offender registry laws, the precise length of time Hurst will remain on the registry will be determined during a future hearing.