Former Penticton man given no jail, no criminal record after pleading guilty to sexual assault

WARNING: Some details may be disturbing to some readers.

A former Penticton man will not have a criminal record after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting his roommate.

Mitchell Karl Andreen Egner, 32, appeared in Penticton Provincial Court Thursday to plead guilty and learn his sentence for a 2023 incident that left a woman traumatized.

Court heard that in late August 2023, Egner's victim — whose identity is protected by a standard publication ban — was renting a spare room from Egner in Penticton.

The victim, who was in her early 20s, had long dreamed of living in the Okanagan. One evening, Egner invited her to join him in having a drink in their communal living space, which she accepted.

As the night turned to the early morning hours, Egner asked the victim if she would like to see his penis. She thought it was a joke, and moved on. Shortly after, he slapped her behind, which she also let slide.

Then, he pinned her against some furniture and asked “Do you want it? You look like you want it,” then pulled down his pants to display his erect penis.

The victim repeatedly said "stop" and "no."

She went outside on the deck for a while, hoping that Egner would cool off, but when she went back inside she was attacked again. She was shoved onto the couch, pinned down and groped.

She repeatedly said stop, and was able to push him off, and called the police. She met them outside, after which Egner was arrested, visibly intoxicated.

The victim said she had seen Egner doing large amounts of cocaine throughout the day and evening.

Egner was arrested, and the victim packed her things and moved out of Penticton that night, never to return to this day.

“[The victim] had hoped to call Penticton a home, and that was stripped from her,” Crown lawyer Nashina Devji said in court, referencing the victim impact statement provided.

“She felt that ‘a large part of my innocence and curiosity as a young woman has been taken from me and has been replaced [with anger]’,”

Devji added that it is especially egregious that the victim was sexually assaulted in her own home, the one place she should especially have a right to feel safe.

Egner’s lawyer said his client understands drug use is “absolutely no excuse whatsoever” for his crime, and that following the crime, his family did a “full intervention” and brought him back to Victoria, B.C. to help him get clean from drugs, which has so far been successful.

“I regret that night and I am definitely committed to moving forward in this positive direction,” Egner said in court, appearing virtually by video.

“I’m not that person. I want it all to be over but I wish I could take it back instead.”

The Crown at first asked for a suspended sentence, meaning a sentence that would see no jail time but would still have a criminal record attached, but Judge Lynett Jung leaned towards a conditional discharge, meaning no jail time or record, merely a period of probation.

It was noted in court that Egner often travels to the United States for work, which would be inhibited by a criminal record.

Jung said she takes sexual assault very seriously, and it takes a unique situation for her to even consider a conditional discharge for such an offence, but said she was convinced by his apologetic nature and his actions towards recovery in the time since the crime.

She sentenced him to 18 months of probation with a no-contact order protecting the victim and other standard conditions including a no-weapons order.

He will also pay a victim fine surcharge of $500 to the clerk of the court. Those funds go towards government aid for victims of crime.

“Good luck with your recovery,” Jung said.

“This is a really serious criminal offence and I’m giving you this chance because I believe in you … but I don’t want you walking out of my virtual courtroom without understanding that this is a really serious offence.”