Matthew McKnight and his mother walk out of court in Edmonton during a break in court on July 8, 2020. McKnight was convicted in 2020 of five counts of sexual assault against women he met while working as a promoter in the Edmonton bar scene between 2010 and 2016.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
A serial rapist who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for a series of sexual assaults against women in Edmonton will appear before the National Parole Board in Alberta on Friday.
Matthew McKnight was convicted in 2020 of five counts of sexual assault against women he met while working as a promoter in the Edmonton bar scene between 2010 and 2016.
Federal offenders in Canada are automatically eligible for full parole after serving one-third of their sentence. The hearing will take place at Bowden Institution, a medium-security prison located between Calgary and Edmonton.
At trial, the Crown alleged Mr. McKnight was a serial predator who used his prominence in the Edmonton bar scene to meet young women and intentionally incapacitate them with alcohol – and sometimes, a date rape drug – to sexually assault them. The youngest of the women was 17 at the time, the oldest was 22.
The defence argued the charges arose from consensual – if regrettable – sexual encounters with a promiscuous man that took on new framing in the light of the #MeToo movement.
The trial was one of the largest in Edmonton’s history, stretching 63 days with testimony from 37 witnesses.
He said, they said: inside the trial of Matthew McKnight
Originally charged with 26 counts of sexual and physical assault against 21 different women, Mr. McKnight went to trial in the fall of 2019 on 13 counts of sexual assault, and was ultimately convicted by a jury of five counts.
Mr. McKnight was sentenced to 16½ years in prison, but Justice Doreen Sulyma reduced the term to eight years on the grounds that Mr. McKnight was beaten up in custody, made “lifestyle changes” after his arrest, and had what she believed to be “excellent chances to rehabilitate.” She also cited the totality principle, which says sentences for multiple offences shouldn’t be excessive.
The defence unsuccessfully appealed the convictions, and the Crown then appealed the sentence. The Alberta Court of Appeal ultimately increased his sentence to 11 years, after concluding eight years for five sexual assaults was “lenient to the point of undermining public confidence in the administration of justice.”
In that decision, the justices found there was “a predatory aspect to the assaults” and that Mr. McKnight “invited the young complainants into his home for an evening of socializing, took advantage of their vulnerability, and subjected them to major violations of their personal integrity.”
Louis Dumais, one of several friends who testified in Mr. McKnight’s defence at trial, was himself charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement in September, 2022 in an unrelated case. He remains wanted by police in Edmonton.