‘Sleep watcher’ trial under way
Posted Nov 5, 2012 05:56:07 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The trial for the man accused of entering South End Halifax homes and watching women sleep got underway today.
Barry Edward Sinclair, 51, has been in custody since his arrest over a year ago.
Chris Hansen with the Public Prosecution Service said the trial is expected to last all week and will see about 20 witnesses called.
Sinclair is charged with two counts of break-and-enter and five counts of voyeurism. He was already sentenced to time served when he pleaded guilty to trespassing at night.
The break-and-enter charges and two of the voyeurism charges are from alleged incidents on Sept. 15, 2011, while the other voyeurism charges are related to alleged incidents between Aug. 2005 and June 2011. In those cases, young women were photographed inside their homes without their knowledge.
Sinclair entered court Monday morning wearing a red t-shirt with a grey hoodie, blue jeans and running shoes.
He smiled at his defence lawyer, Luke Craggs, before taking a seat.
A publication ban is in effect for the complainants and anything that could identify them.
A woman who believes she was one of the sleep watcher’s victims, says she caught a man looking through her bathroom window at the height of his activity in 2010.
“I was a little scared because at first I wasn’t sure how he was going to react to the situation,” said the woman who spoke to News95.7 on condition of anonymity. “I felt kind of violated because I wasn’t sure how long he’d been watching me, how much he saw of me.
“No one really wants the feeling of being unsafe when they’re going to bed at night. Luckily for me I was still awake at the time and I didn’t wake up to him being in the room with me, but it’s not a good feeling knowing someone is watching you.”
She said anyone who invades personal privacy like that should face some sort of jail time.
