Judge revokes bail for former lawyer James Bowie at sentencing hearing
She was 'vulnerable and desperate for guidance, for protection, and for someone to help me hold onto my future,' Aubin said Monday.
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'Mr. Bowie used his status, his experience and my desperation to try to turn me into something I never was: an object he could manipulate and abuse for his own gratification.'
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She said Bowie's suggestion that she exchange sexual favours for legal services made her feel 'frozen in horror… I felt worthless, I felt dirty, I felt dehumanized.'
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Bowie was ultimately acquitted of the extortion charge related to the sex-for-legal services allegations. The initial assault charge against Aubin was quickly withdrawn after she hired a new lawyer.
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The fear and threats didn't end there, Aubin said Monday, but 'multiplied' when she learned he was trying to acquire a gun.
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'Mr. Bowie didn't just abuse his position, he weaponized it,' Aubin said. 'He didn't just break the rules, he preyed on the vulnerable — the very people the justice system is meant to protect.'
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After Aubin complained about his conduct to the Law Society of Ontario — resulting in an investigation and eventual suspension from practising law — Bowie 'spiralled into a campaign of threats and harassment,' according to the Crown.
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He pressured his friend to obtain a gun and tracked her with GPS devices when the woman broke off contact.
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'What you did to me — harassing, manipulating, attempting to extort and coerce me into committing a crime to help you — isn't just morally bankrupt, it's reprehensible,' the woman said in court Monday.
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'To do that under the guise of friendship is a betrayal so vicious it's hard to fit into proper professional words.'
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The woman said she suffered panic attacks and post-traumatic stress after Bowie 'invaded every corner of my privacy.'
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Watson said Bowie's conduct demonstrated 'a deeply troubling pattern of predation of vulnerable women' and said 'that trust was used as a weapon.'
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Bowie spoke to the Ottawa Citizen after he was found guilty in March and denied he had ever threatened anyone and claimed there were 'a number of fabrications' in the testimony of both witnesses.
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'I never threatened to kill anyone, ever, or have anyone help having anyone killed on my behalf, nor would I ever do so,' Bowie said in the interview.
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Both the Crown and defence said they struggled to find any similar cases in Canadian law to establish a precedent for an appropriate sentence.
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Bowie launched his own legal practice in 2017 and 'undertook something of an educational campaign,' Granger said, by 'live-tweeting' the various court cases related to the 2022 convoy protests. He gained a large social media following during those contentious bail hearings, and Granger said he often encouraged his followers to donate to local charities.
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