Undressing by window lands man in court

Paul Legall
The Spectator

The American poet Robert Frost once wrote that good fences make good neighbours.

If he had been living in suburbia in the '90s, he might have also recommended a good set of window shades -- as a red-faced Georgetown man has learned.

The 35-year-old man got into a bit of a jam last January when some teenage girls at a slumber party claimed they saw him disrobing in his bedroom.

Testifying in Ontario Court (provincial division) yesterday, three of the girls told Judge William Sharpe they had a clear view from their own bedroom about 35 metres (132 feet) away.

Two of the girls -- 14 and 15 -- testified they saw him "levitate himself" by climbing on a stool or some other object. The girls were "grossed out."

To make matters worse, a young mother in the neighbourhood made a similar complaint a month earlier. She said she was standing in her driveway about 10.30 p.m., with her 14-year-old female babysitter, when she noticed the accused parading around his bedroom in the nude.

He wasn't charged in that incident, but a police officer warned him to keep his blinds closed. After the second incident, he was charged with wilfully committing an indecent act with the intent to insult or offend.

Yesterday, he denied being completely nude on either occasion. During the second incident, he said he was preparing to go to bed and put his two-year-old son to bed.

When he realized he was being watched, he immediately turned off the lights and ran downstairs to tell his wife. "I felt my privacy was being invaded," he said. He said he and his wife now feel like they're being constantly watched, and always keep the blinds and windows closed.

Sharpe said he had doubts about the accused's truthfulness, but also had some reservations about the teens and what they could see from their vantage point in the darkness 35 metres away. He said he was giving the man the benefit of the doubt in acquitting him.