9 | durhamregion.com This Week | Thursday, March 31, 2022 | Judges have rejected an appeal by an Oshawa man whose conviction for sexual assault on a stranger led to his being designated a dangerous offender. Jamie Simpson-Fry's argument that he was wronged by an ineffective defence lawyer and a biased judge don't stand up to scrutiny, according to a recent decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal. "We see no error" in Ontario Court judge Joseph De Filippis's conduct in the case, the ruling, authored by appeal court Justice Michael Tulloch, concludes. Simpson-Fry alleged in his appeal that his decision not to fight the charges against him was based on advice provided by his defence lawyer. This alleged ineffective representation led Simpson-Fry to accept a statement of facts about the incident, put forth by the Crown, that he otherwise would not have agreed to, according to the appeal. Simpson-Fry's second ground of appeal was an allegation that the judge at his trial was biased, and misapprehended evidence. While deliberating on the case the judge "rubber stamped" comments and opinions from the victim, police and psychiatrists, the appellant claimed. The incident that led to the charges occurred in the early morning hours of Oct. 13, 2013 in Pickering. A young woman was attacked by a stranger who threatened and "brutally raped" her, according to the ruling. "Following the assault, he told her to get up and said he would kill her if she ever told anyone about what happened," the ruling states. Using a DNA sample obtained during the investigation, police identified Simpson-Fry as a suspect and arrested him. When his case went to trial in 2014 Simpson-Fry announced his intention to plead guilty, claiming he'd been so drunk at the time of the incident that he could not contest the Crown's evidence against him. The judge rejected the plea and Simpson-Fry changed his plea to not guilty, accepting a process that would see the Crown read a statement of facts about the incident into the record, after which his defence lawyer would decline to make submissions contesting the charges. The process resulted in convictions for sexual assault, forcible confinement and uttering threats. Simpson-Fry was declared a dangerous offender and sentenced to an indeterminate term of custody in prison. A panel of appeal court judges rejected the appeal, finding "considerable efforts" had been undertaken by the judge and lawyers involved in the case to ensure Simpson-Fry understood the process. "(Simpson-Fry) ... confirmed that he did not have any questions about the process as it was explained by the Crown," the ruling says. "The appellant cannot now complain that the trial judge accepted uncontested evidence. The trial judge was entitled to do so in the circumstances, and we see no error in his decision." COURT REJECTS APPEAL OF SEX ASSAULT CONVICTION JEFF MITCHELL jmitchell@ durhamregion.com "The appellant cannot now complain that the trial judge accepted uncontested evidence. The trial judge was entitled to do so in the circumstances, and we see no error in his decision." - Appeal court Justice Michael Tulloch in written ruling The amount of COVID-19 virus detected in wastewater is increasing in several areas of Durham. The most recent data from the Durham Region Health Department shows the concentration of COVID virus in wastewater is increasing in samples collected in Pickering, Whitby and Courtice. Durham started wastewater collection in March 2021 as one way of monitoring COVID infection trends in the community. "People with COVID-19 can shed the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their stool, although the amount of virus shed varies from person to person," the health department says. "This shedding happens regardless of whether a person has symptoms, has been tested for, or diagnosed with COVID-19." Samples are collected about three times per week from seven sites in Durham -- five water pollution control plants and two sanitary sewer pumping stations. Durham Region Works Department collects the samples, which are then analyzed by Ontario Tech University to detect COVID viral fragments. Each sampling site is given a colour coded "signal strength" of high, medium or low and a 14-day trend that is characterized as increasing, stable or decreasing. The most recent data from March 25 shows a medium signal strength at six out of seven sites in Durham, while the Harmony collection site in Oshawa is listed as low. The 14-day trend is listed as "increasing" for the Liverpool collection site in Pickering, Corbett collection sit in Whitby and Courtice collection site in Clarington, while the 14- day trend for the other four sites is stable. New province-wide analysis from the COVID-19 Science Advisory Table shows the Ontario wastewater signal is increasing sharply. The science table's scientific director, Dr. Peter Jüni, estimates there are between 20,000 and 25,000 daily infections based on the wastewater signal. "We are now starting to see exponential growth again and what worries me is that it looks as if it will be relatively steep," said Jüni. "It's really important for people to take it slow and not get ahead of themselves with increasing their contacts, with going to crowded places and with dropping their masks." He added that the virus's doubling time detected in wastewater is once again less than seven days, last seen during the second half of December 2021. Experts say wastewater surveillance has become the most accurate method for determining daily cases since the province suspended widespread PCR testing. In past pandemic waves, wastewater signals served as an early warning that the virus was rising in a community. - With files from Torstar News Service COVID LEVELS IN WASTEWATER ARE INCREASING IN SEVERAL AREAS OF DURHAM JILLIAN FOLLERT jfoller t@durhamregion.com NEWS WASTEWATER SAMPLES ARE ANALYZED BY ONTARIO TECH UNIVERSITY TO DETECT COVID VIRAL FRAGMENTS University of Guelph engineering students Melissa Novacefski, left, and Jonathan Evans pump waste water from a sewer outside a student residence on campus in this file photo. The water collected will be divided into three samples and sent to separate labs to determine if COVID-19 RNA is present. Mathew McCarthy photo