B.C. woman awarded $210,000 whose attacker claimed to suffer from ‘sexsomnia’

The B.C. Supreme Court has awarded a woman $210,000 in damages more than a decade after she was sexually assaulted by a man who claimed he suffered from “sexsomnia” as part of his defence.

The court ruling, released this week but handed down in May, says Karl Antonius was convicted in 2020 of sexual assault for having unprotected sex with a woman after she fell asleep in his bed in 2015.

It says Antonius was sentenced to two years less a day, and the woman was told later that he’d been let out on parole after serving just over seven months.

She sued Antonius in 2022, but the ruling says he never responded to the lawsuit and she won a default judgment against him in May 2024.

Justice Warren Milman has now awarded the woman $200,000 in non-pecuniary damages, and just over $10,000 for special damages and costs of future care.

Antonius claimed during his criminal trial that he’d had prior incidents involving parasomnia, or involuntary acts committed while asleep.

His defence lawyer in the criminal proceeding did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The civil ruling says the assault irreparably destroyed the victim’s trust in people and led her to become isolated, fearful, angry and depressed as she struggled with feelings of “self-blame and self-hatred.”

Antonius was a mining executive at the time he faced the charge, and Vancouver-based Boreal Metals Corp. announced he’d been terminated for cause as president of the company in November 2019.

The company said in a statement at the time that “Antonius failed to make timely and adequate disclosure to the company’s board of directors of his role in court proceedings in British Columbia that have been the subject of media reporting.”

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