B.C. man sentenced for raping unconscious girlfriend who ‘clearly’ needed urgent medical help

The Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on November 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Warning: This story contains disturbing details.

A B.C. man who found his girlfriend unconscious and proceeded to rape her over the course of several hours – never calling 911 for help, even as she gasped for air – has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The victim suffered a brain injury that night due to lack of oxygen, which left her “severely neurologically compromised” and non-verbal, according to B.C. Supreme Court Justice Andrew Mayer’s sentencing decision.

Her then-boyfriend, Constantin Vlachias, a 58-year-old Burnaby resident, was found guilty of both sexual assault and failure to provide the necessaries of life in December.

The evidence shows Vlachias’s victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was “clearly in need of urgent medical attention” as he assaulted her, Mayer said in his April 3 decision, which was recently published online.

Interior surveillance cameras showed she never moved or spoke during the attack, and sometimes exhibited abnormal breathing, moaning or wheezing.

“What happened to her, beyond being criminal, was horrific,” the judge said, while addressing Vlachias in court.

“Regardless of the degree of her awareness of what was going on at the relevant time, the community is outraged by your actions. They were shocking. They were disturbing. They were so disrespectful of a young, lovely woman’s personal integrity.”

The decision does not specify the victim’s age.

Stolen away in the night

The court heard Vlachias went to his girlfriend’s basement suite bedroom in the early morning hours of Sept. 20, 2021, after she didn’t reply to his texts or calls.

Upon finding her unconscious, he proceeded to carry her, nude, to his vehicle.

Vlachias then drove her across Burnaby to his home, where he assaulted her in various ways that were partially captured on the property’s interior cameras.

“On numerous occasions, Mr. Vlachias told (her) to be quiet or ‘shut up,’ seemingly because he was annoyed by the loud volume of her unconscious moans,” Mayer said. “At one point, Mr. Vlachias placed duct tape over (her) mouth in an effort to quiet her.”

The girlfriend’s landlord, who saw her being taken from the home, called 911, and police eventually went looking at Vlachias’s home. The responding officers found her gasping for breath.

She was admitted to the ICU that morning, and was later found to have suffered a global hypoxic brain injury. As of December 2024, more than three years after the assault, she remained “in need of long-term facilities for support and all activities of daily living,” Mayer said.

“I make no finding of responsibility on the part of Mr. Vlachias for (her) current medical condition,” the judge noted. “His culpability in respect of her medical status arises from his failure to seek medical attention for her.”

The criminal charge of failing to provide the necessaries of life applies to parents, spouses and anyone who has someone “under their charge” – which was indisputably the case with Vlachias and his unconscious girlfriend, according to the decision.

Assailant says he doesn’t remember

Vlachias denied that he sexually assaulted the victim, while also claiming he had blacked out drunk after bringing her home and couldn’t remember anything that happened after they arrived.

He said he’d been a problem drinker since 2009, after the collapse of his second marriage, estimating that he would drink approximately 250 millilitres of hard alcohol – roughly 8.5 ounces – three or four times per week, and on some occasions more than that.

A psychological assessment found Vlachias coped with the aftermath of his offences “poorly,” by “externalizing blame” and “relying on consumption of alcohol as an explanation for his behaviour.”

The author of the assessment suggested Vlachias’ lack of personal responsibility or empathy for the victim meant his risk of re-offending would be “moderate to high, depending on his use of alcohol,” Mayer said.

Before receiving his sentence, Vlachias stood and told the judge he was “probably more shocked and upset than anyone else in this courtroom with what I saw on the video.”

“I’m very, very sorry for any pain that I’ve caused,” he said. “I never believed that alcohol could cause so much damage to a life and the lives around it all these years.”

He told the court he has been sober since September 2022, one year after his crimes.

Vlachias was given 123 days’ credit for time served, leaving him with 1,702 additional days to serve behind bars.

Mayer also ordered that Vlachias provide a DNA sample, register as a sex offender for 20 years, and avoid direct or indirect contact with his victim for the duration of his sentence.

“You have referred to the impact that alcohol had on you, sir. That may well be the case,” Mayer said. “You will spend a significant period of time in jail. I hope, Mr. Vlachias, that you will continue on the path of abstinence to avoid this issue in the future.”