Voyeurism charge against former Rider stayed by Crown

The Crown has stayed a charge of voyeurism against former Saskatchewan Roughriders running back Jerome Messam.

The move was announced Wednesday in Regina Provincial Court, where the case involving the 38-year-old product of Brampton, Ont. was again on the docket.

“Mr. Messam’s matter was stayed (Wednesday) at my direction because the Crown did not have a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” senior Crown prosecutor Chris White said Wednesday afternoon. “In those cases where we don’t have one, we’re duty-bound to cease the prosecution, which we did.”

Asked why he thought a conviction wasn’t likely, White declined to give a reason or provide the details that led to the decision.

“It’s not confidential,” he said. “I’m just — I’m not comfortable sharing them.”

Messam was charged in August and had been making regular court appearances since then. White noted that the case was getting to a point where a trial date could have been set, but that ended with the stay.

“We didn’t get that far because the Crown determined there wasn’t a likelihood of conviction, so there wasn’t much point in setting it for trial,” White said.

The prosecutor noted that, in theory, a stay means the proceedings against Messam “can be recommenced” within a year if the Crown sees fit.

According to court documents from August, Messam was charged in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred Nov. 1, 2014 in Regina. He was playing for the Roughriders at the time.

The Criminal Code states that a voyeurism charge can be filed when someone “observes — including by mechanical or electronic means — or makes a visual recording of a person who is in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy … if the recording is done for a sexual purpose.”

Messam had made stops in the CFL with B.C., Edmonton and Montreal before he joined the Roughriders for the 2014 season. He spent that season and much of the 2015 campaign with Saskatchewan before being traded to Calgary in October of 2015.

After playing with the Stampeders through the 2017 season, Messam returned to Saskatchewan in 2018. But he was released in July of that year after being charged with voyeurism in connection with an incident that occurred in Calgary in November of 2016.

At the time, Calgary police confirmed to 980 CJME that the charge related to an allegation that a sexual encounter with an adult had been recorded without the victim’s knowledge. Police stressed that the video was never posted publicly.

After the charges were announced and after Saskatchewan cut Messam, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie told all of the league’s teams the CFL wouldn’t register a contract for Messam if any team tried to sign him. That ended Messam’s playing career.

He pleaded guilty to the charge in Calgary in December of 2021. In December of 2022, he was handed a suspended sentence and 18 months probation in Calgary’s Court of King’s Bench.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Daniel Reech