Nova Scotia's top court has upheld the sexual assault conviction of a Bridgewater man who claimed he thought he could put his common-law wife in a better mood by having sex with her.

Shannon Graham testified at trial that Jared Peter Beck-Wentzell returned home from work early one morning in 2014 and indicated he wanted to have sex. She repeatedly told him no from "the beginning right 'till the end."

Graham asked the court to lift the publication ban on her name.

Beck-Wentzell was found guilty and subsequently sentenced to 2½ years in prison. He appealed his conviction, arguing the trial judge had failed to consider the defence of honest but mistaken belief in consent.

Vague, contradictory testimony

In a ruling released Monday, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found the original judge did not make an error in the case and called Beck-Wentzell's testimony "vague and contradictory."

"The appellant's subjective hope that having sex with Ms. Graham would put her in a better mood has nothing to do with her actual consent, or his reasonable belief that she was consenting," Justice Cindy Bourgeois wrote for the three-member appeal panel.

​The appeal court said Beck-Wentzell never testified he believed Graham was consenting to the sex. The court also noted text messages the man sent to Graham, including "Do you think that's what I meant to do was rape you?" and "I was trying to get you in a better mood. By the time a realized what I had done it was already done. Baby, I'm sorry."

"In my view, the central issue for the trial judge to determine was not the type of sexual activity which was occurring, but whether it continued once Ms. Graham expressed her unwillingness to participate," Bourgeois wrote.

"She testified it continued. The appellant testified that it stopped immediately. That was the essential issue which necessitated an assessment of credibility."

Victim regretted going to police

In August 2016, while Beck-Wentzell was out of prison pending appeal, Graham said she regretted going to police and described her two-year journey through the court process as a punishing ordeal that left her feeling "like a piece of evidence" and less than "an actual human being."

- Bridgewater woman regrets reporting sexual assault after assailant released

​"​I got what most people hope to get — I got the conviction," she told The Canadian Press at the time. "And yet, he's out free. I sit there and I go, 'What was any of this for?"'

Graham said she had no voice or advocate during the trial. And she said she felt muzzled by the publication ban because it prevented her from responding to what she called "trash talk" in her small community.

Experts have said Graham's experience is far from unique. While advocates urge victims of sexual violence to bring their complaints to the authorities, they acknowledge that the grind of the criminal justice system can dredge up past traumas, and even create new ones, with no guarantee of a favourable outcome.