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Businessman sentenced for assault on teen who worked for him

Dartmouth businessman's new trial on sex assault charges delayed by a year

A Halifax-area businessman convicted of assaulting a teenage girl who worked for him has been sentenced to 20 months in jail followed by three years of probation.

Michael Raymond Kobylanski was found guilty in March following a trial, however a jury was deadlocked on several of the more serious charges he faced, including sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon.

The 41-year-old was sentenced for assault Friday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, but has already served the jail portion because he was given credit for time spent in custody since his 2015 arrest.

He isn't getting out of jail anytime soon, however, as he remains in custody pending retrial on the outstanding charges in November.

Teen said she was sexually assaulted

Kobylanski lives in Halifax, but operated a business in Dartmouth, which is where the complainant worked. She testified in March that she agreed to be paid $50 a week in exchange for 25 hours of work and having sex with Kobylanski.

The alleged offences happened in 2014 and 2015. She was 17 at the time. CBC News is not identifying the business out of concern it may identify the complainant.

She testified the relationship with Kobylanski turned violent and he wrapped her in a vapour barrier, tied a belt around her neck, sexually assaulted her with a hammer and threatened to kill her.

Kobylanski denied that sexual favours were part of the job's requirements and denied he assaulted the girl.

Violent record

A Halifax jury convicted him of assault, acquitted him of a charge of choking, but could not reach a verdict on the four other charges related to the teen.

On Friday, his lawyer calculated that Kobylanski has been in custody for 666 days. Justice Felix Cacchione gave him a 1½ credit for that jail time, for a total of 1,000 days.

Kobylanski was convicted of a violent sexual assault against another teenage girl in Ontario in 1995. He served almost all of his 12-year sentence on that charge.