Former Alberta anesthesiologist exempted from sexual offender registry

Undated image of Dr. Barry Wollach

A former Alberta anesthesiologist who was convicted of sexual assault in 2016 will no longer be a registered sex offender, the court has ruled.

Barry Wollach, who practiced in Lethbridge and Calgary, but is now retired and living in Toronto, was convicted on Oct. 28, 2019, for sexually assaulting a woman he met on an online dating app in 2016.

He was sentenced to 30 months in jail, ordered to submit his DNA and told to have no contact with the victim or her family.

In addition, Wollach was also required to be listed as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA).

On June 3, he applied to the court for an exemption of the SOIRA order, which his counsel believed was inappropriate given his low risk to reoffend and imbalance between the order and its purpose.

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To do this, Asst. Chief Justice E.J. Tolppanen said Wollach’s counsel needed to prove there was no connection between the order and the purpose of law enforcement to prevent or investigate crimes of a sexual nature.

He also said they needed to prove “the obligation on him was grossly disproportionate to the public interest.”

In his reasons, provided on Nov. 25, Tolpannen agreed with Wollach’s counsel.

“Mr. Wollach has no other criminal record. Moreover, he complied with his release conditions prior to trial and sentencing,” he wrote.

Psychological and parole board reports found Wollach was at low risk of reoffending, even at the time the SOIRA order was imposed, Tolpannen said.

“At the time the SOIRA order was imposed Mr. Wollach was at the lowest designation for risk of recidivism in sex offenders,” he wrote.

“This finding is supported by more recent assessments which determined he has a very low risk for sexual recidivism relative to other sex offenders and was in the 10^th percentile of adult male offenders.”

Tolpannen also found the SOIRA order was “grossly disproportionate.”

“I make an exemption order pursuant to subsection 490.04(5) of the Criminal Code. Pursuant to subsection 490.04(8), I also order that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police permanently remove from the database all information that relates to Barry Alan Wollach.”