2 total
Charter Case allowed
The offender was convicted after trial of sexual assault, sexual interference, and invitation to sexual touching of a child victim between February 2009 and August 2010, when the victim was 8 to 9 years old.
The offender, a trusted family friend, engaged in invasive and repetitive sexual abuse of the victim in her home, using manipulation, grooming, coercion, and threats to maintain silence.
The court imposed a sentence of 6 years imprisonment concurrent on both counts, with credit for 37 days of pre-trial custody, a section 743.21 non-contact order during incarceration, a 10-year section 161 order with specific prohibitions, a 10-year common law peace bond with strict conditions, a lifetime SOIRA order, DNA orders, and victim fine surcharges.
The court rejected the defence argument for a lower sentence range and emphasized the paramount principles of denunciation and deterrence in child sexual abuse cases.
Application to redact victim impact statements dismissed; statements admitted in full with irrelevant portions to be disregarded.
The accused was convicted of sexual offences.
Prior to sentencing, the defence brought an application to exclude or redact portions of the victim impact statements sought to be introduced by the Crown, arguing they contained irrelevant and inflammatory information.
The court declined to order the statements redacted or rewritten, finding that doing so would be insensitive and unnecessary.
Instead, relying on s. 722(8) of the Criminal Code, the court admitted the statements in their entirety but explicitly directed that it would disregard any inadmissible or irrelevant portions, such as facts not in evidence, requests for specific sanctions, and criticisms of the offender.
