The sentencing court addressed guilty pleas entered on a limited factual basis to sexual interference, sexual exploitation, and sexual assault involving a child complainant, followed by a Gardiner hearing on disputed facts.
Applying Part XXIII of the Criminal Code, including ss. 718.1 and 718.2, the court found prolonged abuse over five years, severe and lasting victim harm, a major breach of trust, and high moral blameworthiness, with minimal mitigation beyond the absence of a criminal record.
Guided by R v Friesen and comparator appellate and trial authorities, the court fixed a fit sentence at eleven years' imprisonment.
After Summers credit and additional credit for harsh pretrial detention conditions, the remaining custodial term was seven years, with concurrent sentences on the sexual interference and sexual exploitation counts, a conditional stay of the sexual assault count under the Kienapple principle, and ancillary DNA, SOIRA, weapons, s. 161, and no-contact orders.
