Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to house arrest, for attempting to have sex with his much younger “girlfriend.”
Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta called the case “vile” and “completely unacceptable.”
“You used a child for your own sexual gratification,” Hewitt-Michta said. “There was nothing romantic about this. You sexually abused a child and that’s what this case is about.”
The man, who can’t be named because it may identify the young victim, pleaded guilty in May to two counts of attempted sexual assault for two separate incidents with the same girl.
In each case there was physical contact of a sexual nature, but the Crown couldn’t prove sexual intercourse. As a result, the man pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted sexual assault.
The girl was 12 years old in December 2010 when she and the 19-year-old offender had started to “date.”
The first incident happened in July or August of 2011 when the offender and the girl, then 13 years old, tried to have intercourse at the girl’s home.
The girl’s mom had allowed the man to move into the home so she could keep a close eye on the couple, but the offender and girl made an attempt at intercourse while she was at the grocery store. The incident was discovered and reported to police, but on Jan. 20, patrolling Mounties found the man and girl in the back seat of a parked truck engaged in “vertical movement.”
The man was under an order at the time that forbade him from having contact with the girl. He has since pleaded guilty to that breach of his release order and spent 44 days in custody.
Hewitt-Michta said there were a lot of factors that led to her decision to impose a conditional sentence of two years less a day.
She looked at many other cases across the country similar to this one and considered the fact that the accused had no prior criminal record.
This isn’t a case where the offender was trying to force sex, but at 13 years old, the girl is too young to legally consent to sex.
She would have had to have been at least 16 years old.
“I’m very concerned there is still a widespread lack of recognition of the seriousness of this kind of sexual assault,” she said.
The offender appeared to be remorseful in court on Thursday and at times was visibly upset.
The victim’s mother had previously expressed that she didn’t want the accused to receive a jail sentence.
Risk assessments by probation and by a registered psychologist both put him at a low risk to reoffend. The judge said is also responding positively to counselling.
“Unlike a real jail sentence where there is early release, (the offender) will spend the entire two years under strict conditions,” she said.
“For the next two years (the offender) will be under house arrest, while his 20-year-old friends will be attending parties, dating and maybe travelling. He’ll be stuck at home leaving only to work, meet with his sentence supervisor and attend counselling and medical appointments.”
Hewitt-Michta went on to say he will be subject to phone calls and door checks at all hours of the day and night.
“Rather than sleeping and watching TV in jail, he will work,” she said.
“Some of his earnings will go to fund services and organizations in the community relevant to the harm his actions caused or risked causing.”
If he breaches his conditional sentence order, Hewitt-Michta said he’ll be back in front of her, and will “most likely have his conditional sentence order terminated” and serve the rest of his sentence in jail.
The man’s name will also appear on the national sex offender registry for 10 years.
» jaustin@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition August 10, 2012
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A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to house arrest, for attempting to have sex with his much younger “girlfriend.”
Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta called the case “vile” and “completely unacceptable.”
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A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to house arrest, for attempting to have sex with his much younger “girlfriend.”
Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta called the case “vile” and “completely unacceptable.”
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