B.C. mother who sexually assaulted 15-year-old boy wins reduced sentence on appeal
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has reduced the prison sentence of a Greater Victoria mother who was found guilty of luring and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
The woman, who is identified in court documents only as "Ms. P.," was sentenced in Colwood last September to five and a half years in prison for two counts of sexual assault and one count of internet luring.
Ms. P. appealed the sentence and won a variance on Monday from B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Saunders, who reduced her prison term to three years.
The crimes stemmed from an incident in April 2020, when a 25-year-old Ms. P and her friend encountered a group of boys from their neighbourhood who asked the women to provide them with alcohol in exchange for some cannabis.
The women agreed and bought alcohol for the boys, who then joined the women for a party. During the party, Ms. P. had sex with one of the boys in her bedroom.
A few days later, Ms. P. sent a text message to the 15-year-old boy, inviting him back to her house for a "hot make-out sesh."
The boy accepted the invite and went back to her house where the two again had sex, leading to the second count of sexual assault and the charge of internet luring.
The experience left the boy with diminished self-esteem and persistent difficulty finding happiness in the things he used to enjoy, he told the trial judge in a victim impact statement.
"After this happened, I stopped caring about life, and I don’t really try anymore," the victim said.
"I don’t care what foot goes forward – before I cared about school and my grades, lacrosse, but this changed my outlook on that. I started overthinking everything… I just sit by myself and think about stupid stuff that I can’t control and I feel stuck in those thoughts."
Provincial court judge Ted Gouge cited the boy's continued emotional and physical suffering as factors in his sentencing decision. He also wrote that imposing a lesser sentence on Ms. P. because she is a woman "would infringe the rights of male offenders."
"It is necessary to reject the stereotype that teenage boys are less vulnerable to the sequelae of sexual assault than are teenage girls," he wrote.
The trial judge sentenced Ms. P. to two years for each count of sexual assault, and a further 18 months for luring, all to be served consecutively, for a total sentence of five and a half years.
SENTENCE WAS 'DEMONSTRABLY UNFIT'
Ms. P. testified at trial that she asked the victim three times to confirm that he was 18 years old. She admitted under cross-examination that she was "a little skeptical" of his affirmation that he wasn't a minor.
"The trial judge found that she had been conscious of the risk that he might be under age 16; that it was this awareness on her part that had led her to ask him three times to state his age; and that her proceeding to have intercourse with him despite her skepticism was reckless, depriving her of the right to rely on the defence of mistake of age," the B.C. Supreme Court judge wrote in his decision to reduce the sentence.
The higher court found the trial judge "made several material errors in principle, and pronounced a total sentence that is demonstrably unfit."
Chief among the errors Saunders found was the lower court judge’s failure to apply the "totality principle," whereby when "consecutive sentences are imposed, the combined sentence should not be unduly long or harsh."
"The trial judge, from his reading of the pre-sentence report and a letter of reference from her employer, expressed his own concern that the appellant did not appear to understand that she as the adult had been the one responsible for preventing sexual activity," the judge wrote.
"A full accounting of the appellant’s moral culpability also ought to have recognized that though the offences were separate, they were all rooted in the appellant’s initial reckless failure to ascertain her victim’s true age," Saunders added.
"Further, consideration of her moral culpability on the luring charge ought to have recognized that though a telecommunications device had been used to intrude on the victim’s sphere of privacy, exposing him to sexual exploitation, this was not a case of electronic media being used to 'groom' a potential victim, and the degree of intrusion through text messaging was on the low end of the scale."
Ms. P., who is the primary caregiver to her young son, and who has no prior criminal history, was resentenced to two years for the first count of sexual assault and one year for the second count, to be served consecutively. She was also handed a concurrent sentence of one year for child luring.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From AI running wild to collapsing ecosystems, government report outlines future disruptions
From collapsing ecosystems to artificial intelligence running wild, a new Canadian government report outlines 35 disruptions that could rattle the country in the coming years.
B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
opinion Tom Mulcair: With Trudeau spiralling, Mark Carney waits in the wings
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
Air turbulence: When can it become dangerous?
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
Toronto Blue Jays fan struck by 110 m.p.h foul ball offered tickets, signed baseball by team
The Toronto Blue Jays have offered tickets and a signed baseball to a fan who says she was struck in the face by a 110 m.p.h (177 km/h) foul ball at Friday’s game.
OPP continues to investigate boat collision north of Kingston, Ont. that left 3 people dead
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
Matthew Perry's death is being investigated over ketamine level found in actor's blood, reports say
An investigation has been opened into the death of Matthew Perry and how the “Friends” actor received the anesthetic ketamine, which was ruled a contributing factor in his death.
Police in Ontario say suspects charged in armed home invasion near Toronto part of 'larger criminal network'
Police in Ontario say a group of suspects charged in an armed home invasion north of Toronto last year were driving a vehicle stolen in a carjacking in Calgary just one month earlier.
Orphan orca's extended family spotted off northeast side of Vancouver Island
Members of a killer whale pod related to an orphan orca calf that escaped a remote British Columbia tidal lagoon last month have been spotted off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.