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
Hackers release corporate data stolen from London Drugs
Retailer London Drugs says cybercriminals who stole files from its corporate head office last month have released some of the data after it refused to pay a ransom.
Toronto man falls off his chair after seeing $70M Lotto Max win in his bank account
A Toronto man who won $70 million in a recent Lotto Max draw literally fell off his chair when he saw the funds in his bank account.
Montreal-area high school students protest 'sexist' dress code
Approximately 50 Montreal-area students — the vast majority of them female — were suspended Wednesday after their school deemed the shorts they were wearing were too short. On Thursday, several students staged a walk-out to protest what they believe is a "sexist" dress code that unfairly targets girls.
'Looking over our shoulders': A killing looms large in a little B.C. town
Something shifted in the pretty little village of Lumby, B.C., after Tatjana Stefanski vanished. It used to be the sort of place where parents let their kids roam free or play in the local creek, but everything has changed.
What is 'slapped cheek disease' and should parents be concerned?
Despite its rough name, experts say most cases of 'slapped cheek disease' are mild and not a cause for concern.
Unknown Newfoundland soldier from the First World War heads back home from France after 100 years
Canadian soldiers and government officials arrived in northeastern France this week for a historic mission: returning an unknown Newfoundland soldier back home.
'I won't stop,' Celine Dion says in trailer for upcoming doc about her health woes
Celine Dion's fans are getting a first glimpse of the superstar's struggle with a rare neurological disorder in an emotional trailer for an upcoming documentary about her career and life.
Rapper Sean Kingston's home raided by SWAT; mother arrested on fraud and theft charges
A SWAT team raided rapper Sean Kingston's rented South Florida mansion on Thursday and arrested his mother on fraud and theft charges that an attorney says stem partly from the installation of a massive TV at the home.
Tim Meadows pledges not to shave until the Oilers win the cup, who are the team's other famous fans?
An unlikely celebrity emerged from social media to cheer on the Edmonton Oilers as they face the Dallas Stars tonight in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.