Warning: Disturbing content A B.C. man found to have groomed and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl over the course of several months has been sentenced to six years in prison, with a judge condemning his actions as “vile, evil and reprehensible.” Jake Alexander McKenna’s sentence was handed down in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, where a jury found the 34-year-old guilty of sexual interference and sexual assault last year. The victim told the court she has experienced social anxiety, substance use issues, an eating disorder and insomnia as a result of the abuse, and that her performance in high school suffered as well. “McKenna made repeated and conscious choices to sexually victimize his minor victim to satisfy his sexual deviant desires,” Justice Tina Dion wrote in her sentencing decision. “She continues to bear significant impacts because of it, as she undoubtedly will well into the future.” The Crown had asked for a seven-year prison term, while the defence argued for a conditional sentence of just under two years to be served in the community. Offender offered to help family The court heard McKenna was 29 when he met the victim in June 2021, during a birthday party at the girl’s family home in Surrey. The victim’s mother testified that McKenna made an offer to help care for her younger sons, one of whom was autistic, which led to him regularly staying over. McKenna then began watching horror movies with the 14-year-old on their couch, where his behaviour escalated over the course of multiple nights from commenting about her body to touching her sexually, according to the decision. This escalation led to McKenna having sex with the girl on White Rock Beach that July, the court heard, after which he asked her to be in a “secret” relationship with him. The victim said they had sex more than 30 times before breaking up that December. Some of the sexual offending happened “over her clear objections,” Dion found, while also noting she was “incapable of consenting” under the law anyhow due to her age. The judge also found McKenna had provided the teenager with alcohol, made her download an encrypted messaging app to text him with, threatened her, and even suggested they die in a double-suicide. Man blamed teenager McKenna denied the offences throughout trial. According to a pre-sentencing report, he admitted only to “making a poor decision and entering into a relationship with the victim,” which the court heard he later retracted. In a separate psychological assessment, McKenna alleged it was the teenager who had “sexual intentions towards him, making him sleep in her bed, or making innuendos.” He was assessed as posing an average risk for sexual reoffending. Dion found there were few mitigating factors in the case, apart from the fact that McKenna had no prior criminal convictions. While McKenna’s parents divorced when he was 16, he grew up in what the judge described as a “happy, positive, stable home environment free of any abuse” in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. Both parents supported him at trial, as did one sister. The court heard McKenna is estranged from his other two sisters. The aggravating factors were numerous, including the victim’s age, vulnerability, the length of the offending, McKenna’s manipulation and threats, his attempts to conceal his behaviour, and the particulars of the abuse. “The offender had many different types of sexual contact with his victim, all of which were all profound violations of her bodily integrity,” Dion found. “In all the circumstances, I find that a sentence of six-years’ incarceration to be a fit and necessary penalty.” For 10 years after his release, McKenna will also be banned from coming with two kilometres of the victim’s home, working or volunteering anywhere that would put him in a position of trust or authority over minors, and from having any contact with anyone under the age of 16, with limited exceptions. He will also be placed on the sex offender registry for 20 years. If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
