Crown abandons appeal in sex-crime case
Elderly Southampton man was granted conditional sentence of house arrest after conviction for sexually abusing granddaughter over 10 years at his home
Warning: This report contains graphic details of sexual crimes against minors.
The Crown has ditched its effort to challenge a lenient sentence given to an elderly Southampton man for molesting his granddaughter over the course of a decade.
The 74-year-old man was convicted after trial earlier this year of touching an underage girl for a sexual purpose for over a decade.
There’s a court-ordered publication ban in place protecting the victim’s identity, and given the offender’s relationship to the girl, the Fredericton Independent isn’t naming him so as to comply with the order.
During the Court of King’s Bench trial, evidence showed the offender started molesting the child when she’d stay over at his home, beginning in April 2006 when she was four years and continuing until she was 14.
While the Crown sought a prison term of six years, Justice Thomas Christie accepted the defence’s recommendation for a conditional sentence of two years, to be served in the community under house arrest.
The judge cited the elderly offender’s poor health as the reason for the leniency.
But prosecutors with the provincial Office of the Attorney General filed a notice of appeal of the sentence with the New Brunswick Court of Appeal in early August.
The main grounds for the appeal was that the sentence was insufficient and wasn’t in line with other sentences imposed in similar cases.
“The trial judge imposed a sentence that is demonstrably unfit and clearly unreasonable and one which fundamentally disregards the parity principle, as well as the sentence guidance set out by the Supreme Court of Canada,” the Aug. 3 notice of appeal said.
However, the Fredericton Independent has learned that the Crown’s office has changed its mind on the appeal.
It filed an abandonment notice with the Court of Appeal on Sept. 7, bringing the case to a close. No reason was cited for the change of course.
Evidence at the offender’s trial showed the victim would frequently stay with her grandfather because her home life was unstable and volatile.
The girl testified her grandfather would enter her room, lie down in bed with her and touch her breasts. She also said there were occasions when she’d wake up to find his penis in her mouth.
During the sentencing hearing, the victim said her family has been torn apart by the revelation of the abuse and she’s no longer able to connect with other people.
“You made it so I cannot even trust a single person in my life,” she said last month. “I had 10 years stolen from me.”
On top of the two-year term of house arrest, Christie imposed probation for three years.
The judge also barred the offender from attending public places where kids can be expected to be present, such as parks, pools and community centres, for the rest of his life, and he’s to have no unsupervised contact with minors under the age of 16.
He’s also prohibited from possessing firearms and other weapons for 10 years and must comply with a sex-offender registration order for 20 years.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.