Minto-area man jailed for sex crimes
Kevin James Snowsell, 37, of Newcastle Creek, was sentenced Friday to nine months behind bars for touching two underage girls sexually between 2015 and 2020
After Crown and defence counsel submitted case law to support their positions, a judge accepted their recommendations and sentenced a Newcastle Creek man to nine months in jail Friday.
Kevin James Snowsell, 37, of Harbour Street in Newcastle Creek, near Minto, previously pleaded guilty to two summary counts of sexual interference.
During a sentencing hearing Monday, court heard he’d touched and rubbed the vaginal areas of two girls, whose identities are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
During that hearing, court heard Snowsell had frequent contact with both children.
He touched one of the girls on several occasions between May 1, 2017 and Aug. 31, 2018, on several occasions, beginning when she was 10 or 11 years old.
Snowsell perpetrated similar instances of sexual touching on another girl between Sept. 1, 2015 and April 30, 2020, touching and rubbing her genital area several times and once touching her breast during the relevant period.
The Crown and defence offered a joint recommendation on sentence of three months in jail for the latter offence. For the one between 2017 and 2018, prosecutor Patricia Gillett recommended a consecutive term of five to six months, while defence lawyer Edward Derrah said five months would suffice.
But provincial court Judge Scott Brittain expressed concerns the recommendations were too lenient, noting the Supreme Court of Canada had directed judges to impose stiffer penalties for sex offenders who victimize children.
He adjourned the sentencing hearing to Friday to give counsel the opportunity to research case law and submit precedents justifying their positions.
Snowsell and the lawyers back before Brittain on Friday, and Gillett, fellow prosecutor Rodney Jordan and Derrah had all submitted cases that were in line with their recommendations.
Jordan and Gillett acknowledged the recommended sentences were on the lower end of the spectrum
However, they argued that given the lesser degree of Snowsell’s crimes, his lack of a prior criminal history and the cases they submitted that showed lesser sentences in more serious circumstances, what they presented to the court on sentencing was within the established range.
‘That’s a real sentence’
Derrah noted more serious sex offences against minors had led to conditional sentences to be served in the community, rejecting mandatory minimum jail terms as set out in the Criminal Code.
“A sentence of eight or nine months for a man who’s never been in custody before, that’s a real sentence,” he told Brittain.
Case law dictates that judges should accept jointly recommended sentences if they fall within established parameters for sentences in similar cases, and if they won’t bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
The judge noted the submitted precedents were helpful and provided him with the guidance he was seeking, given the lighter jail terms being suggested to the court.
Brittain said he needed to balance the aggravating circumstances of the case - such as the age of the victims, and the abuse of a position of trust - with the mitigating factors.
“We’re dealing here obviously with experienced counsel,” the judge said, adding the court isn’t privy to all of the elements that go into the Crown and defence thinking and negotiations on sentencing.
As such, he accepted the recommendations, imposing consecutive jail terms of three and six months, for a total stint of nine months. Deputy sheriffs took him into custody in the courtroom Friday.
Brittain also placed Snowsell on probation for 18 months, during which he’s to have no contact with the victims and to participate in any treatment and/or counselling programs as directed by his probation officer.
He also ordered Snowsell to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in a criminal database and to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
9 months? Insanity. Why even bother. With credit for time served he will be out in 5 months.