Oromocto man admits to touching underage girls
Daniel Leigh Hewitt, 36, pleaded guilty Thursday to meeting two underage girls in public places, molesting after connecting with them on Snapchat in 2011
An Oromocto man who’d been scheduled to stand trial last week on sex-crime charges involving two teenage girls opted to admit to several of the crimes Thursday.
The RCMP charged Daniel Leigh Hewitt, 36, of Watling Crescent, in April 2021 with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference, two counts of online luring and one count of using a computer to facilitate a sex crime, all alleging offences in January 2021.
Hewitt originally elected to be tried in the Court of King’s Bench without a jury on the indictable charges, and his trial had been scheduled for last week.Daniel
However, during a brief appearance in the Court of King’s Bench on May 24, he filed a notice of re-election, seeking to have his matters dealt with in provincial court.
Hewitt, with defence lawyer Ron Morris, was in Fredericton provincial court Thursday to answer to the outstanding charges.
The defendant pleaded guilty to four counts: the sexual-interference offences and the two instances of online luring.
Crown prosecutor Karen Lee said officers at the Oromocto detachment of the RCMP received a complaint Jan. 22, 2021, about a 15-year-old girl who’d been sexually assaulted at Anniversary Park in the model town, and shortly thereafter, the detachment received an almost identical report involving another victim.
The identities of the two underage victims are subject to a court-ordered publication ban.
Online chats led to real-life violations
The investigation revealed that the first victim, then 15, had been communicating with an adult male through Snapchat in the days before, Lee said, and the online chatting turned sexual.
“The discussion led to an exchange of intimate images,” the prosecutor said.
During the chats, court heard, the girl told the other party - later determined to be Hewitt - that she was in Grade 9.
“Mr. Hewitt was posing as a 20-year-old,” Lee said.
They arranged to meet at the park, she said, and did so at about 1 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2021.
The girl immediately realized Hewitt was much older than he’d indicated, court heard, but when they met, she hugged him.
Hewitt wouldn’t release the embrace, the prosecutor said, and he reached down, slid his hand into her underwear and “touched her vaginal area with his hand.”
He didn’t penetrate the girl with his fingers, court heard.
Hewitt left the scene soon thereafter, Lee said, but it was discovered he met another 15-year-old girl in a public parking lot just hours later at about 4 p.m.
Similarly, court heard, Hewitt had engaged with sexually charged discussion with that girl over Snapchat in the days before their meeting as well, and Hewitt again told her he was around 20 years old.
“He had her sit on his lap,” Lee said, noting he slid his hand up her shirt, touched her vaginal area and got her to touch his penis.
That same night, the prosecutor said, both girls discovered his Snapchat profile - under the handle Standy506 - had disappeared from the social-media platform.
Upon hearing those facts, Hewitt agreed that’s what happened, and Judge Scott Brittain accepted his guilty pleas.
The judge ordered a pre-sentence report as per the defence’s request, as well as victim-impact statements as sought by the Crown.
Constitutional issue on sentencing
The Criminal Code of Canada prescribes mandatory minimum jail terms for offences of sexual touching and luring, but in various court cases around the country, those mandatory minimums have been challenged as unconstitutional.
Morris pointed out a King’s Bench judge in New Brunswick has ruled the minimum sentence for sexual interference is unconstitutional, which is binding on the New Brunswick provincial court.
Furthermore, he said, there’s a pending case before the Supreme Court of Canada about the mandatory minimum sentencing provision for luring.
Morris said he’ll likely be filing such a challenge on behalf of his client on the luring offences, but if the Supreme Court rules on the issue before Hewitt is sentenced, it might be a moot point.
Brittain scheduled Hewitt’s sentencing hearing for Sept. 12.
Lee noted the two sexual-assault counts and the charge of using a computer to facilitate a sex crime would be withdrawn once sentencing is complete.
When Hewitt was initially charged in early 2021, the RCMP issued a news release, detailing some findings from its investigation in an effort to determine if there were other victims beyond the two girls of which officers were aware.
“Police have information that Daniel Leigh Hewitt used the display name ‘DL’ and the username ‘Standy506’ on Snapchat. Police believe he may have also used additional social media platforms to communicate with other individuals,” RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Hans Ouellette stated in the April 2021 release.
"Anyone who may have interacted with Daniel Leigh Hewitt on Snapchat, or on other social media platforms, is asked to contact police. We need to know if there are other possible victims so we can ensure a thorough investigation is conducted."
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
Parents really need to monitor what their kids are doing online. So many perverts out there.