Sex offender accused of skipping registration
Richard Graham Anderson, 59, of Fredericton, sentenced last fall for sexually assaulting woman in motel hot tub, now faces charge of not reporting to authorities a week later
A homeless man who sexually assaulted a woman in a motel hot tub in 2021 after sneaking into the establishment now faces a charge of failing to obey a sex-offender registration order.
Richard Graham Anderson, 59, of no fixed address, stood trial last year on a June 11, 2021, charge of summary sexual assault.
He was convicted after trial, and as part of his sentence last November, Fredericton provincial court Judge Natalie LeBlanc imposed an order under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA) requiring him to register annually, providing a centre with up-to-date information on where he was residing and other personal details.
Anderson was back in provincial court Friday, charged with failing to comply with that SOIRA order. Specifically, the charge alleges that on Dec. 8, he failed to report in person at the registration centre about his place of residence within seven days of the order being issued.
Friday marked his first appearance on the allegation, and he tried to explain what happened.
“I went to the cop shop and nobody knew what’s going on,” he told Judge Cameron Gunn.
“They told me to come back next year.”
The judge said Anderson needed first to learn more about the case against him and get legal advice.
Gunn set the matter over to Sept. 29 for plea to give Anderson a chance to request disclosure of the Crown file and to apply for legal aid.
Anderson was sentenced to probation and the SOIRA obligations.
The sexual assault giving rise to that sentence occurred June 11, 2021, at the Days Inn on Prospect Street.
Court heard that the victim was a young woman who was in the motel’s hot tub with friends at that time.
Her identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
Anderson, who wasn’t staying at the motel, had managed to sneak into the pool area and stripped down to his underwear in a changing room.
He got into the hot tub with the woman, evidence at trial showed, and he submerged himself. That’s when he touched the victim between her legs and thighs.
Anderson came back up above the water line closer to the woman, court heard, and the victim and her friends immediately left the tub and called police.
The offender was arrested at the scene.
Anderson claimed at trial he hadn’t touched the woman, but he also testified she and her friends had invited him into the hot tub and beckoned him closer.
LeBlanc rejected that evidence as nonsensical, noting the victim’s friends corroborated her version of events.
The judge also noted the sexual intent behind Anderson’s actions was clear, as there was no other explanation for what he did.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.