Sex offender admits to registration violation
Chad Robert Randall, 50, of Fredericton, changed plea to guilty ahead of trial Wednesday
A Fredericton man placed on the sex-offender registry more than a decade ago admitted ahead of his scheduled trial Wednesday that he violated reporting requirements in early 2022.
Chad Robert Randall, 50, of Victoria Street, faced a charge of violating an order under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA) by failing to report in person to the registration centre between Jan. 19 and Feb. 19, 2022, to provide information on where he was residing.
He’d previously pleaded not guilty to that offence, and his trial was scheduled to take place Wednesday.
But Randall, accompanied by defence lawyer Edward Derrah, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Wednesday and changed his plea to guilty.
Derrah asked for a pre-sentence report on his client for consideration at sentencing.
Judge Natalie LeBlanc ordered that report be prepared and set over sentencing to April 18.
Randall was placed on the SOIRA order Aug. 23, 2011, when he was sentenced for sexual assault.
During his provincial-court trial on the sexual offence at the time, court heard that Randall was working as a cab driver when he picked up a fare - a young woman who’d been drinking at a house party.
Testimony showed the victim was grossly intoxicated, and it took two of her friends to bring her to the taxi.
The woman was so drunk that she couldn’t communicate clearly where she lived or wanted to go. Randall tried to find her apartment, but was unable to find her residence, so he took her to his home instead.
There, he had intercourse with her, something Randall admitted, though he contended it was consensual.
But a judge found the woman was clearly so intoxicated that there was no way she could have consented to the sexual encounter, and he convicted Randall as charged, sentencing him to jail time.
Even after his conviction, the offender professed his innocence.
Randall was also previously convicted of violating the SOIRA, earning an additional stint behind bars in March 2019.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
So intoxicated that she had to be carried to the cab, but was able to give consent