‘She would wake up to the accused being inside her’
Jhaquam Isiah Stapledon, 22, of Holtville, sexually assaulted and beat up an underage girl repeatedly over the course of four months in 2020
Warning: This article includes graphic descriptions of abuse and sexual assault.
A Holtville man who hit and bit a teenage girl, slammed her against walls and floors, and had sex with her while she slept is bound for prison for a three-year stint.
Jhaquam Isiah Stapledon, 22, of Holtville Road in Holtville, about 75 kilometres north of Fredericton, appeared in custody at the Burton Courthouse on Wednesday for his sentencing hearing in the Court of King’s Bench.
He was originally scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 1, but he was a no-show in court on that date. He was arrested on an outstanding warrant in February and held in custody since that time.
Stapledon had elected originally to be tried by a King’s Bench judge and jury on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl between March 1 and June 30, 2020, and assaulting her during that period as well.
The victim’s identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
On May 1, 2022, the day his jury trial was to begin, Stapledon re-elected to trial by King’s Bench judge alone and pleaded guilty to the two counts.
After Stapledon didn’t appear for his original sentencing hearing last fall, defence lawyer Gordon Shepard successfully sought to be removed as counsel of record on the case, but not before he’d filed a brief with the court on sentencing.
When Stapledon pleaded guilty last spring, prosecutor Darlene Blunston detailed the facts of the case, to which the defendant agreed.
She told the court at that time the victim that during the relevant period of time, she was initially 15 years old and turned 16 while she was with Stapledon.
‘A continuous assault’
The victim told police “that during that relevant period of time, the accused bit her, he hit her, he pushed her, he slammed her against the wall and the floor, and also would shove his fingers down her throat to keep her from calling for help on more than one occasion,” the prosecutor said.
It was described as a toxic relationship.
Blunston said the catalysts for the assaults ranged from Stapledon’s annoyance when the girl didn’t want to go for food with him or didn’t like what he discovered on her smartphone.
Referring to the latter, the prosecutor said, “This is the occasion where he bit her ear and then took the phone, hiding it from her, so she could not call for help.”
She noted the offender also once headbutted the victim when she complained he’d been playing video games for too long.
“It’s almost as though it was just a continuous assault,” Blunston said Wednesday.
Court also heard that the victim reported that on several occasions, Stapledon sexually assaulted her while she slept.
“She would wake up to the accused being inside her,” the prosecutor said.
“She felt powerless to stop it because of the ongoing assaults and violence. So most times, she just didn’t say anything.”
Blunston said the fact that it was “full, unprotected, penile penetration” was an aggravating factor for the court to consider.
She asked the court to impose two to three years in prison for the sexual assaults, and a consecutive term of one to two years for the assaults.
Blunston argued the sentences should be consecutive because the assaults and sex crimes were distinct offences, not perpetrated at the same time.
Among the other aggravating factors in the case were that the crimes represented intimate-partner violence, that Stapledon victimized a minor, the frequency of the attacks, and the profound emotional and psychological trauma to the victim that’s expected to be long-lasting, she said.
‘A power imbalance’
“The age and vulnerability of the victim in this matter is a particularly aggravating factor,” the prosecutor said.
“There was clearly a power imbalance involved in this particular relationship.”
Blunston said while Stapledon pleaded guilty, that shouldn’t hold a lot of weight as a mitigating factor, given the lateness of those pleas. She noted the jury pool had gathered for selection when he decided to admit to the crimes.
In his sentencing brief, Shepard had recommended a one-year prison term, emphasizing the guilty pleas, Stapledon’s lack of a prior criminal record and his youthfulness.
The defence also asked the court to impose concurrent one-year terms for the assaults and sexual assaults, arguing they happened over the same timeframe.
Stapledon told court Wednesday he struggled with drug and alcohol addiction at the time. He said his time on remand has helped him, and he’s upset with himself for letting down the people in his life.
“I want to say I’m sorry… for filling up your time with all this crap,” he said, standing in the courtroom prisoner’s dock while clad in jail-issue orange sweats.
“I wish I was different back then … I’m very sorry to the victim.”
Justice Terrence Morrison said the trauma outlined in the victim-impact statement was a significant factor for the court to consider, noting the damage Stapledon did to the teenage girl is something that will haunt her for a long time to come.
“She is no longer the bright and happy girl she once was,” he said, noting the other aggravating and mitigating factors detailed by the Crown and defence had to be addressed as well.
Among them, the judge said, was what Stapledon said in court Wednesday.
“I believe that he was sincere in that expression of remorse,” Morrison said.
He imposed consecutive prison terms of two years and one year for the sexual assaults and assaults, totalling three years. However, he noted that the sentence will be reduced to account for the customary remand credit for the time Stapledon spent in custody since his arrest in February.
The judge also ordered Stapledon to register as a sex offender for 20 years following his release from prison, to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in a criminal database and to refrain from possessing firearms and other weapons for 10 years.
Plea challenge abandoned
Stapledon appeared at the Burton Courthouse in custody March 15 for his rescheduled sentencing hearing, but it didn’t go ahead because he raised a new issue.
He claimed he was drunk and high on cocaine when he pleaded guilty last year and didn’t know what he was doing when he agreed to the facts outlined by the Crown.
At that time, Morrison said a hearing would have to be held to determine if Stapledon would be allowed to withdraw his guilty pleas, but he noted the defendant would first have to file a formal application with the court to do so.
The case was back before Morrison last month, but it got adjourned again because Stapledon still hadn’t filed the application. Morrison adjourned the matter yet again, but told the accused at that time that if he hadn’t filed the application, the sentencing hearing would proceed.
When the case returned to court Wednesday, that’s exactly what happened, as the offender still hadn’t filed any paperwork with the court to challenge his guilty pleas.
Stapledon told the judge Wednesday he wasn’t able to secure new defence counsel through the Legal Aid Services Commission of New Brunswick.
“I couldn’t get anything. They said they don’t do this level of court,” he said.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
3 whole years for this animal. He will be out in half of that. Your liberal "justice" system at work.
He blamed everything else but himself wow And to call his abuse on someone crap is something that makes me believe he isn't remorseful -- He said “I want to say I’m sorry… for filling up your time with all this crap,” He beat and raped a young person and then says this -- No I don't believe him. good thing for him I wasn't the judge