Aggravated sexual assault sentencing delayed by assessment backlog

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A key issue in the case is whether the man will be sentenced as a youth or an adult, as he was days away from his 18th birthday when he brutally attacked a 45-year-old woman in May of 2015. The Crown noted that the reports will help them determine what kind of sentence they will be seeking.

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Outside the courtroom, defence lawyer Scott Hadford told the media that he was very concerned with the delay, as his client has already spent three-years in pre-trial custody to this point – which is also the maximum sentence allowed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act for aggravated sexual assault. An adult sentence however, can be up to life in prison.

Conviction

Following a trial that had to be heard in multiple stages over parts of three years, Judge Greg Maxwell found the man guilty of aggravated sexual assault, break and enter to commit sexual assault, threats to cause death, and unlawful confinement. He also found him not guilty of attempted murder.

Maxwell determined that sometime between 4 and 5 a.m. on May 3, 2015, the man entered a south side apartment in Lethbridge that was owned by the victim’s step-father. He found her sleeping on the couch and proceeded to sexually assault her. When the woman’s step-father woke up and confronted him, the youth dragged her outside at knife point, continued the sexual assault, then cut her throat and fled the scene.

While she survived the 14 cm cut to her throat, both the woman and her step-father died of unrelated causes prior to the trial.

They were however, able to provide statements to the Lethbridge Police Service in the hours after the attack, and the victim’s step-father identified the youth by name – it was a different first name but same last one – also providing a description of the man and his address. A search of the youth’s nearby home turned up a shirt that had the victim’s DNA on it.