More time needed to assess youth convicted of aggravated sexual assault

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During a brief appearance in Lethbridge Youth Court Wednesday, Sept. 26, defence lawyer Scott Hadford noted that more time was needed to complete the assessment, plus additional time to prepare a report. The matter was then adjourned to Oct. 31 for an update on the process.

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IRCS is reserved for youths suffering from a mental illness or disorder, psychological disorder or an emotional disturbance and who have been convicted of murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, or aggravated sexual assault.

The assessment will allow a team of experts to sit down with the young man, examine a number of areas of his life, and then prepare a treatment plan that will best prepare him to rejoin society. If the Executive Director of the Young Offender Branch, in consultation with the Provincial Forensic Psychiatry Program, finds that an IRCS program is available and appropriate, then it will go before the presiding judge to ultimately decide if it’s the right option for sentencing.

Conviction

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 at the conclusion of the trial in March. 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 stepfather. 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.