Trevor Pritchard. (Supplied by RCMP)

By David Opinko

Trevor Pritchard designated dangerous offender with “indeterminate sentence”

Jan 14, 2021 | 12:39 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A man from Coaldale has been designated a dangerous offender.

Trevor Pritchard, 35, has been convicted four times of sex-related offenses against underaged girls including sexual assault, luring, and child pornography. Convictions occurred in 2004, 2009, 2010, and 2019.

In Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench Thursday, Justice Johnna Kubic gave her ruling.

The dangerous offender designation, under the Criminal Code of Canada, means that Pritchard constitutes a threat to the life, safety, or physical or mental well-being of others through a repetitive pattern of behaviors that is persistently-aggressive.

That label was given to him as part of his sentence in relation to an incident of sexual assault against a teenaged girl that took place in January 2017.

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The indeterminate sentence, however, does not necessarily mean that Pritchard will remain in custody for the rest of his life. It will be up to him to prove that he has taken the necessary steps to significantly reduce his risk of reoffending to the point where he no longer presents a risk to society.

While discussing an incident where Pritchard attempted to sexually engage with a woman who was also going through the same support program in jail, Justice Kubik incorrectly stated that she was underaged when she was in fact 19 years old. Pritchard spoke up saying that, “you’re lying” and left the room in Bowden Institution where he was listening to today’s proceedings.

A guard at the jail brought Pritchard back into the room but he asserted that “they’re just going to continue to lie about me.” The guard suggested that the court take a brief break because “he’s just having a bit of a mental episode.”

Justice Kubik took significant concern with the fact that, while Pritchard has spent a combined total of 11 years in prison and has taken part in many programs such as the high-intensity sex offender program, individual and group counselling, and being in a constant care setting in the past, he continued to show little-to-no personal progress and continued to offend.

Dr. David Tano, through two psychological assessments in August 2018 and June 2019, had found him to be a high risk to re-offend due to several aggravating factors including relationship instability, emotionally identifying with younger girls over adult women, general social isolation, impulsivity, poor problem-solving skills, negative emotionality (trying to blame, deny, or minimize problems), and a preoccupation with sex and using sex as a coping mechanism.

Back in December 2019, Dr. Tano told court that he believed Pritchard would essentially need an “external brain” to make all of his decisions for him with strict 24/7 supervision if released back into the public. Quest Support Services is the only local agency that might be able to accommodate this, but following a previous stay with them, Quest said that they would not be willing to take him back.

As part of the dangerous offender hearing, victim impact statements were received by the court from his five victims. They all describe serious, negative, long-term impacts on their physical and emotional well-being. The victims described taking part in self-harm, struggling to maintain relationships, and developing substance addiction, anxiety, and panic attacks.

Due to Pritchard’s behavior being “pathologically-intractable”, Justice Kubic believed that releasing him back into the public at this time or soon afterward would put more young girls at serious risks of harm.

While the defence had suggested a determinate sentence of eight-to-nine years in custody, the judge stated that this would not adequately protect the public.