By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Crown requests special assessment for youth convicted of aggravated sexual assault

Aug 1, 2018 | 2:39 PM

LETHBRIDGE – The results of a psychological assessment for a 21-year-old man who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault earlier this year, have prompted the court to order an additional assessment for the young man to help determine if he should be sentenced as an adult or youth.

The individual – who cannot be named as he was 17 at the time of the offence – was found guilty on March 21 following a trial that was broken up in stages over parts of three years (more on that below).

With Crown prosecutor Lisa Weich stating that they intended to seek an adult sentence for the offender, the psychological assessment was then ordered. The matter was then set for Wednesday, Aug. 1, for the judge expecting to hear the Crown application for an adult sentence.

Instead, as court convened, both the Crown and defence noted that they only received the report a day earlier and needed time to review it. Additionally, Weich explained that her initial review of the assessment led her to believe that there are still too many unknowns and that more information was necessary before proceeding.

Weich then requested an IRCS (Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision) assessment for the young man, telling the court, “It might change my position on an adult sentence.”

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The IRCS program 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 at the Forensic Adolescent Program in Calgary 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.

While Judge Greg Maxwell noted that the delays in the case have become concerning, he agreed that the report would be in the best interests of the offender and ordered it. The matter was then adjourned to Sept. 5 for an update on the final report, which is expected to take approximately 60 days to complete.

Conviction

Judge 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 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.