Prison punishment: prosecutor says Calgary psychiatrist was predatory | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
Subscribe

Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?

Current Conditions Mostly Cloudy  5.7°C

Prison punishment: prosecutor says Calgary psychiatrist was predatory

Aubrey Levin, left, convicted of sexually assaulting three of his court-appointed male patients, leaves court in Calgary, Alta., Monday, Oct. 15, 2012 with his wife Erica. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY - A psychiatrist convicted of sex assaulting his court-appointed patients was depicted Wednesday as both a frail senior who would suffer in prison and a predatory offender who must be punished.

Dr. Aubrey Levin's defence lawyer said his 74-year-old client would be at high risk in jail because he is frail and in ill health. Chris Archer told a sentencing hearing that Levin should serve a sentence of between 60 and 90 days on weekends.

Levin was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting three patients who had been ordered to see him by the courts.

Archer read a letter from Levin's rabbi that said Levin is respected and loved and a jail term would be a death sentence. The letter also said that all the good the psychiatrist has done in his life has not been erased by the bad.

The defence characterized the sex assaults as minor and suggested Levin's greatest crime is a breach of trust.

But that broken trust is what aggravates the severity of the offences, said prosecutor Dallas Sopko, who called for six to eight years behind bars.

Sopko pointed out that more than 20 assaults occurred. He argued there are no mitigating factors.

One of the victims, who is still in custody, sat shackled in the prisoner's docket after receiving permission to watch the entire hearing.

Levin initially faced charges involving nine different men, but was found guilty on three counts and acquitted on two others. The jury could not reach a verdict on four of the charges.

The patients had been assigned to Levin between 1999 and 2010.

The allegations against him came to light in 2010 after one of his patients came forward with secret videos he had recorded during court-ordered sessions with the psychiatrist.

The videos, played in court last fall, show Levin undoing the man's belt and jeans and appearing to fondle him.

The patient, identified only as R.B. in court, was on probation at the time the videos were taken and had been ordered to see Levin twice a month.

The man said he had told authorities about previous assaults and no one believed him, so he bought a spy camera and brought it to his appointments.

He served briefly as regional director for the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon and was licensed in 1998 to practise psychiatry in Alberta.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2013
The Canadian Press

  • Popular penticton News
View Site in: Desktop | Mobile