Image Credit: Shutterstock
December 21, 2016 - 11:09 AM
CONTENT ADVISORY
KAMLOOPS - A Kamloops man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman while she slept next to her boyfriend is expected to be released from prison in less than 10 months.
Navarro Charters would have been given a two-and-a-half year sentence, but at the last minute Kamloops Provincial Court judge Stephen Harrison realized Crown had never indicated the case would proceed by indictment.
An indictable offence indicates an offence of a more serious nature, which brings with it the possibility of harsher penalties. Since the Crown did not proceed by indictment on this case, the maximum prison sentence available for Charters is 18 months.
Charters was found guilty of one count of sexual assault earlier this year. Court heard a woman — who cannot be identified due to a court-ordered publication ban — had been out socializing with her boyfriend and a group of people, including Charters, on June 3.
Harrison said the group decided to head back to Charters' apartment to continue drinking. Although the woman and her boyfriend hadn't had much to drink, Charters was already drunk.
"The offender was very intoxicated," Harrison said.
Around 3 a.m. the group started to discuss sleeping arrangements. Charters said he would take the couch so the woman and her boyfriend could sleep in the bedroom.
The woman wore a shirt, bra and yoga pants to bed, court heard, but she woke up when she felt something moving near her "vaginal area," Harrison said in his decision.
She looked up and saw Charters rubbing his penis into her vagina, then pushed himself into her anus, court heard. Harrison said at the sentencing hearing for Charters, Crown provided a forensic report which showed Charters' semen was found inside the woman.
"Mr. Charters tried to pull her pants back up," Harrison said.
Charters maintained he had gone into the bedroom to change his shorts and clumsily fell on the woman. Harrison did not accept that evidence.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Duncan asked for a term of imprisonment between two-and-a-half and three years, while defence lawyer Don Campbell asked for a sentence of two years.
Once Harrison realized the Crown had not elected to proceed by indictment, he pulled back from the two-and-a-half year sentence he originally imposed.
"Appropriate or not, the maximum... term of imprisonment is 18 months," Harrison said.
With credit for time served, Charters will be in custody for nine-and-a-half more months. He's been in custody since June 3, the day of the offence.
Charters will also be put on probation for three years after his release and is required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ashley Legassic or call 250-319-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016