(GLYNN BROTHEN / iNFOnews.ca)
Republished May 01, 2015 - 8:42 PM
Original Publication Date May 01, 2015 - 5:12 PM
PENTICTON - A 24-year-old Oliver man learned today how much jail time he faces for sexual offences against an Oliver youth.
TJB was given a four-and-a-half year jail term and will not be allowed anywhere near children for five years following his release, Justice Catherine Bruce ruled Friday afternoon, May 1.
In November 2014, TJB was pronounced guilty of sexual assault, sexual touching of a person under the age of 16 and invitation to sexual touching of a person under age 16.
Justice Bruce said at the time she didn’t believe TJB’s testimony. She called TJB’s relationship with the boy “highly suspicious,” calling TJB’s desire to be close to the boy “grooming by a sexual predator.”
In reaching her sentence today, Bruce told court a psychiatric assessment of TJB said a true diagnosis of his psychological condition could not be given because he refused to discuss the offences, noting he continued to deny sexually abusing a young boy over a one-year period between 2011 and 2012. TJB was also assessed to be in a moderate to moderately high range to re-offend.
Crown Prosecutor Catherine Crockett asked for five to six years, while defence counsel Michael Welsh argued for a three to four year sentence. Bruce said aggravating factors considered in her decision included the victim’s youthful age, at nine and 10 years, the length of time the offences occurred, the abusive nature of the offences, the abuse of trust TJB incited and the significant age difference between TJB and the victim.
Bruce noted TJB’s age and the fact this was his first offence as mitigating factors.
TJB left the Penticton Courthouse parking lot secured in the back of the sheriff’s vehicle to the jeers and heckles of the Urban Bulldogs Against Kid Abuse following the ruling. The group had been following the trial from the outset.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015