Image Credit: PEXELS

PENTICTON - A Penticton man found guilty of two of four charges including sexually touching a 13-year-old girl was sentenced in Penticton court this afternoon.

Robert Morin, 26, was found guilty of sexual interference of a person under 16, invitation to sexual touching on June 7 in Penticton court.

A charge of sexual assault was stayed, while Judge Austin Cullen said he couldn’t find sufficient evidence to support a charge of telecommunications to lure a child under 16.

Morin met his 13-year-old victim through social media in Kelowna after exchanging explicit photos of each other in August 2016. He brought the girl to Penticton where between August and October of 2016 he had sex with the girl on at three occasions.

Crown prosecutor Kurt Froehlich asked Judge Cullen for a sentence of four to five years jail, saying there were no mitigating factors to the case. He said the nature and severity of the acts, the vulnerability of the victim as an at-risk youth at the time were negative factors in the case.

Froehlich also commented on Morin’s performance while on bail, telling court he was actually responsible for committing five offences, including the matters before the court, during a period when he was on bail.

Morin’s criminal record prior to those events was limited.

He said Morin refused to discuss the facts of the case with his probation officer, saying, as a result, his prospects for rehabilitation were unknown. He also said Morin was a risk to the community as a result.

Morin was arrested on Jan. 15 and has been in custody since. He has accumulated 302 days of enhanced credit.

Defence lawyer James Pennington said Morin’s case “is and isn’t unique as a case.”

He agreed with Crown’s assertion there was usually some familial relationship between the accused and victim in these cases which “hasn’t come in to play here.”

Pennington said his client had a problem with alcohol and was on crystal meth at the time of the offences. He said Morin, a member of the Onion Lake Cree First Nation in Alberta, had suffered “horrendous abuse” as a child at the hands of his father until taken in by another family, where he received better care.

When his stepfather died six years ago, Morin drifted to the Okanagan.

Pennington said the man had lately been trying to re-connect with his heritage.

“He needs to get over this and reconnect with his culture,” Pennington told the court.

“Crown also makes much of Mr. Morin’s refusal to discuss the facts of the case with the probation officer. What the court needs to understand is, over the years, and I can safely say I’ve been around this court a number of years, there has been a marked deterioration in the relationship between defence and probation, where we have reached the point, in my submission, prudent council will advise their clients to be circumspect about what they say to the probation officer,” Pennington said.

He asked the judge to consider a two-year jail term for the offences, saying with a jail term in the provincial range Morin could be subject to probation. Pennington said the federal system was experiencing “radical cutbacks in funding” at this time.

Judge Cullen called Morin’s behaviour opportunistic but said it could not be considered sophisticated or premeditated. He said Morin did not threaten the victim, nor was his behaviour violent, but called the acts “offences at the serious end of the spectrum.”

The judge said it was difficult to know the extent of harm caused to the victim as a result of the evidence provided, but concluded Morin’s actions would likely result in a long term effect on her psyche and well being.

He sentenced Morin to three years in jail. With 302 days enhanced credit for time served, Morin has two years and 63 days remaining on his sentence.

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