A B.C. armed forces veteran was sentenced to two years and six months in a federal penitentiary June 26 after pleading guilty to sexually touching a child under 16.
The 40-year-old was charged with touching a nine-year-old female relative between Sept. 14, and Oct. 14, 2019.
The man, who Glacier Media has chosen not to identify so as not the identify the child, pleaded guilty July 11, 2023, court documents said.
Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Gregory Rideout said Crown prosecutor Maragaret Mackie was seeking a four-year prison sentence while defence counsel Tony Tso asked for a two-year conditional sentence order.
The maximum sentence is 14 years.
Rideout said the child disclosed the touching to her mother at which point police became involved.
The man had told the child to keep the events secret, Rideout said.
The court heard the man had experienced depression as well as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from his time in the armed forces doing peacekeeping in Bosnia.
Rideout, having read two doctors’ reports, said he found it hard to image how a clearly intelligent, grown man with a university education could rationalize his conduct against the child by thinking she liked it and could give consent.
Rideout said the man asking the child to keep the activity secret indicated he was aware of what he was doing.
“You must have known you had crossed the line,” Rideout said to the man. “He knew full well what he was doing.”
That said, the judge said he had sympathy for anyone in the armed forces, police and other agencies who have to deal with PTSD.
Rideout said the reason he rejected a conditional sentence was that it would be served in the community, something that left him concerned about children’s safety.
Tso had told Rideout that the man was willing to do two years of house arrest.
Rideout also ordered the man be put on the sexual offender registry for 20 years and that a DNA sample be taken.
The judge ordered that all court file documents bearing name and addresses of victims and relatives be redacted.
Before the man was handcuffed and taken away, Rideout had the court cleared so the man could say goodbye to his partner.
