Sentence reduced for Victoria mom who sexually assaulted teen boy

The Supreme Court of B.C. in Vancouver.

The Supreme Court of B.C. has reduced a five-and-a-half-year jail sentence handed to a Victoria woman who lured and sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy.

The woman — known as Ms. P to protect the identify of the victim — challenged the severity of the provincial court sentence, claiming the judge had misused mandatory minimum sentences when he made his ruling (comprised of two years each for two sex assaults and 18 months for luring all to be served consecutively) and that the global sentence was unfit.

Ms. P was sentenced in Colwood (a Greater Victoria suburb) provincial court last September following two incidents in April 2020 in which she had sex with the 15 year-old boy.

Provincial court heard that the then 25-year-old woman and mother was with a friend when she met a group of teens and exchanged alcohol for marijuana, then went to her home where the group partied, leading to sex between the woman and boy.

A few days later the woman sent a text to the boy (which comprised the luring aspect of the crime) and the pair met up again and had sex.

She claimed to have asked the victim several times whether he was aged 18 and each time he confirmed that he was.

At trial, the victim’s impact statement was described by the judge as “a powerful articulation of the effects of sexual abuse on children” and that the impacts on him were “very grave” and “very severe”.

Supreme Court of B.C. Justice Anthony Saunders ruled that the provincial court judge did not properly apply the sentencing principle that ensures “where consecutive sentences are imposed, the combined sentence should not be unduly long or harsh.”

Saunders also noted the provincial court judge used as a reference a case in which sexual violence was inflicted on a four-year-old child with the child’s mother participating and that the offender in that case was at high risk of reoffending.

As a result, Saunders changed the sentence to a term of three years.

In Canada, a person is eligible for parole after serving one-third of their sentence and can be released from custody (statutory release) after two-thirds to serve the rest of their sentence in the community.

This means that Ms. P will be eligible for parole in September 2023 and will be released into the community in Sept. 2024.

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