LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - A Fort Liard man was sentenced last week to three years in jail for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

Paul Payou, 59, pleaded guilty in NWT Supreme Court on April 12 to sexually touching the minor in his vehicle and then later in his home on Nov. 24, 2009.

Payou had initially chosen to have a jury trial in Fort Simpson. However, he changed his plea after the judge ruled statements he had made to police were admissible.

The defence challenged the admissibility of the statements, arguing Payou had been denied his charter rights when he was supposedly not read his rights, according to Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh.

As a result of Payou's guilty plea, the 12-member jury selected on April 11 was dismissed.

Walsh categorized the offense as a "major sexual assault," based on the agreed statement of facts and also considering the victim was under 16 years of age at the time. Walsh asked that Payou receive a two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half-year sentence "to send a strong message that sexual assaults against young, vulnerable victims will not be tolerated."

Michael Hansen, Payou's lawyer, argued the agreed statement of facts did not make it clear whether the offence was "major" in nature or not.

He also said it appeared his client knew the victim was under 16, but was unaware of the legal age of consent.

The federal age of consent was raised to 16 from 14 in 2008.

"He was not ignorant of the fact, but of the law," Hansen said.

He asked for a 12- to 15-month sentence for his client.

In making his decision, Clark said he took both Payou and the complainant's ages into consideration, along with the circumstances of the offence and the "jocular manner in which (Payou's) statement was given" to police.

Clark called sexual assaults a problem of "epidemic proportions."

While he acknowledged that Payou had cleaned up his act as of late - with only a few charges in the past 22 years - Clark said that Payou "did slip in a major way," before giving him a three-year sentence.

Clark recommended Payou serve his time in the NWT.

Payou had also been charged with sexual interference. However, Walsh said Payou could only be convicted on one of the offences, so the Crown "focused the case" on the sexual assault charge.

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