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Brother spared southern penitentiary sentence Terrence McEachern Northern News Services Published Monday, August 1, 2011
"A sentence in a federal penitentiary would see (the offender) removed from Nunavut. No family would be able to visit him, making it difficult for the family to deal with this ... A sentence in the territory means that family would be able to have regular visits and the process of reunification can begin," said Justice Sue Cooper in a written decision on July 14. Cooper sentenced the man to two years less a day, entitling him to serve the time in Nunavut. Sentences of two years or longer are served in federal penitentiaries. Cooper rejected the Crown's recommendation that the incidents comprised a major sexual assault requiring at least a starting point of three years in prison. The defence countered with a recommendation of 18 months in prison to be served in the territory. A court-ordered ban is in place preventing the publication of any information that could identify the complainant. According to the agreed facts, in 2007 while living together in Iqaluit, the man's sister, who is two years older than him, was in her bed sleeping, wearing pyjamas, when she awoke to find him one evening "dressed and on top of her, simulating intercourse." This happened again in 2008. This escalated on two subsequent occasions in 2010 and 2011 when the sister awoke both times to find her brother having sexual intercourse with her. The first time, she pushed him off of her and he left. Later, she told her mother. It was after the second incident that she contacted the RCMP. The man had been drinking on both occasions, and it was suspected the complainant was drinking as well, according to the facts read in court. On July 20, the man elected to be tried by a judge alone, and instead of proceeding to trial, he pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual assault the same day. Cooper outlined several aggravating factors, including that the assaults occurred on a vulnerable female who was sleeping in her own bed during the attacks and the psychological harm that must have followed. Cooper gave the man credit for an early guilty plea and that he had no previous criminal record. She also acknowledged the man had completed high school and held a full-time job for three years. Cooper also took into account the man's upbringing with alcoholic parents and a violent father, who is now deceased. Besides the prison term, the man also received two years of probation after his release and a 10-year firearms ban. He was also ordered to provide a sample of his DNA to the police and was placed on the National Sex Offender Registry for 10 years.
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