An Edmonton man who raped his common-law wife’s 16-year-old sister while she was sleeping following a night of playing cards and drinking has been sent to prison.
The 34-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, now 17, was sentenced to three years in a penitentiary Wednesday in provincial court after earlier pleading guilty to sexual assault.
Unable to read apology
Judge Larry Anderson told the rapist — who was crying so much he was unable to read his apology — that his blaming the crime on booze was “shallow” and said he had put his own desires above the sexual integrity of another person.
“That is simply not acceptable,” said Anderson, who ordered the man to submit a DNA sample for the national DNA databank in Ottawa and placed him on the national sex offender registry for 20 years following his release.
The judge also praised the young victim for writing and reading out “one of the most articulate and insightful” victim impact statements he has ever heard.
The teen spoke about how her sister’s husband — whom she referred to as a “father figure” — had “betrayed” her and how the attack had ruined her relationship with her family and took away her trust in other people.
Just before being sentenced, the man stood to read out a letter of apology he had written, however he couldn’t stop blubbering and had his lawyer read it.
In the letter, the man apologized to his victim for betraying her and said he was deeply ashamed and truly sorry. “I hate myself for what I’ve done and I will never forgive myself,” he wrote.
According to an agreed statement of facts, the victim had lived with her sister and the woman’s husband from 2004 until the early-morning rape on Feb. 14, 2009, and he had been in a position of parental authority over her.
Intoxicated
On the night before the attack, the three of them were at home drinking alcohol and playing cards and all became intoxicated. During the card game, the trio also began talking about sex and the man said the teen was hot.
They all eventually went to bed. However the teen awoke at 6 a.m. to find the man in her bed and on top of her and began screaming at him and calling him a rapist.
The man confessed shortly after that he had removed the teen’s pajama pants and underwear while she was sleeping, performed oral sex on her and then raped her.
The act this man committed was horrible and degrading, especially as he was a parental figure over the teen girl at the time of the sexual assault. I think that 3 years is appropriate, considering the betrayal of trust, etc. You have to consider though, that he was intoxicated and was not thinking clearly. I think he should have to take alcohol counseling while in prison.
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