Defence appeal of a sentence of 8 years jail for sexual interference plus 2 years consecutive for child luring. Accused pleaded guilty on the day of trial, but complainant still was required to give evidence. 47-year-old accused engaged in sexual intercourse with 13-year-old complainant over a period of about 2 years. Position of trust.
Held: Appeal dismissed.
Appellate cases relied on by defence (outlining lower sentences) were of limited assistance. “Great care must be exercised when assessing the precedential value of appeal court sentencing judgments …. [it] may be substantial if both the Crown and the offender appeal, if the offender appeals and the appeal court concludes that the sentence imposed exceeds the upper limit of the range of reasonable dispositions, or if the Crown appeals and the appellate court concludes that the sentence is below the low point marking the spectrum of reasonable options.” Otherwise, case may not provide meaningful guidance as to appropriate sentence range. Here, offence was egregious and sentence was not demonstrably unfit.
S. Christensen-Moore – Defence Counsel