The fate of a former North Vancouver band teacher who had a two-year sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student is now in the hands of a provincial court judge.
At a sentencing hearing Tuesday, a prosecutor and defence lawyer disagreed in court on how much time in jail was warranted for former Argyle music teacher Chad Smith, 41, who has pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual exploitation.
Crown prosecutor Ron Edwards urged North Vancouver provincial judge Joanne Challenger to send Smith to jail for 15 to 18 months.
Edwards pointed to a psychological report that he said showed Smith’s “ingrained lack of insight into what was really going on” by minimizing his own sexual interest in the student under the guise of “helping her” deal with emotional problems.
“His own needs, his own narcissism sent him on a pathway he ought to have known . . . was grossly inappropriate,” said Edwards.
He said the emotional impact of such crimes can be devastating to the victims.
“He has taken things from her she can never have again, never get back,” he said.
But Smith’s defence lawyer Claire Hatcher urged the judge to consider a more lenient sentence of between six and nine months in jail.
While Smith’s sexual exploitation of the student is serious, “the difficult question is whether a lengthy jail sentence is necessary here,” said Hatcher.
Hatcher said Smith is genuinely remorseful.
Smith has lost his career and his marriage, has had access to his own children “drastically curtailed” and been portrayed as a sex offender in extensive media coverage, said the lawyer.
“There was a swift and dramatic fall from grace,” she said.
“This man has absolutely been broken already by his terrible mistake.”
She said Smith is not a pedophile and didn’t “groom” his victim. His crime was an “opportunistic offence” that involved a connection to a “particular young person,” she said.
She added Smith, who now lives in Port Coquitlam, has continued to seek counselling and has had to reinvent his life, as his teaching certificate has been permanently revoked.
She urged the judge to also consider the adverse impact of a lengthy sentence on Smith’s young children.
Hatcher read excerpts from a number of support letters for Smith, many of them written by parents of Smith’s former students, describing his dedication to the music program. About 20 of Smith’s supporters were in court Tuesday for the sentencing hearing.
Earlier in the sentencing hearing, Edwards painted a picture of a popular music teacher who inundated a vulnerable student with gushing online messages, describing the two as sharing a “psychic soul connection.”
The teacher and his underage student had sex many times over two years, according to Edwards, who listed encounters in the student’s home and Smith’s office.
When the victim’s mother eventually discovered the relationship, and pointed out the possible repercussions, Smith asked the victim to have “mercy on me,” said Edwards.
“Why should I lose my job because I loved you with every inch of my heart?” Smith asked her in an email.
In court Tuesday, Smith stood and offered an apology to his victim and her family, as well as to his own family and former colleagues and students.
“I’m here today to apologize for the many mistakes I’ve made and to take responsibility for my actions. . .” he told the judge.
“I’ve let a lot of people down and I’m deeply sorry.”
The judge has reserved her decision in the case.
