B.C.’s Court of Appeal has tossed out a man’s conditional sentence for sexually abusing his younger brother hundreds of times and sent him to a penitentiary for three-and-a-half years.
The man, identified as C.K. in the decision, was given a conditional sentence of two years less one day, followed by three years’ probation for repeated and highly invasive sexual touching of his younger step-brother, wrote Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten in a Dec. 14 decision for the unanimous three-judge panel.
The Crown had argued the initial sentence was unfit as it failed to reflect the gravity of the man’s conduct and “his high moral blameworthiness.”
In a victim impact statement to the provincial court judge, the stepbrother said his abuser taught him how to lie to his family and be ashamed of himself, and that the family would be torn apart if he spoke out.
“Boy, do I wish I closed my heart to you and your family when I was a teen, the stepbrother said. I can't tell you how many times I prayed my mom couldn't see me from heaven. How sad or disgusted she must be,” said the stepbrother.
“You taught me every wrong way to love.”
The victim was 12 to 14 years old when C.K., then 20 to 22 years old, committed the acts between January 2004 and April 2006.
The decision was an appeal of a July 14 Vancouver Provincial Court sentencing decision.
DeWitt-Van Oosten said a penitentiary term was necessary to meet sentencing objectives of denunciation and deterrence in cases involving child sexual abuse.
“If not for the respondent’s concerted efforts at rehabilitation since the offence came to light and his low risk to re-offend, a sentence closer to five years’ imprisonment would have been a fit sentence,” the decision said.
The Crown had initially requested a four-year sentence.
In January 2022, C.K., was charged in Alberta with four sexual offences.
He waived the charges to Vancouver where he pleaded guilty to one count and was sentenced.
The decision said C.K. groomed his stepbrother within a year of his mother's death.
“He showed him pornography and treated the victim as his ‘boyfriend,’” the decision said. ”He would often take the victim to movies and other activities. (C.K.) would frequently ‘gaslight’ the victim as a ‘method of exerting control.’ (C.K.) would provide the victim with drugs and alcohol.”
The decision said there were hundreds of incidents.
