CONVICTED child sex offender Michael Berry will live the remaining weeks of his life confined either to his home or a hospital bed, but won't go to jail, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled.
Justice Paul Williamson handed Berry - a former West Vancouver acting coach and Capilano College instructor - a conditional sentence Tuesday of two years less a day to be served under house arrest in his dying days.
Berry, 73, is terminally ill with cancer and was not in court for the sentencing. Doctors told the court they are surprised he's still alive.
Williamson said if it wasn't for Berry's medical prognosis, he would have handed him a seven-year jail sentence.
Crown counsel Elliot Poll had asked for a sentence of up to nine years, but acknowledged it's unlikely Berry would live long enough for corrections staff to even determine where he should be jailed.
"I'm not sure anything's served by putting someone in his condition in prison," Poll said outside the court.
Berry was convicted a year ago of child sexual abuse against five girls in incidents dating back over 30 years. Most of Berry's victims were between 10 and 13 at the time he had sex with them.
There have been many delays in the case - both because Berry repeatedly fired his lawyers, and because of his failing health.
In a letter to the North Shore News after a sentencing delay in January, one of Berry's victims voiced frustration at Berry's ability to stall the court process. "It just goes to show you that if you are smart enough, have enough money and act well enough you can still direct the play for years, right up until you are behind bars and/or on your death bed, as Mr. Berry has done," she wrote.
Berry's victims had mixed reactions to the sentence on Tuesday, said Kay MacIntosh, a victim services worker.
Most were happy to hear he would have gone to jail for seven years if he wasn't dying, she said.
