Career criminal guilty in six-year-old girl’s rape

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This article was published 28/01/2011 (5372 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s a career criminal whose latest attack sickened veteran police officers and had parents clinging to their children. But if Greg Hope has his way, he’ll catch a legal break and do less time in prison than other similar offenders.

Hope, 35, pleaded guilty this week to kidnapping and raping a six-year-old girl from a West End playground last spring. It was a completely random attack that has left the victim physically and emotionally traumatized.

His sentencing has been adjourned for preparation of a court-ordered report studying what, if any, effect his aboriginal upbringing should have on his punishment. The report is based on a Supreme Court case which said some First Nations offenders should receive more lenient sentences based on hardships they endured in life.

Hope admits going to the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre near Ellice Avenue and Langside Street, where the girl was playing with several older brothers one Sunday evening last May. He tried to befriend the girl, then lured her to a nearby home where she was brutally attacked. She was eventually allowed to return to the park, where family members found her crying and missing one of her shoes. She was taken to hospital for treatment.

“An (alleged) sexual predator has been taken off the street,” police Chief Keith McCaskill announced at the time. Police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said the case was a top priority for investigators.

Hope told police he was drunk at the time of the attack and has little memory of it. No other details of the case were presented to court Wednesday. Hope remains in custody.

As the Free Press revealed last year, Hope has a long criminal record and was released from jail only a few weeks before the attack.

Court records show he was sentenced on Dec. 1, 2009 for a string of offences, including break and enter and several breaches of court orders. Provincial court Judge Ray Wyant gave him six months behind bars in addition to six months of pre-trial custody. His full sentence doesn’t actually expire until June 1, but Hope was recently granted early release, likely after serving two-thirds of his sentence, which is normal for Canadian criminals.

The Crown had been seeking another year in jail for Hope, citing his lengthy criminal record and history of violating court orders.

“I really do want to change my life for myself and my children and behave properly in society,” Hope told Wyant at his sentencing hearing. He described the break-and-enter and breaches as “despicable things” which he blamed on unresolved alcohol and crack-cocaine addictions.

Hope has criminal convictions dating back to the mid-1990s, mostly for property crimes and breaches, but also including threats and weapons offences, court was told. He was arrested in October 2008 after breaking into a Furby Street home and stealing several bottles of alcohol and a cellphone while the residents were in another room. One of the victims ended up calling their own phone number and offering to buy back the stolen phone. Hope agreed to meet at a nearby convenience store, only to be greeted by waiting police officers.

He was granted bail several weeks later on conditions he reside at the Behavioural Health Foundation to receive ongoing addictions treatment. He fled the facility after four months, claiming he was in several relationships with female residents that had broken down.

www.mikeoncrime.com