Hutterite teen guilty in multiple sex assaults

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This article was published 19/05/2010 (5907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 19-year-old member of a Manitoba Hutterite colony has admitted to years of sexual abuse against young boys, who were often drugged and physically restrained.

The man — who can’t be named because some of his crimes occurred while he was a youth — pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of sexual interference and forcible confinement. He will return to court June 25 following the completion of a pre-sentence report.

He was arrested in August 2009 and has been in custody ever since. His lawyer is seeking a penalty of time spent in custody, while the Crown hasn’t said what it will be seeking. He has no prior criminal record.

RCMP initially charged the man with attacks against 11 boys between the ages of 8 and 14 over a seven-year period beginning in 2002. However, he pleaded guilty Tuesday to crimes against just three young victims between 2006 and 2009, with the Crown dropping the remaining charges.

Prosecutor Jennifer Mann told court they would have had difficulty proving many of the offences because the man was under the age of 13 when they occurred, meaning the Criminal Code wouldn’t have applied to him.

Crown and defence lawyers submitted a joint statement of facts outlining the incidents on the colony in the Rural Municipality of Cartier. The Free Press is not naming the colony to protect the identity of the victims.

The accused admits he started sexually touching other boys at the colony when he was around 11 years of age and told police he would tie some of his victims to a chair and drug them with rubbing alcohol that he’d placed inside a mask they were forced to wear. Many of the incidents happened inside a pig barn and involved fondling and oral sex, court was told. One of the victims was just eight years old and told RCMP the accused accosted him at least 50 times, with the most recent incident happening just weeks before his arrest. The man admits he often wore gloves and a mask while carrying out his crimes.

The accused was not related to any of his victims and didn’t hold any position of trust over them, court was told. Police got a confession from the man following three lengthy interviews. Justice officials haven’t said why the chronic abuse was suddenly disclosed to police last year following years of secrecy.

A colony spokesperson told the Free Press last year how media attention surrounding the case is making it harder for members to deal with what happened. People from the closed society are not authorized to comment, he added.

Robert Rhodes, an author familiar with Hutterite living, said dealing with the police during the investigation has likely been a tough experience for them because of their limited interaction with the outside world.

www.mikeoncrime.com