Indefinite sentence in jail sought

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This article was published 04/09/2009 (5846 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A young chronic sexual predator has expressed fantasies of killing his victims and walked around Winnipeg carrying a backpack filled with ligatures and women’s underwear, a judge heard Thursday.

Now, Manitoba justice officials are seeking to have the man branded a dangerous offender and locked away indefinitely to protect the public from further harm.

Kevin Steppan, 23, already had a history of sex crimes when he targeted two young women in 2005. The victims — who worked in the sex trade — were randomly selected, choked with a rope and seriously physically and sexually assaulted by the banks of the Assiniboine River.

Steppan has been in custody for more than three years and is waiting to be sentenced after pleading guilty to sexual assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. He has also admitted to making approximately 50 sexually obscene phone calls from jail to a female defence lawyer.

The Crown is trying to invoke the rarely used section of the Criminal Code that allows for an indeterminate federal prison sentence, on the grounds Steppan poses an uncontrollable risk to society. He is believed to be one of the youngest offenders in Canadian history to face such a designation. Only a handful of Manitobans have ever been designated dangerous offenders.

Steppan is fighting the application, which is being argued before provincial court Judge Linda Giesbrecht.

Dr. Terry Nicholaichuk, a prominent psychologist from Saskatchewan, was called to testify Thursday on behalf of Steppan. He said the accused appears to have a serious "personality disorder," but poses less of a risk because he doesn’t suffer from a substance abuse problem like many other chronic offenders.

"That would make things much worse," Nicholaichuk said. He said Steppan has a long history of behavioural problems, including setting fires, chronic lying and making obscene calls to women. Steppan also has expressed a fondness for choking women as a means of controlling them.

"He describes this as a way of compliance," Nicholaichuk said. Steppan’s main targets tend to be women who work in the sex trade, but he has also expressed desires to attack female guards at Headingley jail. Steppan has also shown some level of planning by keeping shoelaces to be used as restraints, the expert said.

"I wouldn’t say Mr. Steppan doesn’t plan. But I would say he’s not very good at it," Nicholaichuk said.

Joshua Cooney, unit manager for the sex-offender program at Headingley, previously testified for the Crown that Steppan had to be removed from the jail and transferred to Brandon based on his "deviant" fantasies.

"He’s the only offender I’ve ever had to relocate for staff safety concerns in my career. I had grave concerns about him being on the unit," Cooney said in court. "He was having fantasies about sexually assaulting staff members. He is clearly a very risky offender."

Steppan has also become combative with other inmates after they talked about the women because he is "jealous," Cooney said. There have been numerous fights and arguments that resulted in injuries and internal charges. Steppan has also been caught stashing inappropriate material in his cell, which prison officials say only fuels his sexual desires. That includes scantily clad women featured in the Winnipeg Sun newspaper as Sunshine Girls, along with magazine and catalogue photos of teen and preteen girls modelling swimsuits and underwear, Cooney said.

Steppan has talked about trying to escape from Headingley. He has been put on repeated suicide watch and nearly made good on an attempt in March 2008, when he covered his face with packing tape.

His life was saved when jail officials found him and quickly cut a hole so he could breathe, Cooney said. The sentencing hearing will continue next month.

www.mikeoncrime.com