Man gets 12 years for raping 6-year-old girl

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This article was published 24/03/2011 (5317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for randomly kidnapping and raping a six-year-old girl from a West End playground last spring.

Greg Hope, 34, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a crime which sickened veteran police officers and had parents clinging to their children. He returned to court Thursday afternoon for sentencing.

Crown attorney Jennifer Mann was seeking a 14-year penalty, which is the most allowed in Canada for the crime of sexual assault causing bodily harm. Hope’s lawyer requested an eight-year sentence. Provincial court Judge Fred Sandhu took a brief adjournment before returning later in the day to give his decision.

“What Mr. Hope did is beyond despicable. This is a parent’s worst nightmare,” said Sandhu.

Hope has spent the past 10 months in custody which was given single-time credit. That leaves him with another 11 years and two months to serve. Sandhu took the rare step of ordering him to spent at least half his remaining time behind bars until he is eligible for parole. Normally an inmate can seek release after serving just one-third of their sentence.

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.

Hope told police he was drunk at the time of the attack and has little memory of it.

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.

 

www.mikeoncrime.com