Convicted rapist to be sentenced as adult

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This article was published 12/06/2013 (4531 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg teen will get an adult dose of punishment for raping a woman during a random home invasion.

The boy, who was 17 at the time of the July 2011 attack in Fort Richmond, was seeking to remain under the Youth Criminal Justice Act where he faces a maximum of two years behind bars.

But provincial court Judge Ray Wyant ruled Wednesday that’s not nearly long enough for what he called a “grave, serious, vulgar and horrific case.” As a result, he agreed with the Crown’s request to raise the accused to adult court.

“I can come to no other conclusion,” said Wyant. “It’s difficult to find the right adjectives to describe this brutal attack.”

The case has now been adjourned to allow lawyers to make further arguments on the specific sentence to be imposed. The Crown has already indicated they want at least 10 years, which may be the longest ever dished out for a non-homicide against a youth.

The accused, who can’t be named until his adult sentence is formally given, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault and breaking, entering and committing robbery

The 28-year-old victim broke down in tears last year as she described the physical and emotional toll of being violated by the stranger inside her apartment.

The woman was home alone one evening when she spotted someone trying to get into the window of her ground-floor suite. She called her husband, who was at work, and made plenty of noise to let the intruder know someone was inside.

“He must have felt a great deal of helplessness,” Wyant said Wednesday.

The teen forced his way inside, chased the woman down the hallway and then jumped on her when she tripped over a bicycle and was injured. Her husband heard her screams for help while still on the phone. He called 911 and raced home.

The teen repeatedly punched the woman in the face and upper body as she pleaded for him to stop, court was told.

She turned over the contents of her wallet — approximately $55 — but he continued to attack her and began pulling off her clothing as she tried to curl into a fetal position.

“He told her, ‘Let me love you,’ ” Crown attorney Dan Angus told court. She tried to bite the youth and fight back. “Then he said, ‘Let me rape you.’ “

The sexual assault began but was interrupted moments later when the victim’s husband came running through the front door. The teen jumped up and fled out the window he’d broken to get inside, cutting himself badly in the process.

Police followed a trail of blood and found the teen a few blocks away. He has been in custody ever since.

The youth has a lengthy criminal record and was on probation at the time for a previous break-and-enter conviction at the time of his arrest. He also has a long history of breaching court orders and comes from a troubled background which includes alcohol and drug abuse and being placed in foster care at a young age.

Just one day prior to the attack, he tried to break into another home by removing the screen but fled without incident. Wyant said Wednesday this shows an “escalating” pattern of behavior.

The youth has been deemed a very high risk to re-offend, both violently and sexually, has shown little remorse for his actions and has continued to cause problems while behind bars, court was told.

www.mikeoncrime.com