Teen handed adult sentence for raping comatose girlfriend

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/11/2015 (3986 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg teen who raped his 15-year-old girlfriend while she was comatose — leaving her suffering permanent injuries – has been handed an adult sentence of four-and-a-half years.

Gage Pruden was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault following a jury trial earlier this year. His name can now be published after Queen’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg rejected his bid for a two year sentence, which is the most allowed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

“This was a serious sexual violation of a child,” Greenberg said Monday in reading her written decision. “He has committed, on his own initiative, an act of such violence and with such devastating consequences that in my view the maximum available youth sentence would not be sufficient to hold him accountable.”

The Crown had been seeking up to seven years in prison for Pruden, but Greenberg said that would be “harsh and excessive.” She noted Pruden’s own horrific background, which includes being raised by drug-addicted parents in a home environment a veteran police officer described as the “most disgusting” he’d ever seen.

Pruden was 15 at the time of the March 2012 attack, which he claims to have no memory of and has repeatedly denied responsibility for.

“I felt like a part of me has died. He was supposed to love me. How could he do this to me? I just don’t get it,” the now 18-year-old victim said earlier this year reading an emotional impact statement in court. “I lost so much blood. I was in so much pain. He betrayed me and took everything from me. My dignity, my pride. I woke up and would have rather died.”

The victim suffered extensive blood loss and major external and internal injuries that initially left her in critical condition.

“She would have died but for medical treatment,” said Crown attorney Susan Baragar. The teen continues to suffer and is “permanently incontinent,” court was told.

There was no dispute the teen was the victim of a brutal attack. The only question for jurors was whether Pruden was the one who did it. He testified at his own trial and denied any wrongdoing, claiming someone else inside the house must have attacked her – including possibly his own father. Jurors clearly rejected his story.

“The jury has found that he lied, on the stand, under oath,” Baragar told court.

Paramedics were called to the accused’s home on Nairn Avenue and found an awful scene inside. There were four people inside the home: the victim, the accused, Pruden’s 14-year-old sister and Pruden’s father.

The father had called 911, saying he awoke from a nap on the downstairs couch to find a chaotic scene. Pruden had been alone with the victim inside his upstairs bedroom and emerged at one point, telling his sister “I think she’s dead,” jurors heard.

She ran downstairs and woke up their father. Pruden and the victim had been consuming drugs and hard liquor during the evening. The victim was found to have a blood-alcohol level of nearly .40, five times the legal limit to drive. She also had cocaine, opiates and tranquilizers in her system.

“Due to this cocktail, she became unconscious. Actually, it was more than unconscious. She was in a coma,” Baragar told jurors.

Pruden told police and paramedics the girl became injured after he had sex with her but he denied any criminal wrongdoing.

He was covered in blood and was attempting to wash some of it off when emergency responders arrived. His ring was found hidden in a bedroom vent, and it contained DNA from the victim.