Alberta sex assault victim tells sentencing hearing she forgives attacker

CALGARY – One of three vulnerable women sexually assaulted by a man at a rural home near Calgary told a sentencing hearing Tuesday that she forgives her attacker.

Aimee Ert, who successfully requested the court lift the publication ban on her name, said she still suffers anxiety and pain but hopes Richard Robert Mantha gets the help he needs to be a better person.

“I learned in my recovery how to forgive, and today I’m going to say I forgive Richard Mantha … for myself, not for him,” Ert said in court. 

“I also am forgiving myself for allowing him to hurt me. However, I will never forget what he did to me. I have struggled on a daily basis to get through everything that I have experienced in the past.”

Mantha, 62, was convicted of six offences, including drugging one of his victims, between 2019 and 2023. He was also found guilty of uttering threats against a fourth woman.

Court heard most of the victims worked in the sex trade.

Ert, who read her impact statement, previously testified that she was drugged, choked and sexually assaulted after she agreed to go with Mantha to his acreage east of Calgary. She was able to escape, running from the property partially clothed.

“I’ve gone through this experience with him in my head on a regular basis, not knowing whether or not I put myself in that position and whether or not it was my fault,” she said Tuesday, addressing Mantha in the prisoner’s box.

“I do know no one deserves what you put me through.

“I don’t know if he was hurt by someone in his life that created that thought in his mind that it was OK to treat anyone else that way. I know I’m not a judge. But if it were me, I’d ask him to get some serious counselling if he thinks what he did to me was OK.”

Mantha, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, sat quietly in the prisoner’s box, appearing frail and showing little change in expression during the proceedings.

Crown prosecutor Dominique Mathurin said Mantha deserves a prison sentence of 10 to 13 years.

“It is an attack upon the sense of security, autonomy and self-worth of the victim,” she told Justice Judith Shriar.

Mathurin said Mantha preyed on those with difficult personal challenges, including what Ert revealed in her statement.

“As she’s living the worst moment of her life, he’s laughing,” she said.

The trial, which started in January 2024, faced several lengthy delays because Mantha fired previous lawyers and had a stroke.

Justin Dean, Mantha’s lawyer, called the Crown’s sentence request excessive and urged instead a sentence in the five to seven-year range.  Dean pointed out his client’s previous criminal record has been property crimes and drug charges.

“There’s no violence contained in his record,” Dean said. “He clearly has been impacted by the charges and the prosecution and the stigma of the social impact of being a convicted sex offender.”

Dean said Mantha has been assaulted 10 times since he was arrested. He said his client’s health is poor and he is unable to speak.

“The individual who perpetrated those offences is no longer the individual that is sitting in that box,” he said.

Mantha attempted to speak at his sentencing but it was unintelligible.

The case is expected back in court Sept. 17.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug.18, 2026.