SPIRIT OF GIVING PAGE A3
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Sentencing in Hixon attack Warning: graphic content. A 17-year-old Kamloops boy who is facing a six-month jail sentence for sodomizing a man with a mop handle three years ago is getting a head start on his jail sentence. The teen, who cannot be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was denied bail on Friday following his arrest earlier in the week. Crown prosecutor Susan Mengering said the teen pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in October to charges stemming from an incident in January 2013 in Hixon, 60 kilometres south of Prince George. Mengering said the teen was told by a group of friends that they were going to set up two men – one of whom had allegedly committed a previous sex crime – for beatings at a Hixon hotel. “[He] replied back to them saying he wanted in on it and not to do anything until he got there,” Mengering said. Mengering said the teen, then 14, showed up at the hotel and took part in an attack on one of the men. “[He] sodomized [the victim] with the handle of a mop,” she said, adding that other people also beat the man with a frying pan and kicked him in the head. The teen had been free on release conditions since Jan. 30, 2013, despite breaching his bail twice since then. In addition to aggravated assault, court heard he was initially charged with additional counts of aggravated sexual assault and unlawful confinement – charges that were withdrawn in exchange for a guilty plea. On Dec. 9, Mengering said, social workers showed up at the Valleyview home he had been living in with his grandmother. She said they searched his bedroom and found four bongs, lighters, torches and two knives. He was taken into custody days later. According to Mengering, the teen will likely receive a sentence in the range of six months in custody. “If [he] were to be released, it would bring the administration of justice into disrepute,” she said. “A reasonable person would be shocked.” The teen was ordered to remain behind bars. He is due to be sentenced in a Prince George courtroom on Feb. 24.
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