Ex-tennis instructor sentenced for sex offences

KENTVILLE — A Supreme Court judge in Kentville has sentenced a former youth tennis instructor to an 18month sentence and two years of probation for luring one of his former students online.

Aaron Byron Cumberland, 30, formerly of Kentville, was sentenced Tuesday.

He won't serve any time in prison because of 350 days spent in custody before his trial. That was a recommendation from Crown attorney Peter Dostal.

A jury found Cumberland guilty in October of the luring charge, as well as one count each of invitation to sexual touching and making sexually explicit material available to a minor.

Dostal said in his submissions that the the sharing of the intimate images and asking the teen online if he wanted to touch Cumberland sexually “should be considered a form of grooming of the young person.”

Defence lawyer Jonathan Cuming agreed with the 18-month sentence, but had initially argued for a probationary period of only 15 months. After initial submissions and discussions in court, though, he agreed that two years was appropriate.

Cumberland is also banned from playgrounds, pools and other areas where children under the age of 16 could reasonably be expected to be present, except public parks and libraries for 10 years, and from all social media for the same time period.

In accepting the recommendation, Justice Gregory Warner said “the exchanges I saw between Mr. Cumberland and (the victim) were clearly of a grooming nature.”

He said that “all sexual offences are very serious, whether or not they involve sexual contact, in terms of their potential impact upon the victims, their families and the community.”