Sentencing hearing underway

TEEN VICTIM OF SEX ASSAULT BELIEVED COURTOREILLE HAD MURDERED HER FAMILY

Darral Courtoreille was pretty sure he’d go to jail for a long time if he sexually assaulted the 15-year-old girl in whose bedroom he had just crept into in the middle of the night. But he was prepared to take the risk.

“It might be worth it,” he told the terrified girl as he laid on top of her in her own bed after breaking into the family home Nov. 7 of last year.

The 59-year-old man then spent more than an hour assaulting the girl, although his attempt to have intercourse failed, Crown prosecutor Michael Fox said Monday during Courtoreille’s sentencing hearing in Lethbridge provincial court.

Courtoreille pleaded guilty in January to one count of break and enter and commit sexual assault, and for his crime he deserves to go to prison for 12 to 14 years, Fox said.

He said the accused has a history of sexually assaulting young girls and will likely strike again. And not only did he assault the girl, she believed he had killed her family, and she feared for her own life.

“He made her feel like her family was dead,” Fox said.

Defence, however, disagrees with the sentence.

Lethbridge lawyer Greg White suggested a five-year sentence would be appropriate for his client, who is an alcoholic, lived with alcohol abuse in his own home growing up and was himself the victim of assault.

White said case law suggests a lower sentence is warranted, and Courtoreille should be given credit for the equivalent of 13 months he’s already spent in custody.

Court was told Courtoreille was drunk the night he assaulted the girl while her sister slept in another downstairs bedroom and her parents and brother slept upstairs.

Fox said the girl woke up and sensed someone was in her room. When she turned on her light and sat up, Courtoreille was standing there. He told her his name, then started to climb on top of her and she screamed, but no one responded. After he put his hand over her mouth and said he had given her family a shot so they wouldn’t be waking up for awhile, she believed he had killed them.

Fearing for her own life, she took off her clothes when Courtoreille told her to, and he began touching her. At one point he asked if she was OK, and asked if she wanted him to wear a condom.

Just over an hour later Courtoreille got dressed, during which the girl took pictures of his back with her cellphone. She gave him directions to leave the house and asked him not to kill her. He said he would never kill her because she’s too pretty.

Police arrested the accused nearby a short time later.

Fox said Courtoreille has a long history of alcohol and substance abuse, and a long history of sexual assaults against young girls. He can’t control his drinking or his urges, is in a “constant state of arousal” and has fantasies about young girls.

Fox suggested Courtoreille is considered a risk to re-offend, and there’s little chance he can be rehabilitated.

A date to sentence Courtoreille is set for Sept. 8.

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