Repeat sex offender sentenced to 10 years in Alberta for attacking girl

LETHBRIDGE A convicted high-risk sex offender who pleaded guilty to charges of break and enter and sexually assaulting a 15year-old girl in southern Alberta has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

With credit for time served and other mitigating factors Darral Courtoreille, who is 59, had his sentence reduced to six years and four months.

The Crown had been seeking 12 to 14 years in custody, while the defence recommended five years.

Lethbridge court heard that Courtoreille attacked the girl in her bedroom on Nov. 7, 2016.

He forced the girl to write her address on a piece of paper before he left the home.

Police found the paper in his pocket when they arrested him.

Provincial court Judge Jerry LeGrandeur said that Courtoreille had a very difficult childhood marked by alcoholism, sexual abuse, depression and anxiety.

LeGrandeur also noted Courtoreille’s Aboriginal heritage.

"He is a product of the environment he grew up in," LeGrandeur said Friday. "His actions in this case are rooted in his family background."

Courtoreille was released from prison in 2004 after serving two years for sexual interference involving a minor and later that same year was sentenced to 18 months on another sex charge.

In 2005, he was designated a highrisk offender after he refused to complete a rehabilitation program.